KARACHI, April 1: The chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Hussain, on Tuesday stressed the need for sectarian unity and said the Shiites and Sunnis in the country should end their differences, once for all, for the sake of national integration.

Talking to a delegation of scholars at the MQM’s International Secretariat in London, he asked the Shiites and Sunnis to follow the example of their Iraqi brethren and bring their differences to an end.

The Iraqis, he said, have risen above their sectarian divide and are pitched against the allied forces.

Mr Hussain said the US, UK, their allies and policy-makers had earlier believed that Iraq would be conquered in a few days and various reasons were given justifying their belief.

He pointed out that the main reason given was that the people of Iraq were disgruntled with Saddam Hussain and Iraq was deeply divided on sectarian basis, with the Shiite having resentment against Saddam.

But whatever the world witnessed today was that the Iraqis rose above their difference and utilized whatever little resources they had against the allied forces, and this all they did for the integration of Iraq.

Mr Hussain added that unfortunately in Pakistan, rivals termed each other as infidels, issuing decrees in this regard. Even the murder of rivals was considered justified.

He said it was imperative upon the Shiites and Sunnis to remove their differences for ever.

Similarly, he said, the religious minorities living in Pakistan should not be seen with suspicion. It was necessary to strengthen the concept of one-nation. Only this magnanimity would sustain the country, he added.

He also said that it was the need of the hour that all smaller provinces are equally treated and made genuinely autonomous by devolving rights and power.

He said that in this fast changing world only those countries would sustain where each others’ sects, jurisprudence, religion is respected instead of unjustifiably criticized or targeted where people are treated in equality are provided equal share in national wealth and resources.