HYDERABAD, Aug 24: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has advised PML-N leader Mian Nawaz Sharif to avoid politics of confrontation because the country needed cohesion, and not conflicts.

He also urged the PML-N leader not to oppose PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s nomination for the office of president because his wife Benazir Bhutto had sacrificed her life for democracy the way her father and brothers had done before her.

Addressing a meeting of Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation volunteers on Sunday night on phone from London, the MQM chief praised the efforts made by his party and Mr Zardari to bridge the rural-urban divide and said that the people of Sindh who followed great mystics like Shah Abdul Latif Bhittai would support his call to oppose extremism and Talibanisation.

He criticised the elements who accused the MQM of trying to stir up ethnic riots by raising the bogey of Talbanisation.

Dispelling the perception that his party was against Pukhtoons or the ANP, he urged them to beware of people who were trying to create misunderstanding. He said: “This is absolutely wrong. We are opposing only Talbanisation.”

He also sought MQM workers’ endorsement of the coordination committee’s decision to propose Asif Zardari’s name for president. He said that the Haq Parast people of Punjab should also support Mr Zardari, adding that Mr Sharif should concentrate on steering the country out of economic crisis, instead of creating a row.

He warned the people against giving Zakat or Fitra donations without obtaining receipts and said that disciplinary action would be taken against a party worker if a complaint was received in that regard.

Referring to the suicide bombings outside the Pakistan Ordinance Factory in Wah, he said: “What kind of Islam permits the killing of innocent people? People who perpetrate such crimes and elements who are trying to destabilise the country cannot be called Muslims.”

He said he had spoken about Talbanisation but his statements had been distorted by certain circles.

Praising security forces engaged in fighting in the NWFP and tribal areas and Prime Minister’s Adviser on Interior Rehman Malik, he expressed concern over sectarian clashes in Dera Ismail Khan and said that his party was ready to organise a jirga of Shia and Sunni Ulema to resolve disputes and avert further bloodshed.