ALTAF DENIES LINKS WITH INDIA, SAYS IMRAN FAROOQ ALIVE:

Karachi Dec: 12 (PPI)

The founder and leader of the Muttahida Quami Movement, Altaf Hussain said tonight his second in command, Dr. Imran Farooq was " very much alive, hale and hearty "and reports that he had been killed in a terrorist action, was a figment of government imagination.

He said, this in a reaction sought by PPI (Pakistan Press International) to allegations from his party's former activist Saulat Mirza that the MQM had been conspiring to undo Pakistan with India's help. Saulat, arrested in a dramatic fashion on return home from Bangkok on Thursday night, had also alleged that Dr. Farooq, who for long had been the party's secretary-general, may have been eliminated by his own people.

"Nothing could be more preposterous" Altaf reacted rather angrily recalling that throughout its existence since the 80's, the MQM had been over cautious in its conduct, had no links whatsoever with India or with any other foreign agency. Its activities were purely of genuine nature. Its sole crime was that it had raised voice for the salvation of the Mohajir nation in particular, and for the oppressed and exploited classes in general.

The vested interests, forming a formidable force in the country, never liked it. The government of the day, who he said comprised the rulers from the Punjab, wanted to destroy the image of his warty at home and abroad so that their interest could not be harmed. That was the conspiracy, Altaf said, which should be understood well by the countrymen.

He said that Dr. Farooq was very much "alive, hale and hearty " and contribution made by him for the cause of the Mohajirs will be recorded in history in litters of gold. No harm has come to Dr. Farooq, said Altaf and asked the Mohajirs not be misled by propaganda tactics.

The MQM chief said that the veracity of government claim, produced on state television by a statement given under duress by Saulat Miza, was thoroughly exposed by the disclosure about the fate MQM or its leaders being in contact with India as true? He asked.

He said that the game of the " rulers from the Punjab " was clear. They had tried in the past to reduce the importance of Karachi because they feared domination from a community which was skilled and educated by shifting the capital from Karachi to the Punjab, and when that did not lessen the importance of port city, which was ripe for foreign investment, a fratricidal war among the Mohajirs, the Punjabis, Pathans and the Sindhis, was encouraged.

He design was foiled by the MQM, which had organised its people to secure their rights through peaceful political means. A conspiracy was then hatched to crush the MQM during the military operation in June 1992. Now the new slander of MQM being in-league with India had been fabricated to destroy its image at home and abroad.

He appealed to the people, especially those in the Punjab to understand the game of their rulers, and ask questions from them as to how a party which had given strength to the middle and the lower classes of the community, can work against the country's interest, must less its integrity? Altaf said that the aim of accusations such as MQM being an Indian agent and anti-state was to finish off a leadership and an organisation, which had been working to secure the rights of the Mohajirs. Once that was done, the process of annihilation against the Mohajirs would begin.

He said the pattern of the present operation against the MQM had begun to unfold itself gradually. It was designed to the much more harsher than the previous campaign of 1992.The government intentions were clear and was opening up slowly. Altaf charged that the police, raiding the houses of his supporters, and party activists, had been involved in extortion, demanding between Rs half a million to Rs one million from those hauled up, their elders, women included, were being abused and insulted. Yet the government was claiming to be fair and impartial in its conduct. This was a big joke, he said.

He remarked that if the government was so sincere in its objectives of eliminating terrorism, it should catch the real culprits, and also give a fair trial to those arrested on trumped up charges. There was no point in conducting a media trial, because that would be a negation of the normal course of justice, he emphasised.