Conspirators trying to pit Baloch against MQM: Altaf

Daily Times, Pakistan

Staff Report

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s chief Altaf Hussain said on Tuesday that there are conspirators, who are trying to pit the Baloch against the MQM.

He said these plotters were bent upon sowing the seeds of hatred between the Baloch and the MQM. Hussain said this in a telephonic address to eminent Baloch personalities. Film actor Anwar Iqbal, Farida Baloch, Nadia Gabol and Nisar Mangi also spoke on the occasion. He said MQM had nothing to do with the Lyari gang war.

“The MQM and its city nazim have served the Baloch localities and gave them a water supply scheme. We shall initiate more development schemes for them,” he announced. Hussain’s address evoked an instant reaction from one of the participants who drew his attention to the Gutter Bagheecha dispute between the Baloch of Karachi and the MQM. Noted Baloch activists involved in the issue were shot dead.

Responding to the matter, the MQM chief said he would ask the MQM Rabita Committee to sit with Baloch representatives and sort out this dispute. Hussain also urged the government and the rebel Baloch nationalists to sort out differences through talks and peaceful means.

“Balochistan is a province and should not be treated like a colony,” he said. The MQM chief recalled that he had opposed the military operation in Balochistan during the tenure of former president Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf.

“The military government had deferred the operation but finally conducted it a year later,” he said.

Hussain said he had announced starting of a fact-finding mission to ascertain the factual position in Dera Bugti, but Shahid Bugti, a relative of Akbar Bugti’s and member of latter’s Jamhoori Watan Party had restrained him from doing so. He said Shahid Bugti told him that the time was not right for that mission.

Altaf urged the government to take practical steps for the release of arrested Baloch people. He also requested the government to ensure recovery of missing Baloch people as well. He demanded that the military operation in Jafarabad and other parts of Balochistan bust be brought to an end immediately.

“Talks with pro-government Baloch or with the government’s allies alone are not enough. The rebels and those who oppose the government policies should also be invited for parleys,” he proposed.

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