- PSP leader says MQM chief is ‘a coward who hurls abuses one day and asks for forgiveness the next day’
Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) leader and former mayor of Karachi, Mustafa Kamal on Friday lashed out at Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chairman Altaf Hussain over his alleged involvement in an attack on his party’s motorcade in Mirpur Khas the other day.
“If we had not challenged this ‘Pharaoh,’ we would not have been blessed by the Almighty [to speak the truth],” the former Karachi mayor said in a veiled reference to the MQM chief while addressing reporters in Hyderabad on Friday.
“He [Altaf Hussain] is not more than a clown,” Kamal said as he urged media not to give the MQM chief much importance. “He is a coward who hurls abuses one day and asks for forgiveness the next day.”
Kamal reiterated his claim that his party had remained successful in attracting the masses and garnering their support “which is why we are being attacked”.
“We are not afraid of death, we will welcome death the day it is destined for us. We have recognised Allah as the one and only God and did not give any human that status,” Kamal added.
On Thursday, Kamal’s motorcade was attacked in over half a dozen locations in Mirpurkhas district. At least 10 persons, including two reporters, were injured after locals pelted the PSP with stones and eggs. Eight to ten vehicles, including the one carrying Kamal and Anis Qaimkhani, were damaged.
Protesters hurled abuses as well as shoes, stones, eggs and bricks. According to some reports, the stones and bricks were even thrown from rooftops along the roads where the PSP rally passed.
MQM REACTS:
Reacting to Kalam’s presser in a press conference at Nine Zero, MQM Senior Deputy Convener Farooq Sattar said [Mustafa Kamal] group was being led by some elements of establishment to restrain everyone from doing politics.
“The [group] arrived on March 3 to induce so much provocation in the society so that one may not be able to do [genuine] politics,” he said while addressing reporters.
Sattar termed Kamal’s remarks against MQM chairman “Inappropriate, provocative and unethical”.
“We demand the institutions of this country working under the Constitution take notice of this [situation],” he said, adding “There cannot be two sets of rules and regulations and PEMRA should differentiate between politics and provocation.”
“Altaf Hussain or other MQM leaders never used derogatory words or resorted to personality-bashing [in retaliation of the tirade].”
“We do not want to engage in a tit-for-tat politics and continue to respond to allegations while in fact we possess all documentary proof [against those doing so].”
He added, “This group have a history of misappropriation, china-cutting, loot and plunder, saying they nevertheless accepted an individual’s choice to make political choices and launch an organisation.