KARACHI: Without announcing any plan to return to the country, former president retired Gen Pervez Musharraf on Sunday asked the people of Karachi to shun the politics of ethnicity and support his All Pakistan Muslim League (APML) in the coming elections to counter the Pakistan Peoples Party in Sindh.

Mr Musharraf said this while addressing a public meeting here via video link from Dubai.

The APML had organised the event at the Liaquatabad flyover — the venue where both the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and Pak Sarzameen Party held their public meetings in November and December, respectively — in a bid to stage a show of strength in an Urdu-speaking dominant neighbourhood which is a traditional stronghold of the once-unified MQM.

APML chief says MQM has brought bad name to the Mohajir community

Carrying national flags and chanting slogans, a large number of APML workers and Mr Musharraf’s supporters, including women, attended the programme.

Although the former military dictator was critical of almost every political party in the country, his focus was on the MQM — which remained his regime’s key partner in Sindh and at the Centre for five years — as he termed it a blot and urged Karachiite to dissociate themselves from it.

The MQM had brought only a bad name to the Mohajir community, he said, adding: “The name you got is of RAW agent, target killer, extortionist and terrorist. I am also a Mohajir but I don’t consider myself a Mohajir. I am Pakistani first and only I can erase such black spots.” He said that people from all ethnic backgrounds live in Karachi, but some political powers pit them against each other for the sake of their politics.

He said that the MQM had destroyed the Mohajir community. “The MQM has given weapons to Mohajirs...ANP armed the Pakhtun in the Kati Pahari area and the Peoples Party also gave weapons to Sindhis and Balochs and pitted people of Karachi against each other. This violent politics must be abolished.”

He said that people of Karachi were educated and expressed the hope that they would support him. “Why should I lean towards the MQM or the PSP...to me they both are the same.”

Mr Musharraf, who recently formed a 22-party alliance, said that he would join hands with political forces to form a new alliance to counter the PPP.

He said that his party would try its best to form the next government to play its role for the development and progress of Karachi and the country.

Declaring that he was against the division of Sindh, he said that Karachi was a city of Sindh and it would remain its part. However, he said that there should be no urban and rural divide.

He said that the PML-N and PPP also doing politics of ethnicity in Punjab and Sindh, respectively. “We must get rid of the ethnic politics in other provinces as well,” he added.

He did not announce any date for his return to the country and also not talk about the cases in which he had been declared a proclaimed offender. However, he regretted that he had to leave the country.

He said that India was plotting against Pakistan but it should keep in mind that Pakistan’s defence was impregnable.

Senior APML leader Dr Amjad announced that it would also hold public meetings in Lahore, Rawalpindi and Multan later this month.

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2018