The Government, Armed Forces, and the Intelligence Agencies are
striving their best to combat terrorism:  Altaf Hussain

In the War against Terrorism thousands of army personnel and
government officials have sacrificed their lives.

The Government is duty bound to send delegations, around the globe, comprising
of people who are well versed with the national and international situation
to appraise the world of Pakistan’s point on these situations in an effective way.

The President and the Prime Minister should invite all-parties round--table conference
on the issues of electricity, gas, and water shortage.

The columnists should raise their voices against terrorism and let
the world know that Pakistan is a responsible country:

Altaf Hussain, addressing a meeting of the party
at MQM International Secretariat, London.

London … January 03, 2009:

The leader of Muttahida Quami Movement, Altaf Hussain said that the government, armed forces, and the intelligence agencies are trying their best to combat terrorism and in this struggle thousands of army personnel and government officials have sacrificed their lives. He said the government should send delegations around the globe comprising of people well versed with the national and international situation to present Pakistan’s point on these issues in an effective way. He also appealed to the President Asif Ali Zardari, and the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to call all-parties round table conference comprising of all the leaders of political and religious parties on electricity, gas, and water shortage, and present the reasons behind these issues to them. He expressed these views while addressing a party meeting at the MQM International Secretariat, London on Friday. In this meeting Governor Sindh Ishrat-ul-Ibad, City Nazim Karachi Mustafa Kamal, Deputy Convener Rabita Committee MQM Dr. Farooq Sattar, members of Rabita Committee M. Anwar, Tariq Mir, Tariq Javed, Saleem Shahzad, Wasim Aftab, Asif Siddiqui, Muhammad Ashfaque, Mustafa Azizabadi, Qasim Ali Raza, MQM’s parliamentary leader in Senate Senator Babar Ghauri, Deputy Parliamentary Leader in National Assembly Haider Abbas Rizvi, provincial ministers Adil Siddiqui, Faisal Sabzwari, District Nazim Hyderabad Kunwer Naved Jamil, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town Nazim Wasay Jalil, SITE Town Nazim Izhar Khan, and the members of the MQM International Secretariat London were also present.

While addressing to the meeting Mr. Altaf Hussain said Pakistan itself is a victim of extremism and terrorism. The government, armed forces, and intelligence agencies are striving at their best to combat this extremism and terrorism and in this struggle and war against extremism and terrorism thousands of army personnel and government official have sacrificed their lives and have been martyred. And this is the responsibility of the government to institute positive and solid actions to apprise the world of these facts. He once again appealed to the President Asif Ali Zardari and the Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani to constitute delegations comprising of those members of the parliament from the treasury and opposition who should be well versed with the national and political situation and they could go to Europe, America, and other countries and present Pakistan’s viewpoint on these issues on diplomatic levels effectively. He said that India is well ahead of Pakistan on diplomatic levels and at the same level Pakistan need those experienced people who could present Pakistan’s point of view effectively, and not only they should better the image of Pakistan, they should apprise the globe of the actual facts.  Mr. Altaf Hussain further said that the members of the parliaments from all over the country should not only float the resolutions against terrorism in the parliaments, they should also go to their constituencies and apprise the people of the damages inflicted on the integrity of Pakistan due to terrorism. He said that the way the image of Pakistan is being distorted due to suicidal explosions, terrorist attacks, and throats slashing of the opponents by the religious extremists, the media should take note of that. He said that the media instead of encouraging these forces should discourage these elements and should denounce these activities openly. He appealed all the columnists and analysts of Pakistan that they should raise the voice against terrorism and extremism in the country and let the world know that Pakistan is a responsible country and is against terrorism. Pakistan neither likes terrorism nor it helps terrorists, and we have to prove this by our deeds. He said that Pakistan is facing the danger of being declared as terrorist state if the terrorism is not eliminated from the country, so this is the responsibility of the writers that they should save Pakistan from this danger and condemn the terrorist activities.

Mr. Altaf Hussain said that the country is passing through a very critical stage and is under the shadow of internal and external dangers, whereas the financial situation of the country is also on the downside and due to this effect even the upper class, businessmen, and industrialist are also in turmoil along with the poor and middle class people. He said that the load shedding of electricity, shortage of gas and water has crippled the backbone of common men all over the country and the people are facing extreme difficulty due to the unavailability of the basic amenities. He said that at this juncture of country’s critical situation, the unity which should have been evident between different schools of thoughts and political and religious parties does not exist. We all should show solidarity and unity at this time of ordeal and should close the fronts against each other as the country cannot afford this tug of war at this time of test. He appealed to the President Asif Ali Zardari, and the Prime Minister Yusuf  Raza Gilani, that, the way they invited all-parties conference on the issue of national security, they should again invite all the leaders of political and religious parties to a round table conference on the issues of shortage of electricity, gas and water and explain them the reason behind these issues and request them for their cooperation so that at this critical juncture instead of criticizing the government just for the sake of criticism , they should cooperate with the government in taking out the nation out of this crisis. He further said that the government should invite the suggestion from the opposition too as to what could be done to absolve the nation of the basic problems.

Mr. Altaf Hussain insisted on all the leaders and member parliaments of MQM that they should contact all leaders of political and religious parties for the promotion of national unity and solidarity and should request them that the country cannot afford differences and the country needs unity and solidarity at this time of test. He further said that the leaders of MQM should also apprise the workers of MQM and public of the crises the country is passing through.