Our struggle is for recognition of Muhajir nation’s identity: Khalid Maqbool

Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has said that Pakistan is facing a situation of rapid changes at present and needed to adapt to those changes.

In a statement issued on Saturday, he said the nations that could not change themselves became extinct.

“We are the people who are associated with a movement. Our party is a boat for the Muhajir nation and whether this boat will sink or reach the shore, nothing can be said for sure,” he said.

He remarked that educated nations distilled wisdom from knowledge. If the educated people believed that they would be saved despite being not united, it meant they were overconfident, he added.

The MQM-P workers should know that the party’s movement was for the recognition of their identity, he said.

Dr Siddiqui said there was nothing shameful greater than hiding one’s identity. If MQM-P workers felt ashamed of their identity, nothing could be done, he remarked.

He recalled that the jails in Sindh and Punjab were full of MQM workers after the operation against the party in 1992. Movements like the MQM were not run for serving individuals, he said, adding that it was not the responsibility of the MQM-P to provide rights to its voters, as the party’s responsibility was to give recognition to the Muhajir nation.

He was of the view that the extension in the census date had proved that the government had no intention of counting the people. Thirty two thousand buildings of Karachi were not enumerated, he alleged.

He asked the authorities to openly declare that they could not hold the census in Karachi if they were unable to count its people. He said the population growth in District Central of Karachi was less than District Malir as per the census data. He recalled that Pakistan Peoples Party founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had more support from Punjab than Sindh when he came into power. Dr Siddiqui said the separate job quotas for rural and urban Sindh were introduced during Bhutto’s era.