In what appeared to be an effort to strengthen their position in the upcoming general elections, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) agreed on Thursday to work together to achieve their common goal of countering the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in Sindh.
At a joint media talk in Karachi, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar and JUI-F Sindh Secretary General Rashid Mehmood Soomro also expressed reservations on the transfers and postings of officials in the province by the caretaker Sindh government.
A JUI-F delegation, led by Soomro and including Maulana Abdul Karim Abid, Maulana Ghiyas, Maulana Aminullah, Syed Hamaadullah Shah, visited the MQM headquarters in Bahadurabad and held talks with the party leadership.
At the joint news conference, Dr Sattar said that the time had come to rid Sindh of the “political feudals”, who were controlling the province’s administrative affairs for the past 15 years. “We have decided that we will not allow the use of Sindh card anymore. Enough is enough,” Sattar added.
These political feudals, the MQM leader said, had crossed all limits. “Excesses were committed against the people in Larkana, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Kashmore and Karachi,” he said. “Injustice is being meted out to the innocent people under the guise of nationalism,” he added.
“There is lawlessness in the whole of Sindh,” Dr Farooq Sattar said. He expressed concerns over the appointment of officers by the caretaker government, saying that this phenomenon had been going on for the past 15 years.
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On the occasion, Soomro said that the people of Sindh would not fight for a single tribe or family. Highlighting the law and order situation, he said that if there were weapons in Karachi, the dacoits have anti-aircraft guns in Kashmore. “From Karachi to Kashmore, people’s rights are being trampled.”
“In the meeting with the MQM leadership today, it is agreed that the Jamiat, GDA [Grand Democratic Alliance] and the MQM will work together for the rights of the people regardless of their race and caste,” Soomro said. “We agreed that if there is a people’s party in Sindh, it is the MQM and the GDA.”
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The JUI-F leader told reporters that the MQM, the GDA and the Jamiat, all had reservations over recent appointments and transfers in the provincial bureaucracy. He appealed to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to address their reservations.
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