THATTA, Aug 11: Founder of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Hussain, said on Thursday that whenever the MQM got a chance to rule the country it would reopen the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto trial.

Addressing public meetings simultaneously at Thatta, Dadu, Badin and Shikarpur on telephone from London, Mr Hussain regretted that the Pakistan People’s Party exploited the name of its founder just to seek votes from the people of Sindh, but it never really tried to investigate the execution of the late leader.

Despite coming into power twice Benazir Bhutto never tried to set up a commission to investigate the case, Altaf Hussain said and added that the PPP merely raised the slogan of Jeay Bhutto instead of finding out and making public the circumstances that led to Mr Bhutto’s hanging.

He recalled that one of Mr Bhutto’s two sons, Shahnawaz, was murdered in France and Murtaza was killed in Karachi, but Benazir Bhutto despite being in power, never disclosed the names of those involved in the murder of Murtaza Bhutto.

How could a leader who preferred to remain silent on the murder of her brother, could defend the rights of the people of Sindh, he asked.

The People’s Party, instead of unmasking the killers of Mr Bhutto and his sons, joined hands with them, not once but on several occasions, Mr Hussain charged.

A large number of people, including women, came from far-flung villages and towns to attend the meetings which the Muttahida had been holding as part of its mass contact campaign.

Altaf Hussain also criticized the Jamaat-i-Islami, reminding the audience that the party had distributed sweets and celebrated the hanging of Mr Bhutto. The party had launched a propaganda campaign against the Bhutto family. He lamented that despite all this the PPP had chosen to join hands with the JI.

Altaf Hussain regretted that the PPP had opted to join hands with a party which had worked to protect the interest of anti-people elements including waderas and jagirdars.

He said the time had come for the people of Sindh to draw a distinction between friends and foes. They will have to come out to defeat the so-called nationalists and fuedals who had done nothing but to work against their aspirations.

This was a difficult task, he agreed, but it could be done through sustained struggle. “We will have to sacrifice personal interests for the sake of collective good,” he said. MQM, he said, had never compromised on principles and will always be with the oppressed and downtrodden classes of the province.