HYDERABAD, April 26 The Muttahida Qaumi Movement`s Hyderabad zone in-charge Mohammad Sharif has urged the Taliban to abandon their designs of conquering Pakistan and Sindh and restrict their activities to the tribal areas.

Addressing party workers here on Sunday, he said that Sindh was the land of Sufis and saints and if the Taliban ever dared to enter the province, its people would rise against them and they would have no place to hide.

He said that MQM chief Altaf Hussain had issued advance warning about Talibanisation but some political and religious parties tried to hoodwink the people by saying that Mr Hussain was against a particular community.

“His warnings have proved correct,” Mr Sharif said, and added that the MQM had never ever talked against any particular community but only against terrorists and extremists.

The people of Sindh did not need any certificate (of Islam) from the barbarians, the MQM leader said.

Our Mirpurkhas correspondent adds MQM Mirpurkhas zone in-charge Azeem Danish has expressed concern over the silence of political and religious parties, bar councils and civil society organisations on Tehrik Nifaz-i-Shariat Muhammadi leader Sufi Mohammad`s statement, terming parliament, constitution and high and supreme courts un-Islamic.

Speaking at a press conference here, he said that peace committees had been set up at the union council level to face the threat of Talibanisation, and added that notables and people belonging to different communities had been taken on the committees.

He warned that if Taliban tried to impose their self-styled Shariat in Sindh, followers of Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Lal Shahbaz Qalandar, Sachal Sarmast and others Sufis would resist the move. He said that the people of interior Sindh and the MQM were ready to offer resistance against Tablibanisation.

He called upon President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah to take pre-emptive measures to stop the process of Talibanisation from reaching Sindh.