KARACHI, Oct 8: Chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain has announced a donation of Rs5 million to the President’s Relief Fund for the victims of earthquake that hit different parts of Pakistan and Azad Kashmir on Saturday.

In a statement received here on Saturday from London,, Altaf Hussain appealed to the philanthropists to come forward with donations so that sufferings of the people affected by the natural calamity could be reduced.

He called upon the nation to work in a unified manner to alleviate the victims’ sufferings in a testing time. Terming the quake ‘a national tragedy’, he asked his party’s Central Coordination Committee to activate its workers to reach out the affected areas to join in the relief work.

RELIEF CAMPS: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has set up emergency relief camps in different parts of the city to collect essential items which would be dispatched to the quake-hit areas of the country.

The decision was taken at a meeting of the MQM coordination committee held here on Saturday. It also expressed grief over the tragedy.

MQM chief Altaf Hussain has directed the Khidmat-i-Khalq Foundation and medical committee of the party to gear up for providing relief to the affected people.

Party workers have been collecting blankets, rice, pulses, atta, sugar, edible oil and other relief goods, as well as life-saving drugs, for the quake victims.

Similar camps have been set up in other parts of the province.

Meanwhile, Sindh Industries Minister Adil Siddiqui left here for Islamabad along with Dr Farooq Sattar (MNA and Deputy Convenor of the MQM) to present a cheque for Rs5 million on behalf of the MQM chief Altaf Hussain to President Pervez Musharraf.

Earlier, speaking at the inauguration of a Bachat Bazaar, the minister expressed his deep sorrow over the colossal human and material loss.