KARACHI: As Karachi began to wrap its head around the violence that marked September 21, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain declared those who took part in the riots were extremists and “non-Karachi’ites”.
In a speech at a seminar organised by the party on Wednesday, Altaf asked whether the people of Pakistan wanted to “live with dignity and respect” or “surrender to extremists and the Taliban?”
“If you act cowardly, then a time will come that they will enter your houses, molest and kill mothers and sisters and kill innocent people in the name of Allah and the Prophet (peace be upon him),” he said.
Altaf called on all “liberal, democratic, progressive and secular people” to sit together. “Put your differences aside for the time being for the sake of the greater interest - do you want a Taliban, Al Qaeda Pakistan or a liberal one?”
“Do you want to hand over Pakistan to stupid, illiterate people?”
He questioned the murder of those accused of blasphemy. “If someone goes against the honour of the Prophet (peace be upon him), does this mean that one should murder his own father? If someone does commit this crime, does this mean that someone should kill his wife and children and brothers?”
“The filmmaker (who made the controversial Innocence of Muslims) is living comfortably in the US. In the name of protesting, brothers are being killed. What love of the Prophet (pbuh) is this, that a day that was marked for his love, was a day of firing and terrorism, people were shot at, injured and killed, police officers were murdered, high-tech weapons were used, foreign restaurants, police mobiles and cinemas were burned down and ATM machines wrenched out of the walls?”
“They did not come to love the Prophet (pbuh),” Altaf said. “What difference is there between a blasphemous act and what we did?”
“They burned a church in the name of the love of the Prophet (pbuh). If someone burned a mosque in the name of Eeshwar and Krishna, what would happen?”
Altaf repeatedly called on those attending the seminar - which included prominent citizens and MQM supporters - to support the party. “We can even get rid of the Taliban and make a progressive Pakistan,” he said. The call to liberals was a key part of his speech. He referenced past episodes, such as the events leading up to the siege of Red Mosque in Islamabad in 2007. “Until the silent spectators enter the arena, more Lal Masjids will be made,” he said. The MQM chief also condemned karo kari, the practice of burying women alive as well as the massacre of Shias in Pakistan and the attacks on imambargahs, churches and shrines.
“I want a Pakistan where all the Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Parsis, Dawoodi Bohras, Khojas, Ahmadis and others following other religions feel 100 per cent safe in our country,” he said. Altaf also hit out at the country’s “corrupt” leaders, who he said had made their money illegally.
He noted that no one else had condemned the film earlier, saying that they were ‘asleep’ but he had been writing to the United Nations and the US government.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 27th, 2012.
COMMENTS (7)
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Only Altaf Hussain has the guts to speak up.
and what about the terrorism perpetrated by the same so-called liberal/progressive political parties in Karachi??
ET are you serious?
What about educational institutes under the threat of political parties?
Exactly my thoughts, Jiye Altaf !!
That is something great about MQM...Free, Progressive Pakistan and its anti taliban and anti extremism stand, this is what most Pakistani want to say but are afraid, Altaf has really minced no words, I wish Imran Khan and Nawaz, Asfandyar, Zardari had shown similar courage.