KARACHI – Demanding that there should be more provinces in Pakistan, MQM chief Altaf Hussain on Sunday said the creation of new provinces will strengthen the country instead of weakening it.
“The Hazara and Seraiki people are demanding new provinces. A referendum needs to be held on the issue,” he said via telephone from London while addressing the largely attended ‘Jalsa-e-Qaumi Yakjehti’ (national solidarity public meeting). He also demanded the government should reduce its expenditures, cut the size of the federal cabinet and implement the decisions of the judiciary, adding that if the government did not pay heed to his warning, the rulers would face the people’s revolution.
Altaf said the MQM could not be labelled a linguistic-based party. “It is a national party, and the people of all ethnicities in the country are part of the MQM. This national solidarity public meeting, attended by Punjabis, Sindhis, Urdu-speaking people, the Baloch and Bengalis, has proven this point,” the MQM chief said.
He said the MQM would bring in place a system that was based on peace and realities. “If the MQM comes into power, murderers and those who had their bank loans written off will be punished. All those capitalists, who destroy the lives of workers in kilns, will also have to pay for their deeds. The constitution will be amended so that people involved in street crimes and kidnappings for ransom could be given death penalty or life sentence,” he said.
The MQM leader demanded the government address the problems of Balochistan and accept the rights of its people. He also demanded the Sindh government make efforts to bring an end to the increasing cases of abduction for ransom. Altaf also spoke on the issue of Dr Aafia, saying that “if the Americans want their citizens released, why are they not prepared to release her?”
He criticised politicians for staying quiet on the issue. Altaf asked the youth of Punjab to support him and again appealed to the army to back the people’s revolution. He said after the revolution, the palaces and property of landlords would not be destroyed but converted into educational institutions and hospitals.
