Daily Dawn
08 September 2004
Musharraf's uniform a
secondary issue
Altaf Hussain
PESHAWAR, Sept 7: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has said that
whether President Gen Pervez Musharraf remains in uniform or decides to doff it
is a secondary issue because every government in Pakistan has sought protection
of the military uniform.
Speaking at the Peshawar Press Club's 'Meet the
Press' programme here on Tuesday, he said the issue of uniform would be there as
long as a people's government was not established in the country. Every ruler in
the past had sought the help of the 'uniform' and compromised on principles, he
added.
He said that former prime ministers, including Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir
Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, had formed their governments with the help of the
'uniform'. The Jamaat-i-Islami supported Gen Ziaul Haq, who also was in uniform,
for 11 long years, but now JI chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed was opposing a president
in uniform to hoodwink the nation.
Mr Hussain demanded that the NWFP be renamed because the present name did not
reflect the identity, culture and psyche of its people who had been demanding
the change of name since the inception of Pakistan.
He was of the opinion that if the NWFP was not renamed as Pukhtoonkhwa or
Pukhtoonistan or whatever its people wanted, they (the people of the province)
might resort to other means to have a name of their choice.
The MQM chief said the federation of Pakistan must give equal rights to all its
federating units. Use of brute force, he added, would not keep the country
intact. Paying rich tribute to late Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, he said that Bacha
Khan was a genuine leader who had given a sense of freedom and independence to
his people and launched a protracted but non-violent struggle against foreign
rule.
He said the name NWFP was a remnant of the colonial era and, therefore, must be
changed. If the rulers were reluctant to rename the NWFP, they should change the
names of other provinces, he added.
Referring to 9/11, he said this single event had brought about profound changes
in geo-politics. "Friends have become foes and foes have turned
friends." In Pakistan, the rulers abandoned the Taliban and the Jihadi
groups and joined hands with the United States and its other allies to protect
Pakistan's interests in this part of the world.
He said his party had joined the government in order to eradicate the decade-old
backwardness and poverty and to steer the country out of a crisis which was
posing a threat to its existence.
The MQM was the only political party, Mr Hussain said, which represented the
middle-class of Pakistan and it had survived many operations since its formation
in 1984. He denied that the MQM had any plan for carving out a Jinnahpur out of
Pakistan or that it was a separatist organization which wanted to dismember the
country.
He said that the forefathers of the people in the MQM had sacrificed their lives
for Pakistan. "Our people are residents of the province of Sindh and this
is now their only identity," he added.