Leaders major political parties should attend to the problems faced by the common man instead of creating further chaos-Altaf Hussain

The MQM Founder and Leader Mr Altaf Hussain said that the country is faced with serious economic problems, the common man is buried under the burden of high prices and poverty, but the major political parties, are bickering with the issues of impeachment of President Musharraf and restoration of judges. He requested the leaders of the larger parties to attend to the problems of the people rather than pushing the country into further chaos and confusion. He was addressing a meeting at the MQM International Secretariat. The meeting was attended by office bearers from different wings of the MQM including Punjabi Pakhtoon Organising Committee, Interior Sindh Organising Committee, Women wing, Election cell and Information Cell.
Addressing the meeting, Mr. Altaf Hussain said that the country is confronted with internal and external dangers, that demand that all the religious and political parties should unite to face the problems. He said that 98% of the population of the country is faced with poverty and hunger, prices are sky rocketing leading the poor people to commit suicide. The economic condition is terrible, the stock exchange is plunging and law and order is lacking. The situation in FATA (Federal Administrative Tribal Areas) and NWFP (North WestFrontierProvince) is critical. The situation in Balochistan is also precarious. There is conspiracy of Talibanization in Sindh. Everyone is surrounded with problems and people are getting psychic. Everyone says that they do not see the Govt writ anywhere. One third of the country is caught in stormy rains and floods. Thousands of houses have been washed away and the residents have lost their age-old possessions.
Mr. Altaf Hussain said that government and those in power should attend to the people’s problems on a war footing. It is a shame that the big parties and their associates are ignorant of the common man’s problems as if they don’t exist in Pakistan. They are only bothered about the impeachment of President Musharaf and restoration of judges. The entire emphasis is on what is constitutional and what is unconstitutional. He said that he is not a legal or a constitutional expert but as a political worker, he asked the leaders and experts of all political parties that if President Musharraf is an unconstitutional President then the elections held under his regime are also unconstitutional. Similarly it is also unconstitutional to take oath from a Governor appointed by President Musharraf. Therefore, all the leaders who have been elected of these unconstitutionally should also resign.
Mr. Altaf Hussain asked the TV anchors and the participants of the talk-shows that if President Musharraf is unconstitutional and his action of October 12, 1999 was unconstitutional, then the judges of the Superior Courts who took oath under the PCO of President Musharraf were also unconstitutional. He said that so far no one has been able to answer his question that if the judges who took oath under President Musharraf`s second PCO of November 3, 2007 are illegal and unconstitutional, then the judges who took oath under the first PCO of President Musharraf of October 12, 1999 should also be considered illegal and unconstitutional. Either both the PCOs are right or both the PCOs are wrong?
Mr Altaf Hussain said that the poor governance during the past four months has led to the closure many of industries, billions of dollars have been transferred outside the country, the trade and industry is faced with serious problems. It is therefore, important to address these problems. Many people cannot afford even one meal a day. The poor and hungry are selling their children but no one is attending to these problems. Mr. Altaf Hussain expected that the patriot people of the country would certainly ask the people in power to attend to their problems of hunger, disease, unemployment, load-shedding and law and order etc.Referring to the statements of the Sindh Chief Minister Mr. Qaim Ali Shah and Home Minister Mr. Zulfiqar Mirza, wherein they have denied the existence of Taliban in Sindh particularly in Karachi, Mr. Altaf Hussain directed the MQM Coordination Committee to call on the Chief Minister and Home Minister of Sindh and apprise them of all the available evidence of increasing Talibanization activity in Karachi. He expressed his concern in respect of the losses suffered and the problems faced by the people due to floods and prayed for those who lost their lives due to these floods. He also prayed for the police and the security forces personnel in the FrontierProvince who lost their lives at the hands of Taliban and prayed that Allah may grant them the status of being Shaheed.Mr. Altaf Hussain urged members of different MQM Committees coming from Pakistan to observe the organised way in which the International Secretariat was functioning in London and advised them to try and work in a similar organised manner when they return to Pakistan.