RECORDER REPORT

HYDERABAD: Member of MQM coordination committee and MNA Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has said that some criminal elements, who were expelled from the MQM, stood against the Muttahida in the shape of a party.

Dr Maqbool accompanied by former National Student Federation (NSF) central president, noted leftist leader and rights activist Momin Khan Momin, who joined the MQM, said this while addressing a press conference at the local press club on Thursday.

MQM lawmakers Sabir Qaimkhani, Rashid Khilji, Rana Ansar, MQM district organizer Siraj Rajput and others were also present on the occasion.

While scholar Prof Dr Hassan Zafar Arif and Sathi Ishaq advocate who already joined the MQM, also attended the conference to express solidarity with the party in Hyderabad.

Dr Maqbool said that Mohajir nation has given its response once again as every action has reactions when rejected people of the MQM formed a party.

He thanked Allah Almighty and said that doctors, bureaucrats, political activists of other parties, engineers, professors and representatives of civil society organizations started to join the MQM, while reacting to the newly-formed party, alluding to Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP).

He said that the MQM was being targeted over a decade and its image was being tarnished by media trials and state.

He said that the MQM was facing a tough time nowadays as houses of every activist were being raided, 171 activists went missing so far, over 60 activists fell prey to extra judicial killings during this ongoing operation, hundreds of activists including designated mayor of Karachi Waseem Akhter, MPAs and others were sent to jails.

He welcomed Momin Khan Momin and others for joining MQM. He said that these people felt their responsibility and decided to stand with the nation by joining the MQM.

Meanwhile, noted leftist leader Momin Khan Momin said that he requested the MQM chief that he wanted to join the MQM and the chief lauded it. He said that he got his education from Karachi University and wanted to join the MQM from Hyderabad as he hailed from this city.

He said that he joined the Muttahida as it is being oppressed and targeted by the state.

He said, “I selected today as on Aug 11, 1947, Mohammad Ali Jinnah delivered a speech and said that every citizen had equal rights and the state would never be controversial. Every citizen belonging to any religions or sects would have equal rights in the eyes of the state. And they are free to go to their religious places.”

Momin said that the institutions and rulers and politicians betrayed this speech of Jinnah and cases must be lodged against them. They (institutions, rulers and feudal politicians) created an atmosphere to break the country. They blamed the political forces that they were traitors, he said.

“All politicians are not bad, but those (alluding to establishment) who are with you are bad, but middle class and workers leaders are the same. We will not accept minus-one formula at all,” he said.

He said that he faced sentences in jail and underwent severe dictatorship. He appealed to all his leftist and progressive friends to join the MQM, which would never bow down to any feudal lords and oppressors.

Moreover, MQM Hyderabad district organizer Siraj Rajput blamed that adviser to Sindh chief minister Maula Bux Chandio gave directives to officers concerned not to drain out accumulated rainwater from areas of Urdu-speaking.

He said that officials concerned were complaining that machinery was not being provided to dispose of accumulated rainwater in these areas, while the MQM always saved the PPP when it faced tough time, he said this while answering a question about current situation of parts of Hyderabad after rains.