Thousands of party workers and supporters gathered at Nishtar Park on Thursday as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) held a public meeting to commemorate the party’s 37th foundation day.
Addressing the gathering, MQM-P convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said that this was the first time in party’s history that the party could not observe its foundation day on March 18 due to security threats.
The MQM has continued to remain the most vocal party calling for the rights of those who migrated to Pakistan after winning the struggle for independence from united India, said the MQM-P stalwart. The movement for the rights of immigrants is centuries old and the name by which it is recognised does not matter, he added, recalling that the MQM was called the Mohajjir Qaumi Movement till July 1997. The movement’s history could not be changed, he said. “The MQM represents the descendants of those who made Pakistan.”
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The MQM-P convener stressed that the sacrifices of the party’s workers would not go in vain. The party will continue to fight for the rights of the oppressed in spite of any obstacles thrown its way, he said, adding that while the ancestors of immigrants struggled for the creation of an independent country, former prime minister and founder of the Pakistan Peoples Party Zulfikar Ali Bhutto paved the way for the creation of Bangladesh and “returned half of Pakistan”.
The MQM-P’s top leadership including deputy convener Amir Khan, Kanwar Naveed Jamil, Kishwar Zehra and Faisal Sabzwari also addressed the crowd.
The kind of hardships and cruelty that the workers of the party have faced are unlike any faced by the workers of any other political party in the country, said Khan. He asked whether any other political party had seen extrajudicial killings like his party had. “The workers of MQM did not ever take up arms or hijack planes. Our only fault is raising our voice for the oppressed and the middle class.”
Meanwhile, Jamil during his turn to speak stated that former military dictator General Yahya Khan had sought to make Karachi a separate province but it was the leaders of the MQM who preferred to stay with Sindh. Every muhajir has been diligently working and paying taxes for the development of the country but the prejudiced government of Sindh was not willing to even provide potable water in urban Sindh, he said.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 26th, 2021.
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