PPP, PTI, MQM-P keeping Altaf relevant: PSP chief

Mustafa Kamal accuses MQM founder, JSMM leader of perpetrating recent attacks on Rangers

KARACHI: Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) leader Mustafa Kamal held on Sunday the Pakistan Peoples Party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) responsible for keeping MQM founder Altaf Hussain relevant, besides implying that Hussain and Jeay Sindh Muttahida Mahaz (JSMM) leader Shafi Burfat were responsible the recent attacks on Rangers.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club, Kamal said, "MQM-P continuing to use the party's original symbol and flag gives an impression that the party was save from a total collapse and, in turn, keeps Hussain relevant." Also contributing to maintaining his relevance was PTI's incompetence and PPP's bias against Karachi, he added.

Elaborating further, Kamal claimed that the PSP was very close to winning the 2018 election in Karachi, but results were changed at the last minute and "actual public representatives were barred from holding seats."

He also slammed the PPP for "depriving urban areas of their constitutional rights," lamenting that while there was no water or electricity in Karachi, its streets continued to be littered with garbage. Furthermore, Karachiites are even deprived of government jobs, he remarked.

"This bias from the PPP, PTI's incompetence and our silence is keeping Hussain relevant" even after he had been convicted in the Imran Farooq murder case, said Kamal.

Commenting on the case verdict, the PSP chief observed that MQM-P members were silent and not admitting to their misdeed, even when the party's involved in the killing was proven.

He accused the MQM founder of "destroying generation after generation," adding that the verdict on Farooq's murder would prove to be the final nail in the coffin of several people who had been misleading the nation.

"And now Hussain and JSMM's Burfat are again perpetrating terrorist attacks in Sindh," said Kamal, implying that they were behind the recent attacks on Rangers personnel.

Pointing out that the provincial finance commission had not yet been announced, he maintained that it was essential for empowering provinces and they could not truly be empowered until power was devolved to the lowest tier of governance.

He also took exception to Prime Minister Imran Khan calling for the direct election of the mayor to resolve Karachi's problems. "Are the mayors of Lahore and Peshawar elected directly?" he questioned, saying that the PM's words and actions were contradictory.

Speaking with regards to Karachi, he said that neither the Sindh government nor the Centre had introduced any new project for the metropolis. To add to this, Karachiites would have to pay 20 per cent more for electricity from next month since the subsidies given to K-Electric have been reduced by half, he noted, adding that deliberate efforts were being made to sabotage and destroy businesses in the port city.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2020.