ISLAMABAD, April 25: The London-based chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Altaf Hussain has called for national integration instead of politics of confrontation at a time when the country was passing through a critical juncture.

Addressing graduate forum here on Thursday dilated on the impact of development sin the Middle East and Central Asia after the American invasion of Iraq and warned that policy of adhocsim would not be in the national interest.

He chided the parties who had raised objection to the LFO unmindful of the critical situation with which the country was passing.

His criticism of the parties opposing the LFO was understandable because the MQM is a part of the government. He said that owing to past mistakes when rights of smaller provinces were not respected, a sense of alienation was rapidly growing among the people.

He therefore called for equipping the nation with necessary education and technological base to meet the future challenges.

Mr Hussain lashed out at the religious parties for what he termed as misleading the people by exploiting their religious sentiments in the name of jihad.

He cautioned that if the religious parties provoked sentiments against the followers of other religions, it would have serious negative impact on the Muslims living in the non-Muslim countries.

He called for refraining from evoking sentiments of the people and underlined the need for addressing the genuine problems of the people whole have been toiling for them since the inception of this country.

Mr Hussain cautioned against the looming threat to Pakistan’s security and was of the view that this could not be ensured by a strong military alone. He was of the view that complete national unity was answer to the challenge.

He also called for banishing feudalism which he said was the biggest impediment to the progress of the country.

Mr Hussain, who used the opportunity to lash out at the religious parties, called for forgetting the past and forging national unity to ward off the looming threat.

Mr Hussain chided those who had accused him of anti-state activities and said that time would prove who, through the brutal use of force, caused damage to the integrity and security of the country and who slaughtered Bengali Muslim and raped their women.