News
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
MQM chief proposes Karachi peace plan
Staff Report
KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has proposed a peace formula for restoring peace and stability in Karachi.
“All the religious and political parties in the country should send a five-member delegation to Karachi for the sake of restoring peace, he said, while addressing via telephone from London to a large gathering of MQM office-bearers and workers at Lal Qila Ground, Azizabad, here on Tuesday.
He said: “If a single bullet is fired anywhere in the city, these delegations should be sent to that area to see for themselves as to who is firing. They should see for themselves as to who is spoiling the peace in Karachi.” Hussain also invited retired army officers and judges to become part of the delegations in order to ascertain the identity of those who are creating trouble. He asserted: “If this was done everything will become crystal clear.” “Leaders of all the religious and political parties should know that the elements behind the tragic incidents occurring in Karachi are working at the behest of foreign powers,” he said, invited everyone to come forward and added, “Let us build peace in Karachi together”. He particularly appealed to PML-N and its leader Nawaz Sharif, Co-chairman of PPP Asif Ali Zardari, Pir Sahab Pagara of PML-F, Imran Khan of PTI, Maulana Fazlur Rehman of JUI (F) and leaders of all other political and religious parties to send their delegations to Karachi.
Hussain also asked the local and national leaders of the PPP and the ANP to invite Asfandyar Wali and Asif Zardari to Karachi for ameliorating the situation. He asked them to get united and invite all other political and religious parties to take out a peace rally in Karachi.
He said that he was offering friendship with all sincerity and with good intentions. He said everyone should come forward for establishing peace in Karachi and asked that saving Karachi was equal to saving Pakistan. Hussain asked ANP, MQM, PPP and Kachhi community to reach those areas where bullets were being fired. “Let us be united and see who is devastating the localities of the poor people in Karachi,” he added. He said that MQM staunchly believed in democracy and it respected the vote bank of all the religious and political parties. “If someone wanted to suppress MQM with the brute force of the state, then the history is witness that those who tried to eliminate MQM were themselves eliminated,” he added. He commended the armed forces and defence institutions for their bravery and added the country was passing through hard times and international powers were mounting pressure on the Army and other defence institutions.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk