News
Monday, April 11, 2011
MQM public meeting a failure: PML-N
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has termed the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) public meeting in Lahore the “most expensive” in the political history of the country.
PML-N Central Information Secretary, Ahsan Iqbal, while talking to Daily Times said that despite spending millions of rupees on it, the MQM’s public meeting culminated in failure as it received very little response from the people of Punjab. Iqbal endorsed one of PML-N leader’ statement that the public meeting had been financed by extortion money collected from Karachi. “There is no doubt about this and everyone knows how they generate the money,” he added.
“It was a rented rally by bringing in people from Karachi with no significant participation by people of Punjab,” he information secretary said. When asked whether he had any credible proof that people had come from Karachi to attend the meeting, Ahsan disclosed that the reports of the Special Branch were enough to prove it. The PML-N leader said that the people of Punjab had out-rightly rejected MQM in Punjab by keeping away from the meeting.
Commenting on the stance of the MQM on various issues, he said that the party was full of contradictions. For instance, they claim to be struggling against feudalism, but their track record of the last 20 years shows that they had joined hands with the feudal lords of Sindh for the sake of power.
Iqbal also rejected the notion of a revolution being propagated by the party and said that they could not resolve the problems of the people of Punjab, as their stronghold, Karachi, was gripped in numerous problems. MQM leader Wasim Akhtar deplored the comments of the PML-N leader when he was contacted to express his views. “This is a clear sign that the PML-N leadership is perplexed on the entry of MQM in Punjab where it received an overwhelming response in today’s meeting in Lahore,” he said. Akhtar rejected the comments of Iqbal and said that the meeting was a “big success”.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk