- Karachi shuts down as MQM observes Black Day against PPP’s Khursheed Shah’s ‘derogatory’ use of word ‘muhajir’
- MQM to embark on campaign for 20 new provinces in Pakistan after Muharram
- Sindh CM accepts MQM lawmakers’ resignations, says open to talks with MQM but will not compromise on important issues
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chairman Altaf Hussain said that the people of Sindh have decided in favour of a new province as MQM supporters in large numbers observed Black Day against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Khursheed Shah’s remarks about “muhajirs” in Karachi.
The people have spoken about the need of new administrative units or provinces in Sindh and Pakistan,” said Hussain in a statement issued by MQM Sunday.
“PPP sowed the seeds of prejudice and hatred in 1973. PPP claims to be a national political party but history proves that it always used the Sindh card and not the Pakistan card,” the statement added.
Hussain said that the “prejudiced” feudal lords of Sindh never accepted the Urdu-speaking Sindhis or “muhajirs” as true Sindhis.
‘MUHAJIRS OWN PAKISTAN’:
Addressing a big rally in Karachi, MQM leaders announced to embark on a campaign for 20 new provinces in Pakistan after Muharram.
MQM leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said there was a difference between “muhajirs” and “panah guzeen” (refugees). “We represent the people who turned Hindustan into Pakistan,” he maintained, adding that “muhajirs” were the “owners” of Pakistan, not only Sindh. In his concluding remarks, Siddiqui announced to end the Black Day.
Earlier, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar said that his party wanted equal distribution of resources in urban and rural Sindh. He said that feudal lords, who believed in oppression and politics of inheritance, were spreading their control over Pakistan’s resources but vowed not to let this oppression take root in the urban areas of Sindh.
“We want empowerment for both rural and urban Sindh. Our movement will create Jinnah’s Pakistan in real terms,” said Sattar.
Sattar lambasted Shah for “likening the word muhajir to a swear word”, adding that MQM’s gathering was for a “supreme cause”.
Rauf Siddiqui said that a “muhajir” is one who leaves his country and his home for the cause of religion and said that Shah openly disrespected the word. “Muhajir is the one who abandons everything for Pakistan,” he said, adding that MQM’s rally was a gathering of “Aashiqan-e-Rasool” (the Prophet (PBUH)’s lovers).
STRIKE-LIKE SITUATION:
As MQM observed a Black Day, the metropolitan city of Karachi was completely shut down. No major untoward incidents occurred but fear and uncertainty gripped the city all day.
Various petrol pumps and CNG stations of the city remained shut following the MQM chief’s earlier appeal to traders and transporters to keep their businesses shut and halt public transportation to support peaceful observance of MQM’s Black Day.
Karachi Transport Ittehad Chairman Irshad Bukhari reportedly said, “We stopped our vehicles from coming on the roads following MQM’s appeal.”
Within minutes after MQM leader Abdul Haseeb’s press conference at the party’s headquarter Nine-Zero on Saturday evening, traders and shopkeepers halted all business activities.
Moreover, the entry tests scheduled for Sunday at University of Karachi and Benazir Medical University Lyari were also postponed.
SINDH CM ACCEPTS MQM LAWMAKERS’ RESIGNATIONS:
In the meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah Sunday accepted resignations of three Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) lawmakers, including two ministers and an adviser, a Sindh CM spokesperson confirmed.
Five MQM lawmakers were part of the Sindh cabinet out of which three – Faisal Sabzwari, Adil Siddiqui and Abdul Haseeb Khan – resigned from the PPP-led coalition government in protest against PPP leader Shah’s remarks on “muhajirs”.
“I accepted MQM lawmakers’ resignations on their insistence,” said Qaim, adding that PPP was open to talks with MQM but would not compromise on any important issues.
“We have always resolved issues through dialogue with MQM and I spoke to Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ebad in this regard last night,” he said.
