MQM still trying to set Mohajirs against Sindhis, claims Saeed Ghani

Sindh’s labour minister on Thursday accused the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) of continuing to make attempts to set the Mohajir residents of the province against Sindhis.

Saeed Ghani, who is also the provincial education minister, was addressing a news conference along with Information and Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah. “If they [MQM leaders] maintain the same policy as that of [MQM founder] Altaf Hussain, what difference does it make if Altaf Hussain is no longer in the picture?” wondered Ghani, who is also the Karachi president for Sindh’sruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

He said the MQM has given a call for holding a protest rally in the city on Saturday (tomorrow). “Holding a peaceful protest is the right of everyone, but we will not let anyone spread hatred in the guise of agitation,” he warned.

“These people are like Altaf Hussain of the present day, as they are again engaging in politics of hatred and making people fight with one another,” he lamented. “I appeal to the learned Urdu-speaking people to reject the politics of hatred and expose their [the MQM leaders’] real faces. We will maintain peace that is prevailing in the city.”

Ghani also appealed to the relevant organisations and other political parties to reject the MQM’s politics. He said the MQM also made a recent attempt to spread hatred on the basis of the Bahria Town incident.

Budget

Shah said the chief minister and his team in the finance department have done their best to prepare a balanced budget for Sindh keeping in view the fiscal resources available to the province from the federal government.

He said that compared to last year, Sindh has been given 25 per cent less funds by the Centre. He also said the Centre has given Rs80 billion less to Sindh than its due financial share in the federal divisible resources.

Opposition leader

He informed the media that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has prepared an irrefutable case against Sindh Assembly opposition leader Haleem Adil Shaikh on the basis of his vast illegal land possession, stressing that the watchdog should promptly take action to arrest him.

Shah said that if this time NAB desisted from taking action against the opposition leader and his “accomplices”, it would prove the watchdog’s partial conduct beyond any doubt. He said that in contrast, politicians in the opposition, including elected representatives of the opposition parties, across the country are promptly arrested on the basis of their alleged involvement in corruption.

He also said PPP leader Syed Khursheed Ahmed Shah had been in prison for the past two years and now his son had been arrested. Recently, he added, the home of PPP leader Ijaz Jakhrani was raided and his family members were harassed. “We condemn this incident!”