KARACHI, Sept 29: The Mohajir Qaumi Movement chief Afaq Ahmad has said the October 10 elections will provide an opportunity to the Mohajirs to manifest their identity and determination for survival by stamping on the “candle”, the party’s election symbol.

He was addressing a public meeting here at Nishtar Park on Sunday.

Afaq Ahmad said the Mohajirs must not be misled by the old kite symbol which “used to be our symbol in the past but now represents Altaf Hussain who has disowned the Mohajirs and is contesting in the name of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.”

A good number of those who attended the occasion had to sit in the scorching sun for the meeting which was supposed to begin at 12.30 pm and which began around 3 pm with the arrival of MQM secretary general Aamir Khan. Those who spoke on the occasion included Akhtar Shad, Fatima Ismail, Sohail Anjum, Nazeer Ibrahim, Shamsher Ahmad Khan, Mehmood Qureshi and Iqbal Qureshi.

The venue had been decorated with party flags and banners inscribed with slogans in support of the Mohajirs. The participants were also holding flags and portraits of Afaq Ahmad. There were only two small tents, one for controlling the mike system and the other for guiding the workers. Many people were standing in the streets around Nishtar Park or sitting in buses, to protect themselves from the sun. The speeches were punctuated by the slogan “Naara-i-Mohajir, Jiye Mohajir.

Afaq Ahmad was given a standing ovation and began his speech amid slogans of Jiye Mohajir. Flower petals were showered by a snorkle and the song “Jag Mohajir Jag” was played.

Accusing Altaf Hussain of bartering away the rights of the Mohajirs for personal gains and living a luxurious life in London leaving his workers here to face hardships, Afaq called him a “Lawrence of Arabia” who had stabbed Mohajirs in the back.

Recalling the circumstances which led to the formation of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, he said the Mohajirs had been reduced to the level of the untouchables and were badly treated, but in the wake of their unity the days came when Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were seeking support of the Mohajirs and paying visits to their headquarters.

Afaq Ahmad also criticized the Ulema who, he said, never had enough of praying for the Kashmiris and the Afghans, but who had not raised their voice against the massacre of Muslims in Indian Gujarat. That, he said, had led him to think that it was the nationality that mattered to the Ulema and not Islam.

The MQM chief said that taking to task their killers was the Mohajirs’ right, and if they were not in a position to convict them, they could use the ballot to express their hatred. He further said that unity achieved by negating one’s own existence was not unity but slavery, and asked if the “Sindhi terrorist” elected from a Mohajir constituency would refuse to raise the slogan “Behari na Khapan”.

“It is the first time Altaf Hussain is contesting elections under the banner of the “Muttahida Qaumi Movement”, which means he has denied his very existence and the question of the rights of the Mohajirs”, Afaq said.

He pointed out that even before the MQM was formed, those elected to the assemblies from Mohajir constituencies were Mohajirs like Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani, Prof Ghafoor Ahmad, Zahoor-ul-Hasan Bhopali and Allama Mustafa Azhari; but they were opposed to the Mohajir nationality and were rejected by the Mohajirs. He said he hoped that on October 10 the Mohajirs would give their verdict in the favour of their identity and reject the candidates put up by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement.

Earlier, Aamir Khan in his speech said the main points of the manifesto of their party continued to be the recognition of the Mohajirs as the fifth nationality, an end to the quota system and the opening of the Khokhrapar route. Those, he said, were the issues on the basis of which the MQM had been formed by the APMSO.

Recalling the tragedies of Aligarh colony, Qasba Colony, and Pukka Qila, he said that now Altaf Hussain had joined hands with the very elements responsible for those tragedies and had issued them tickets to contest from Mohajir constituencies, in the name of unity between the Mohajirs and the Sindhis. “We are not opposed to the idea of being united with other nationalities, but we are against the supporters of “Sindhu Desh” and those whose hands are stained with the blood of the Mohajirs”, said Aamir Khan.