Rangers have made Sindh ‘an occupied territory’: Altaf

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain said that the Rangers had made the entire Sindh province ‘an occupied territory’.
He criticised Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari for not responding to his telephone calls and said that their attitude was irresponsible and unreasonable.
Altaf Hussain said that Sindh was burning and MQM workers were being treated as ‘prisoners of war’. The Rangers had turned the entire Sindh province into an occupied territory.
This he stated after his telephonic conversation with Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah. Qaim Ali Shah said that the MQM chief was very emotional and agitated in his conversation and he couldn’t understand what he wanted to communicate. After that, Altaf Hussain said that he telephoned Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari many times on his two telephone numbers but regretted that both the phones were not attended by the former president.
He was perturbed over the attitude of Asif Ali Zardari and Qaim Ali Shah and termed it irresponsible and unreasonable. He said that both the PPP leaders were unresponsive at this crucial point of time and added that it appeared that both leaders had no care or love for Sindh and its people and they did not care for the future of the province and its people.
Elaborating on his conversation with the Sindh CM, Altaf Hussain said that he himself dialed the CM’s number from his direct number to apprise him about the Rangers atrocities on the innocent residents of Sindh province.
He said that the voice was not clear. He said when he dialed again, instead of Qaim Ali Shah, his driver picked up the phone and asked him to hold on for a minute by saying that he was transferring the call to the CM and as usual he had to listen the recorded speeches of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and late Benazir Bhutto over the telephone for quite some time. Later the operator back on the line and said that he would call back in a couple of minutes.
But after a passage of over half an hour, there was no response from the Sindh chief minister. Altaf Hussain said that he has decided to inform the permanent residents of Sindh and Urdu-speaking Sindhis about the attitude of these leaders.
Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that the statement of MQM chief Altaf Hussain regarding his telephonic conversation was not true and it had hurt him.
In a statement issued here on Saturday from the CM House, the chief minister said that Altaf Hussain telephoned him when he was in a meeting. “I left the ongoing meeting just to receive his call,” he said and added, “Mr Hussain was very emotional and agitated in his conversation. He kept talking and talking and without listening to me and completing his conversation rang off,” the chief minister said.
Syed Qaim Ali Shah said that he always respected Altaf Hussain but his statement had hurt him.