ALTAF URGES PARTY WORKERS TO STRENGHTEN THE IDEOLOGICAL BASE OF THE ORGANISATION.

NEW DELHI--- (November 10, 2004)---MQM leader Altaf Hussain urged party workers today to strengthen the ideological base of the organization by holding on to its principles and working ceaselessly to help improve the lot of the poor masses.

Bidding farewell to Rabita Committee members, Haq parast members of national and provincial assemblies, and members and workers of various departments of the party who had come from Pakistan to meet him after 12 long years, Mr Hussain reminded them that history was replete with instances of movements, ignoring discipline or losing faith in their ideologies, had fallen victim to vagaries of circumstances, and ultimately vanished

MQM, he said, had become popular and spread its message to all four corners of the world because of its exemplary discipline in its ranks, and faith its principles.

“I am happy to see my colleagues after 12 long years, but I had never been away from them”, he said, and looked overwhelmed by the love and affection from the Indian people for him.

“ We want the animosity and hatred between the two countries to end, and new era of prosperity to begin” said the MQM leader, extending the hearty send off to his colleagues from Pakistan.

On the seventh day of his stay in India, he remained tied up with engagements after engagements, giving interviews to Jamshed Adil of “Nai Dunday”, Amit Baruha of the Hindu, Dr Shahid Masood of the Pakistani TV channel ARY, Javed Naqvi of the daily Dawn, Karachi, and Javed Rashid of Geo and Jang newspaper.

He also attended a dinner hosted in his honour by the former deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha, Najma Heptullah .

Last night, he was guest of honour at a dinner hosted by Prem Parkash, a name in India’s media world. He is the well-known journalist-owner of TV and news agency network ANI. Among the large number of guests were Mrs Parkash, leading intellectuals, scholars, and representative of a cross section of population. A prolonged session of three hours of discussion and question-answer session followed. |Mr Hussain fielded the question with the calm and composure of a seasoned statesman expert, and in the end the entire audience looked impressed and satisfied with his way of speaking, and with convincing answers and explanations to different issues.

Indian scholars and intellectuals described MQM’s stand against the archaic Jagirdari system as just and fair. Prominent among those attending from the MQM side were Mr M Anwar, Mr Tariq Mir, Mr Mohammad Younus and MNA Kunawar Khalid Yunus.