KARACHI, March 19: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain on Tuesday demanded equal rights for all the citizens and added that the people of small provinces be allowed to govern their provinces.

Speaking to the party workers in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Sukkur, Nawabshah, Sanghar etc., from London on telephone on the occasion of 18th anniversary of the party’s foundation day, he demanded full provincial autonomy for provinces of Sindh and Balochistan.

He criticized the decision of the government to induct army officers in the anti-terrorism courts and said these army officers should be posted at mosques, imambargahs, and minorities’ religious places so that everybody worshipped peacefully according to his belief.

He said the government had failed to arrest the terrorists who have been carrying out acts of terrorism without any fear, including those responsible for the recent attack on the Protestant church in Islamabad. “The establishment is claiming to have recovered huge quantities of arms in Hyderabad, which shows the intention of the government to launch another operation against the MQM,” he claimed.

He warned that in case of any such operation, the MQM would resort to a province-wide protest that would be supported by all the ethnic groups.

He demanded that Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz chief Bashir Qureshi and other leaders be released immediately.