KARACHI, Oct 31: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has urged the president and the prime minister set up a national fund for steering the country out of the present financial crisis.

He made the appeal in a telephonic address to his party’s workers on Friday.

Without naming anyone, he urged “rulers, bureaucrats and retired generals” to bring back part of their wealth from abroad and help Pakistan to avert a default.

Stressing the need for reducing ‘unnecessary’ government expenditure, he said the government should take immediate steps for reducing food prices and load-shedding.

Announcing that his party would launch the proposed fund, he donated Rs1 million and said: “All Pakistanis must play their role in overcoming the crisis.”

He called for protecting democracy, which, he said, had been restored after a long time. He warned that Karachi was being surrounded by ‘trained Talibans’, who “are against educated, liberal and peace-loving citizens … of Karachi”.

He said that girls’ common rooms in reputed educational institutions in the city had been occupied by what he called the ‘Burqa Brigade’, where girls not wearing a veil were not allowed to enter.Citing some news reports, Mr Hussain said that over the past 15 days, 10 MQM workers had been killed in various areas of the city.

He said that neither the MQM nor the people of Karachi would accept the enforcement of the Sharia of ‘sticks and guns’, adding that such attempts would be fiercely resisted. Urging ‘well-off people’ to apply for arms licence, he said that they should also “help those who cannot afford licences and arms”.

The MQM leader, however, clarified that his party was opposing the Taliban and not the Pakhtoons, Punjabis or any other community.