ISLAMABAD, Nov 15: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) parliamentary leader in the National Assembly Dr Farooq Sattar has condemned the Karachi blast and termed it an attempt to ‘sabotage peace’. Speaking at a news conference here on Tuesday, Dr Sattar said the blast was part of a conspiracy to stop economic activities in Karachi.

The MQM leader said the party had so far spent about Rs2 billion in providing relief goods and monetary assistance to the victims of the Oct 8 earthquake. He said more than 1,000 volunteers of the MQM were busy in relief activities. He said even MQM chief Altaf Hussain had suspended all his political and personal activities and was monitoring the situation in the quake-affected areas.

Dr Sattar said the MQM would continue to help quake victims in the rehabilitation and reconstruction phase. To fulfil the commitment, he said, the MQM was presenting a model of a house for the quake victims.

Showing the model to the media people, Dr Sattar said that it had been designed by MQM engineers keeping in mind that the house should be durable and low-cost. He said the total cost of a house was about Rs35,000 to Rs40,000.

He said the model of the house had been inspected by head of the engineering corps of Pakistan Army, relief commissioner and rehabilitation commissioner.

Dr Sattar said the MQM was launching the process to build the houses at a massive scale and they would soon be shifted to the quake-affected areas. He asked the government, NGOs and other political parties to come forward and help the MQM in building more such houses.