MQM contacts PML dissidents?

By Fasihur Rehman Khan

ISLAMABAD (The News, December 13): Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), coalition partner of the Muslim League government in the centre and major partner in the Sindh province, is learnt to have contacted the forward bloc of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (that also includes two PPP Patriot members) and extended an invitation to visit its headquarters in Karachi, it was reliably learnt.
Sources without disclosing names of MQM members in the National Assembly said some of its legislators recently contacted forward bloc leaders and extended them an invitation to visit 90 Ñ headquarters of the MQM in Azizabad Karachi.
The forward bloc leadership is learnt to be planning to fly to Karachi sometimes this month to meet the MQM leadership.
The News contacted forward bloc spokesman MNA Farooq Amjad Mir to learn whether such an invitation was extended to the forward bloc. "I cannot disclose whether such an invitation has been extended. But what I can say is that we are in contact with the allied parties of the government and MQM is a coalition partner".
He further added: "We are extending all out support to the Shaukat Aziz government but our stance against the PML Chief Ch Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Chief Minister Ch Pervaiz Elahi is very clear. We want their removal. And if MQM, ally of the government, invites us, we will be willing to pay a visit to Karachi and meet its leadership", he added.
In their maiden press conference at the parliament house cafeteria last week, Farooq Amjad Mir had clearly hinted that a government ally party was in contact with the forward bloc. MQM leaders and MNA Haider Abbas Rizvi, however, denied having extended any invitation to the forward bloc members to visit its Azizabad headquarters. "Not at all. We have not extended any such invitation," was his immediate reaction.
Asked whether they had some grievances against the PML chief or the Punjab chief minister, Rizvi bluntly replied: "had we any grievances, we enjoy the capability to deal with it on our own". Though grievances of the MQM leadership regarding the PML Chief Ch Shujaat Hussain and Punjab Chief Minister Ch Pervaiz Elahi were not known, but recently an MQM Member National Assembly, Kunwar Khalid Younas, had gone public against elements in the Shaukat Aziz government whom he alleged were remnants of the former military ruler the late General Ziaul Haq government.
This outburst came as Younas's bill to amend Hudoon Ordinance was recently rejected by the National Assembly as he could not muster support of the MNAs, especially of the ruling PML. The government also did not take any interest in his bill for obvious reasons.

Altaf declines support on KBD

KARACHI, (Dawn, Dec 12): Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has refused to side with the government on Kalabagh dam or any other issue which was against the interests, hopes and aspirations of the people of Sindh.

Addressing Haq Parast parliamentarians on Monday, Mr Hussain said that the MQM stand was clearly understood by all sections of the Sindh population, including intellectuals, writers, columnists, teachers, historians, critics and political analysts, who all were aspiring for progress and prosperity of their province. They were also been witness to the firm stand taken by the party on other crucial issues, like the NFC Award.

He said the MQM had taken a principled stand on the question of the award, and stuck to it. No other political party had taken such a principled stand on the subject before, he said.He felt happy that conspiracies of the past to create urban-rural divide in Sindh and widen the gulf between them had not only been foiled, but the unity that existed among them today had never been seen before.

Altaf Hussain said that people of Sindh had seen through the game and were no longer willing to fall in the trap of the conspirators.He said that Urdu-speaking Sindhis on the MQM side were equally sincere, loyal and faithful like the old Sindhis, who had made the province their abode centuries and thousands of years back. “They know well that they have to live and die, and sink and swim together. Their destiny lay with the survival and progress of the province,” he remarked. It should, therefore, be very clear that MQM would oppose Kalabagh dam and all other projects which the majority of the people of the province did not approve or against which they had reservations.

He directed party workers, whether Urdu-speaking Sindhis, Sindhi-speaking Sindhis, Punjabis, Baloch, Pakthoon, Seraikis, or Kashmiris, to fan out to every nook and corner of the province to convey the MQM message, and ask people not to give weight to conspiracies, disinformation or propaganda which would obviously be aimed at destroying their unity and undermining their interests.