KARACHI, Oct 8: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Wednesday demanded of the government to focus on Karachi and solve its long standing problems.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Kunwar Khalid Younus, member of the party’s coordination committee and a candidate for the national assembly seat from NA-245, said that despite the fact that Karachi contributed to the national exchequer in the shape of revenue, it was still being neglected. “Depriving Karachiites of civic facilities and development works (is) unjust, and it (is) high time for the president to think over and rectify the situation”, he added.

He deliberated at length on the different problems and proposed development projects, which, according to him, had either been shelved or had fallen prey to ‘red-tapism.’ He urged the government to concentrate on such projects as the Karachi Mass Transit Programme, Northern Bypass, Lyari Expressway, Karachi Circular Railway, Bulk Water Supply project and the Storm Water Drainage project.

He said that construction work in regards to the Lyari Expressway should be carried out under the old map, which was approved by the elected government in the past. He also demanded payments to people being displaced as per the existing market rates.

He said that Karachi needed a computerized system of piped water supply to citizens, ensuring an equitable and regular supply of water to every part of the city. He also urged for the construction of middle and small size flyovers in the city in order to streamline traffic.

Referring to the ever increasing power tariff and power shortages, he demanded that the KESC should be allowed to establish more powerhouses in the city, and a tax rebate should also be given on furnace oil for Karachi.

Altaf: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s chief, Altaf Hussain, has accused the religious parties of hoodwinking straightforward Pakhtoons in the name of Islam and jihad, and said that times have changed, and such parties would not succeed now.

He was making a telephonic address at Banaras Chowk on Monday night, and referred to the problems being faced by the people of the constituency.

He alleged that the leaders of the religious parties exploited poor Pakhtoons, and urged them to make supreme sacrifice while they sent their own children to the US or other western countries for higher studies, instead of sending them to jihad.

He said that the Establishment and the so-called religious parties had done nothing for the welfare of the poor Pakhtoons. He said that now, the Punjabis and Pakhtoons settled in Sindh have become aware of such conspiracies, and they would not fall prey to such elements.

He paid tribute to the Red Shirt leader — the late Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan — and said that he was a true revolutionary and a freedom fighter, whose main purpose was to liberate the people from British colonial rule.

He alleged that in order to disrupt peace and stability, the Establishment pursued the policy of divide and rule and pitted the Pakhtoons against the Mohajirs living in the city.

He alleged that once again, the Establishment and intelligence agencies, in collusion with the religious organizations’, were conspiring to create a similar situation through misleading propaganda.

The MQM chief also talked about the plight of the people of Sindh, who, he said, were deprived of their rights and resources.