London – 14^th May 2006

MQM Founder & Leader Mr Altaf Hussain has announced that he has no plans of becoming the President or the Prime Minister of the country – his struggle is not to attain power but to liberate the 98 percent poor and middleclass from the clutches of the two percent privileged class comprising of the feudal lords, jaagirdars and waderas. He was welcoming a large number of people who were formerly members of PPP, PML and other national parties and have now joined the MQM.

Mr Hussain said that MQM is the only political party of the country whose workers and office bearers come from poor and middleclass background and awards party tickets to its members. Narrating his personal history Mr Hussain said that he completed his education by offering tuition and lived in his ancestral house of 120 sq yards. He claimed that even today he does not own any other house in Pakistan. He said that the members of his party became parliamentarians, ministers and advisors but he never ran for any office nor was he ever interested in contesting general elections himself. He announced that whenever in future the MQM Government would be established he would not become the President or the Prime Minster of the country because his mission and struggle is not to attain power but to bring about reforms and improve the lives of the 98 percent poor, downtrodden and middleclass people of Pakistan. He said that he wants the abolishment of familial political system from the country whereby brothers, sisters and relatives of leaders are must awarded party tickets on familial basis and not merit.

Mr Hussain said that Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged during the Zia Martial Law and during the same Martial Law he himself was sentenced for 9 months imprisonment with 5 lashes. "The Martial Law Authorities approached me to sign a confessional and a statement of pardon, which I refused as I had not committed any crime", he said. "My only crime then was to peacefully protest on 14^th August near the Quaid’s Mausoleum in Karachi demanding for the repatriation of stranded Pakistanis from Bangladesh. If this is a crime then I will not hesitate to repeat this crime", he said. Failing in their attempts the martial law authorities accompanied with a few teachers from Karachi University then approached my mother and asked her to write a few lines, however, my mother replied, "if you want to release my son then you should. Because he has done no wrong therefore I will not give anything in writing. He has raised his voice for the oppressed and to raise voice for oppressed is a virtue". As a result I had to complete my jail sentence of 9 months. Speaking of his experiences during imprisonment Mr Hussain said that he met with various workers of PPP in Karachi Central Prison who were also incarcerated. He told the crowd that after his release from prison he was arrested again three times, tortured in custody, pressurized and offers were made but he refused to deviate from his struggle and to surrender against oppression.

Mr Hussain said that those in PPP who had vested interest left Zulfikar Bhutto in his time of need after his arrest. They also included his ministers, advisors and people at the highest level, however, the poor and middle class workers of the PPP remained faithful to Bhutto- they were punished with lashes, imprisonment and even hanged during the martial law. All the sacrifices were offered by the poor and middleclass ranks of PPP but during the elections party tickets were again offered to the privileged class, i.e. jaagirdars and waderas. Mr Hussain said that this is the real face of PPP and PML that they desert their workers and reward the jaagirdars and waderas. He asserted that MQM is the only political party of Pakistan, which awards party tickets during elections based solely on merit to middle class and down trodden. For the past 58 years, the national and provincial assemblies were hijacked by the 2 percent privileged class but the MQM has for the first time in the country’s history sent elected representatives belonging to the poor and middleclass people to the national and provincial assembly and the senate. For this reason the MQM is not liked by the jaagirdars and waderas and their patrons, the Establishment. They were afraid that if the Altaf Hussain’s righteous ideology will spread throughout the country then it will prove the final nail in the coffin of the exploitative elements. Conspiracies were hatched to weaken the MQM – to turn the people of Punjab against Altaf Hussain; the issue of Jinnahpur was concocted by Brig Haroon. Journalists were invited from Punjab to Karachi and shown the concocted map of Jinnahpur. I challenged this allegation in the Supreme Court and the army spokesman issued a statement clarifying and refuting the claim of Jinnahpur that no such map had been discovered – this news was, however, printed in single column on the back page. It was propagated that MQM and Altaf Hussain are the enemy of Punjabis, Pathans, Sindhis, Baloch and Kashmiris and for this reason Mohajir-Punjabi, Mohajir-Pathan and Mohajir-Sindhi massacres were "organized" through agents of the Establishment; fake torture cells were discovered and more than 15000 workers of MQM were extra-judicially and brutally executed during the army operation launched against the MQM. Mr Hussain said that today with the blessing of the Allah Almighty all the negative propaganda and conspiracies have been defeated and the MQM’s righteous message is fast spreading throughout Pakistan including every nook and corner of Punjab. Commenting on the role of religio-political parties Mr Hussain said that people of Pakistan have now understood their game. These religio-political parties on the one hand consider it a sin for men and women to sit together, however, they do not hesitate to send the womenfolk of their families to the national and provincial assemblies and senate. These waderas and jaagirdars have looted the national exchequer and defaulted on huge loans worth billions of rupees. Mr Hussain assured that when the Government of 98 percent will be established in the country then the land and properties of these jaagirdars and waderas will be confiscated and deposited as national wealth. This money will be used to build educational institutions, health facilities, industries and other forms to promote employment with a view to provide recourse to service and employment to each and every Pakistani. He said that MQM will assure that women are granted equal rights as men, it will work to abolish the cruel system of karo-kari and honour killing, it will also work tirelessly to ensure that child labour is abolished and also to provide equal rights to religious minorities in light of the vision of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

In the end Mr Hussain welcomed the former workers of PPP and other parties for joining the MQM and advised them to continue their struggle towards bringing about improvement in the lives of poor and middleclass people of Pakistan.

END