PEOPLE WOULD PRAY FOR PRESIDENT MUSHARRAF IF HE ANNOUNCES FULL AUTONOMY TO ALL PROVINCES INCLUDING SINDH- ALTAF HUSSAIN

London - 26 April 2002
Mr Altaf Hussain, MQM Founder & Leader, has demanded of the President Musharraf to announce in his forthcoming public rally in Karachi that the projects such as Kalabagh Dam and Thar Kenal would not go ahead without the consent of the people of Sindh that Sindh would be given its due share of water, its share in the National Finance Commission (NFC) Award, and moreover all the provinces would be given full provincial autonomy; then the people of Sindh would pray for him.  He was addressing the MQM workers in different zones of Karachi and other parts of Sindh over the telephone from London.

He further demanded the President to announce for the immediate release of the Chairman of JSQM Basheer Qureshi, other MQM and JSQM leaders and workers, stop the retrenchment of local employees from Sindh institutions, reinstate them, and provide oil, gas and electricity produced from Sindh for its villages and small towns.  Because of the water shortage in Sindh, crops are badly affected, police and administration are being imported and imposed; that is how Sindh has been transformed into a colony of the Establishment.  Mr Hussain declared that he fears no one except the Allah Almighty.  He reiterated his declaration that if President Musharraf comes on the television and commits full provincial autonomy to Sindh and other smaller provinces then his (Altaf Hussain) personal vote will go in favour of the President.   Mr Hussain stated that the MQM Coordination Committee through its policy statement announced to leave the matter of voting in the referendum to the people themselves then some parties accuse the MQM of silently supporting the referendum.  Addressing them Mr Hussain said, "We are not hypocrites like them.  These parties supported the Zia Referendum and termed it as constitutional and according to Sharia, however, today they are calling the Musharraf's Referendum as unconstitutional and un-Islamic. Why this hypocrisy? Is it because General Musharraf belongs to Sindh whereas General Zia Ul Haque belonged to Punjab?"  Mr Hussain said that public gathering of 19 April 2002 at Nishtar Park was like a bouquet composed of different flowers representing people of different languages as Urdu, Sindhi, Balochi etc., and all religions, who have been united.  Mr Hussain expressed his gratitude and admiration to the mothers, sisters, elders, youth, particularly the Sindhi Speaking and Balochi Speaking who came to attend the public gathering from far flung areas of Sindh and Lyari and other areas of Karachi.  He specially expressed his gratitude to the members of Christian and Hindu fraternities for attending the public gathering and making it a historic one.  Expressing his heartfelt admiration and appreciation to the volunteers who took part in the preparation of the historic public gathering, Mr Hussain declared that he feels short of words as to how he should express his love and adoration for them.  Reminding the gathering of his earlier statement when he called the male workers as "genies" and female workers as "fairies", Mr Hussain said that the world witnessed on 19 April 2002 that my claim was true and resulted in a historic success because of the tireless efforts of my companions, mothers and sisters.  Those who claimed that the graph of MQM's popularity has fallen should know that the MQM's graph has in fact risen sharply from Karachi to Kashmore.  Mr Hussain declared that the public gathering of 19 April was in fact a public referendum, where the public decided in favour of the MQM and announced that they would not sit back until the rights of Sindh province are attained.  Furthermore, the Establishment would not be able to continue its occupation of Sindh for long.