HYDERABAD, May 17: An all-party conference attended by representatives of different political parties held the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, Sindh government and President Musharraf responsible for the May 12 Karachi killings and demanded a ban on the MQM.

The conference was organised by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal at Ruknul Islam Jamia Mujaddidia in Hirabad on Wednesday night. MMA leader Dr Sahibzada Abul Khair Mohammad Zubair presided.

The conference’s declaration issued on Thursday said that the APC formed Hyderabad Grand Alliance to unite the people of the city and foil what he termed conspiracies to fan ethnic riots.

The alliance extended support to lawyers in their struggle for independence of judiciary and expressed concern over deteriorating law and order in the country.

It said that the present situation was a conspiracy against the ideology of Pakistan where nobody's life, property and honour were safe, concept of rule of law had become a misnomer and writ of government had disappeared.

The circumstances required that the government should accept its failure and resign, a national government comprising all the patriotic parties should be appointed, fair, free, impartial and transparent elections should be held and power should be transferred to genuine representatives of people, the alliance stressed.

The alliance made it clear that the nation would not accept dictatorship of any general in future, condemned attack on private TV channel Aaj and media persons and extended full cooperation to media men in their struggle for the independence of press.

The conference demanded an end to ongoing military operation in Balochistan and release of Baloch leader Sardar Akhtar Mengal, PML-N leader Javed Hashmi, JUP leader Allama Shabbir Hashmi and all the political leaders and workers being held incommunicado.The conference called for solving the Balochistan imbroglio through negotiations after accepting the genuine demands of Baloch people.

The conference condemned bomb blasts in Peshawar and bloodshed in Tank which resulted in loss of precious lives.

Jamaat-i-Islami leaders Maulana Abdul Waheed Qureshi and Shaikh Shoukat Ali, JUP’s Abdul Rehman Rajput and Haji Moinuddin Shaikh, PML-N leader Mohammad Afzal Gujjar, PPP’s Amanullah Siyal, Khalid Hassan Attari of Sunni Tehrik, ANP leaders Haji Asmatullah Khan Mehsud and Haji Sher Zaman Khan, JUI-F leaders Taj Mohammad Nahiyoon and Mohammad Azam Jehangiri, SNF’s Ayoub Shar, PTI leader Dr Abdul Samad Shaikh and PDP’s Abdul Rehman Shaikh advocate attended the conference.

ANOTHER APC: The Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party would hold an all-party conference in the city on May 27 to chalk out a joint strategy for preventing a repeat of May 12 Karachi killings and terrorism.

The decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the party’s central committee on Wednesday night. STP Chairman Dr Qadir Magsi presided over the meeting.

The meeting observed that the loss of 45 lives in Karachi had exposed the real face of an ‘ethnic organisation’ and urged the nationalist and democratic forces to unite on one platform to launch a joint struggle against ‘terrorists’.

The meeting warned that if ‘the terrorist group was allowed to remain in power,’ the consequences for the country, especially Sindh, would be disastrous.

The meeting claimed that the Karachi carnage was a rehearsal for fanning ethnic riots in the province leading to division of Sindh and decided to hold annual party congress at Taraqqi Pasand House on June 2 and 3.