WE
CANNOT EVEN THINK OF ACTING AGAINST THE COUNTRY, CREATED BY OUR ANCESTORS –
ALTAF HUSSAIN
ALL
OUR ENERGIES WILL BE UTILISED UNCONDITIONALLY FOR THE SUSTENANCE, SECURITY AND
DEVELOPMENT OF PAKISTAN
I WANT BETTERMENT OF PAKISTAN AND I ADVISE PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF NOT TO REPEAT THE MISTAKES OF GENERAL YAHYA KHAN
IF THE SCHOLARS OF PUNJAB WILL SPEAK OF GREATER PUNJAB, WE WILL ALSO SPEAK OF GREATER SINDH
IF
MQM WILL BE IN POWER, THE MURDERERS OF ZULFIQAR ALI BHUTTO AND MURTAZA BHUTTO
WILL BE BROUGHT TO JUSTICE
Karachi
--- 20 December 2004
Mr. Altaf Hussain, founder and leader of Muttahida Quami Movement has declared categorically that Pakistan was created as a result of sacrifice of 2 million lives of our ancestors and they had sacrificed their homes, properties, heritage, hearth and everything for the creation of this country. We left back even the graves of our ancestors, spiritual centres, cultural heritage and their memorials for the sake of Pakistan. We are generation of the creators of Pakistan, we cannot think of working against the country. All our energies will be utilised unconditionally for the sustenance, security and development of Pakistan. He said that public should not pay attention to the negative propaganda against my academic discussions. Mr. Altaf Hussain said that Sindh should be given total autonomy and the elected representatives of Sindh should be allowed to run the provincial affairs. Decisions about Sindh should no more come from Islamabad. He said that I want betterment of the country and as a well wisher of the country, I will advise President Parvez Musharraf not to repeat the mistakes of General Yahya Khan and he should take step to stop the negative propaganda against MQM. He said that if the scholars of Punjab will insist on Greater Punjab on the basis of same language and culture of East and West Punjab then we also have the right to speak of Greater Sindh on the same basis, i.e. language and culture. He said that Peoples Party was in power twice but never convicted anyone for the murder of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto but the day MQM will be in power, we will certainly bring murderers of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and Murtaza Bhutto to justice. Mr. Altaf Hussain expressed these views on Sunday evening during his telephonic address from London to the office bearers of MQM in Khurshid Begum Memorial Hall, Azizabad, Karachi. Members of MQM Central Coordination Committee, Federal, provincial ministers and elected Senators, MNAs and MPAs belonging to MQM, Incharges and members of all the Zones and Sectors of Sindh province and all the wings of MQM and Sub Committees and office bearers of different departments of Nine Zero were present during this meeting. Mr. Altaf Hussain said that despite all the hurdles and obstacles, MQM’s elected representatives are busy day and night for the development but their efforts are being ignored and credit is being given to others. Similarly, MQM’s representatives have worked for years on Karachi Mass Transit programme and Governor Sindh had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a Chinese firm, which was supported by the Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz but suddenly, on recommendations of the bureaucrats from Punjab, the MOU was cancelled, the decision of Sindh was nullified and the contract of this important project is being awarded to another company. He said we would not accept if Islamabad continues to take these kind of decisions for Sindh. We are part of the government but it does not mean that we have given up the struggle for rights of Sindh. Inspite of being in government, we are fighting and shall continue fighting Sindh’s case without any expediency. Our stand is clear that total provincial autonomy be granted to Sindh and impositions of decisions from Islamabad should be stopped. The elected representatives of the province should be allowed to run the provincial affairs. Mr. Altaf Hussain said that he wanted betterment of the country and being a well wisher of the country and president Musharaf, I advise him not to repeat the mistakes, committed by General Yahya Khan on the advises of the establishment. General Yahya Khan acted in the light of wrong advises from many people and I therefore, advise President Musharraf not to heed to the wrong advises. Mr. Altaf Hussain said that in reply to some true and factual academic arguments, which he had presented during his recent T.V. interview, the newspapers and magazines belonging to Punjab have launched a negative campaign against him. Inspite of replying logically, they are using abusive language against him. He said that he was declared enemy of Pakistan and demand is being made to implicate him in treason case. He said that he never bothered for the cases against him and he will always speak truth and bring facts, which he had always been doing. He said that history stands witness that anyone, who had spoken truth, was declared a traitor. He said that people who are declaring him a traitor, are the same people, who used to clean shoes of English rulers and who used to work as informers for British colonial government of India against the people, who were struggling for the independence of the Indian sub-continent. He said that these are the very people, who declared that Mujeeb-ur-Rehman and the Bengalis, who had all supported the Pakistan movement, traitors, while they were not. Today, Asghar Khan, Sardar Sherbaz Khan Mazari, Rouedad Khan and other important persons are openly saying that Bengalis did not want to break the country but the former generals and politicians are responsible for the break up of Pakistan. Mr. Altaf Hussain said that had a lesson was learnt from the dismemberment of Pakistan in 1971, Baloch people would not have been bombarded in 1973. He asked a question that why the houses of people, who were responsible for the break up of Pakistan, were not bombarded by the so called braves, instead localities of Baloch were bombarded terming them traitors. He further said that had a lesson was learnt from the fall of Dhaka, then the army operation would not have started in the rural areas of Sindh in 1983 and urban areas of Sindh in 1992. He said that a culprit could not be spared on the grounds that he committed a crime 20 years ago. According to the law of the country, a criminal should be punished, no matter when the crime was committed, therefore all the people, who were responsible for the dismemberment of the country, should be brought to justice. Mr. Altaf Hussain informed the participants of the conference of the conspiracy among some elements of secret powers, underworld criminals and religious extremists to crush MQM. He said that by the blessings of Hazrat Moin Uddin Chishti, Khawajah Nizam Uddin Auliyah and the martyrs of Kerbala, they themselves will be crushed. Mr. Altf Hussain pointed out that during his visit to India, he argued Pakistan’s case and in front of international leadership, stated that India and Pakistan are independent sovereign countries and they should accept each other’s existence and should resolve their differences by peaceful means rather than war. But my words have been misinterpreted. In a recent TV interview I elaborated some historical facts but certain writers from Punjab got uptight. He questioned that didn’t I claim to be a Pakistani and I am working for the well being of Pakistan? Why is there much rompers against me? It seems that by exposing the conspiracy of Greater Punjab, I have touched the raw nerve of certain biased writers and intellectuals. He said that certain biased intellectuals and leaders from Punjab are boasting that people of Indian Punjab and Pakistani Punjab are one, there is unity in their language and culture; in that case we can also claim greater Sindh because there is unity in the language and culture of the people of Sindh – the same lingo is spoken in either side of the border. While talking about the rights of the people of Sindh and role that Pakistan Peoples Party played, he said that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto became the Chief Martial Law Administrator and then Prime Minister but he only worked for his personal interests, interests of Army generals and the interests of Punjab province. He continued to eulogize federation and army generals but what did he achieve in return? The establishment that he served was responsible for sending him to the gallows. Mr. Altaf Hussain asked the people of Sindh that if they consider Bhutto’s hanging an atrocity and if you have slightest bit of feeling about his murder, then they ,must tell us how long they will continue to bring such party into power, who always traded the murder of Z. A. Bhutto. He reminded them that they voted for Benazir Bhutto on the name of her father. Article 6 of the constitution that was framed by Z. A. Bhutto clearly states that anyone who imposes Martial Law is guilty of high treason. The penalty for high treason is death. He questioned the Sindhi intellectuals, students and people whether any army general or bureaucrat were tried under article 6 during the tenure of Benazir Bhutto in 1988. He also asked the true devotees of Sindh that when PPP again formed the government in 1993, how many establishment personnel were punished under article 6, who brought cases in military courts against PPP workers, as a result they were sentenced to imprisonment, tortured, publicly lashed and even hanged. What did PPP do for its ordinary workers, who raised the slogan of Jiye Bhutto? How many poor workers were awarded with election seats, who were flogged and imprisoned. Mr. Altaf Hussain asked all the sincere and devoted youngsters, poets, intellectuals, thinkers, historians, writers, doctors, engineers, professors and people belonging to all walks of life from the middle class as to what has PPP done for NFC award for Sindh, the water problems in Sindh and the Kalabagh Dam and all other rights of Sindh during all the years, it has been in power. Despite getting power again and again, what Peoples Party has done for the development and prosperity of the poor people of Sindh province? He said that to please establishment and create gulf between Sindhi speaking and Urdu Speaking Sindhis, PPP killed extra judicially, more than 15000 innocent Urdu speaking Sindhis. To further increase hatred, Benazir Bhutto used humiliating words of mice and cowards in Qusoor city of Punjab for the Urdu speaking Sindhis. He said that during the tenure of PPP, his brother Nasir Hussain and nephew Arif Hussain were arrested, inhumanly tortured for three days and finally were killed extra judicially. Everyone know that Nasir Hussain and Arif Hussain were neither members of MQM nor they were members of any other party. While all the Pakistanis are aware of the fact that Benazir and Murtaza Bhutto had separate political parties and they had political disputes. He said that the same government officials, who used to kill MQM workers extra judicially and Benazir called it police encounters, killed Zulfiqar Bhutto’s only remaining male child Mir Murtaza Bhutto, extra judicially and called it police encounter during the tenure of Benazir and she kept quite. Even after so many years, she has not yet disclosed the secret behind the murder of Murtaza Bhutto. Mr. Altaf Hussain said that had Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto been hanged along with General Yahya Khan, other generals, chauvinist scholars and leaders of political and religious parties, who were directly or indirectly involved in the genocide of innocent Bengalis and were responsible for the dismemberment of Pakistan, then my thinking would have been different but the decision to hang Bhutto was controversial because three judges were against the decision while four were in favour of this decision to hang Bhutto during the Martial Law period. He said that he was always against those feudal lords, who were always fulfilling wishes of Army generals and that is the reason that he has never remained a supporter of the policies of Bhutto but the day, Bhutto was hanged, many people distributed sweets to celebrate. He further said that some people were distributing sweets in his area as well, when he asked for the reason of the distribution of sweets and he was told that Bhutto is hanged. He disgraced them and threw the dish of sweets away because the decision to hang Bhutto was not right. He said that he has opposed Bhutto’s political policies but since his death, he has never used wrong or humiliating language for him. He said that he was expecting that when PPP will be in power, they will bring the culprits to justice but the PPP in 1993, inspite of punishing the killers of Bhutto, started killing extra judicially the Urdu Speaking Sindhis. Mr. Altaf Hussain said that Peoples Party will never bring the murderers of Zulfiqar and Murtaza Bhutto to justice. He promised to the people of Sindh that the day MQM will be in power in entire Pakistan, the murderers of Zulfiqar and Murtaza Bhutto will be brought to justice. Mr. Altaf Hussain said that he has no personal dispute with Asif Zardari and he congratulated him for his release from jail. He said that he has no objection on his becoming President or Prime Minister of Pakistan but he was very sorry to listen that Asif Zardari wants to see Bilawal or Asifa as future Prime Minister. He said that Asif Ali Zardari, with his feudal mentality, should not forget Zulfiqar Junior and should remember the orphan grandson of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto alongwith his own children. Mr. Altaf Hussain said that the agents of establishment are worried because of the MQM message being spread in the villages and towns of Sindh and they are using abusive statements against him and MQM. He said that these are unappreciative people, one of whom was called ‘talented cousin’ by Bhutto and was inducted into his cabinet. The very same people left Bhutto alone during Martial Law and traded with establishment, when Bhutto was hanged. Mr. Altaf Hussain said that he wants people of Sindh, not to vote anymore for the people, who left Bhutto alone and distributed sweets on his death and should think on right path for the attainment of rights for Sindh. He said that it is sorrowful that PPP has forgotten the murder of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and has always used his murder for their own vested interest. He further said that poor people of Sindh are in problems since decades but no one has come for their rescue. He said that PPP has always compromised on NFC award while MQM is the only party, who, despite the enormous pressure, has remained strongly on its position on NFC award and has not traded against the people of Sindh. He said the MQM is the only party, which will attain rights for Sindh. Mr. Altaf Hussain said that he today, again assures Sindhis that we have accepted Sindh as our motherland and therefore we will not compromise against the wishes of people of Sindh and will never hesitate to sacrifice anything for the attainment of rights. Mr. Altaf Hussain, in the end of his address, asked all the office bearers of MQM to strengthen themselves on ideological basis and start preparations for the next local bodies elections.