Tit for tat: Altaf slams PML-N, lauds President Zardari
Two days after the PML-N showed the government its street power in Lahore, the MQM brought thousands of people out on the roads.
Addressing the rally via telephone, MQM chief Altaf Hussain condemned the derogatory remarks used by Punjab Chief minister Shahbaz Sharif against President Zardari. He said MQM is united against all conspiracies being hatched against democracy.
The MQM chief also challenged Sharif brothers to take out such a massive rally in Karachi to show its roots among the masses.
He also ruled out mid-term elections, saying that PML-N will have to wait till the next elections as the PPP government will complete its tenure.
MQM workers from across the city converged on MA Jinnah Road to make the show a success. The rally had the theme called 'Strengthen Democracy' and the entire route was decorated with MQM and national flags.
MQM and PPP leaders had been appearing on media since morning to condemn what they called Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif's derogatory remarks against President Zardari.
End of live updates
4:42pm
"Hum latkanay ki baat nahi karte hum zaban se baat karte hain" says Altaf Hussain.
The MQM chief adds:
"These [Sharif brothers] people run away to Jeddah. There's talk of hanging people upside down. When the Sharif brothers were in jail, sounds of crying could be heard from their cells. Zardari bore his 11-year sentence like a man."
4:37pm
MQM chief condemns Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif for using derogatory language against President Zardari.
"We [MQM] can speak the same language too" says Altaf.
In response to PML-N's calls for "Go Zardari Go", MQM's Altaf Hussain says "No Sharif baradraan (brothers) No".
"I tell PML-N to wait for the elections and participate and come to power democratically. But we will not allow undemocratic actions" says Altaf.
The MQM chief adds that the nation is united in strengthening democracy.
MQM leaders as well as those of other political parties have repeatedly said how this rally was organised within 40 hours.
4:30pm
MQM chief Altaf Hussain begins his address.
The party's song "Saathi" preceded the speech as thousands of supporters sang along and waved MQM flags
PML-Q leaders Halim Adil Shaikh and Shehryar Mahar are also at the rally. Shaikh, addressing the rally says, the PML-N is destined to fail.
4:10pm
In their speeches, PPP leaders Agha Siraj Durrani and Pir Mazharul Haq criticise Shahbaz Sharif and his use of derogatory language against President Zardari, our correspondent Saba Imtiaz reported.
They also invoked memories of the treatment of the PPP in the 1990s during PML-N's terms in power.
3:45pm
MQM's Faisal Subzwari says they're expecting hundreds of thousands - current crowd is about 35% as buses still arriving.
Agha Siraj Durrani addresses the gathering:
Saba_Imtiaz - So Agha Siraj Durrani couldn't get the crowd to respond to cheers of Jiye Bhutto. Jiye Altaf gets a resounding echo. #mqm
Saba_Imtiaz Agha Siraj Durrani reminiscing about time spent with Shahbaz Sharif in Landhi jail. #mqm #ppp
PPP leaders Prof ND Khan, Taj Haider, Agha Siraj Durrani, Pir Mazharul Haq, Sharmila Faruqi, Najmi Alam, Waqar Mehdi have arrived at the MQM rally, says our correspondent Saba Imtiaz.
Prof ND Khan is addressing the rally.
3:25pm
Haider Abbas Rizvi, Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Faisal Subzwari, Anis Qaimkhani, Nasreen Jalil are also present at the growing rally say correspondent Saba Imtiaz.
Provincial Minister Raza Haroon while talking to the media said that the MQM is holding a protest rally as it strongly detests derogatory remarks used for President Zardari by Pakistan Muslim League.
3:05pm
According to our correspondent Saba Imtiaz, the crowd already appears several thousands strong.
There are fairly strict security arrangements in place, with the police, Rangers and MQM's own volunteers managing the flow of people.
Party leaders Dr Farooq Sattar, Waseem Akhtar, Mustafa Kamal, Raza Haroon, Wasay Jalil and Rauf Siddiqui are at the rally along with members of the clergy and representatives of minority faiths.
2:45pm
The arrangements of the rally have been finalised as party chief Altaf Hussain is scheduled to address a huge crowd at Tibet Centre in the afternoon.
The route of the rally – which has been entitled as 'Stabilising Democracy' – is decorated with MQM and national flags. Tight security arrangements are in place to avoid any untoward incident.
Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz rallied against the PPP and President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday in Lahore. In a political rebuke to PML-N, the MQM announced it would hold a “protest rally against the derogatory language used against President Zardari by the PML-N leaders” in Karachi.
Earlier, the ban imposed in Sindh on public rallies and processions was lifted for two days after a notification of one-month extension of the ban was imposed so that the MQM can express solidarity with the president and protest the use of unparliamentary language against the president by Shahbaz Sharif during his speech on Friday.
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@ Salman Orangiwala
Oh man! How can we burn? Altaf Hussain is such a comic relief for us Pakistanis. We will never want him to go.
@ Hassan I hope you meant it as a joke and if not then please raise next slogan of 'Long Live Corruption" as well.
@Punjabi Pakistani (PP) Man! When we will get rid of this dynastic politics? Bhutto died long ago. Get over him. It's all Zardari now.
Billo Bahiya , Natasha Bibi and Abdul Rahman Khan
Do I smell soemthing burning .............lolzzzzzzzzzzz .
Open your eyes and behold , MQM is very much alive and kicking to amke a public show of such magnitude , and you thought after Zulfiqar Mirza and the questionalble ruling ( as usual ) of the CJ ............................ Come'on confess it .............
A nice show and display of unity for Pakistan and Democracy.
@Ris Very Very True Indeed. Great comment
hahahahahahha lolz......
"Zardari bore his 11-year sentence like a man" ....A president who bore 11 years sentence because of corruption charges, etc...so what is there to act like a "man" in jail- how does one act like a woman in jail- heck we don't know because we don't visit prison- but altaf does apparently..the only two parties i see can make Pakistan future bright are APML and PTI
"Mr President, I have arranged a successful huge rally in support of you in karachi. Please do me a little favour now. Make sure Afaq ahmad is not freed and release all of my workers who have been arrested and maliciously branded as 'target killers' during the recent rangers operation in Karachi". Guess who said this? - it's not me.
CONTINUED FROM THE PREVIOUS POST I am completely disillusioned and disappointed with Police Reforms Formula of Imran Khan. Electing SHOs from masses (read political parties) directly, without any training and selection criteria, will further politicize and De-moralize the police force; leading to further corroding of public faith in the department. It is better to give them autonomy like judiciary along with the establishment of an active accountability mechanism together with the revival of magistracy system for oversight. Also the pays and perks of police officers should be increased like judiciary. On the other hand, eliminating the institution of Patwaris will not do any good as Patwaris perform many other duties along with the record keeping. Secondly, removing Patwaris alone and computerizing the Revenue System can't erase corruption as the system would still be susceptible to political manipulation. Thirdly, Imran gave no formula of reforming the corruption in lower courts and ousting those selected on political considerations by the sitting government of PPP
Altaf Bhai is more Tit than Tat, using your own headline.
We dont need such democracy where people have no basic rights of life. Like electricity, food, shelter, water, job opportunities, justice. This democracy is not for masses, this is of their self. We need Imran Khan.
PPP and MQM together is good for Karachi and Sindh as a whole.
why can't mqm make up the mind , clash,clash ,clash ultimatum back.... ,clash,clash ,clash ultimatum back ,clash,clash ,clash ultimatum back .
lol @ Yasser Khan. Come ON man. There's a limit. Seriously.
All these people DESERVE all the suffering they are going through under Zardari raj.
Proud of you Lahore.
You can't bring down a government through rallies. PML-N is trying to set another dangerous precedence. And that must be discouraged.
GA Mutihada , GA Altaf
Long Live President Zardari!
This is the fake revolution. It is a distraction. It is a drama symbolizing passing the ball. Let me explain this as bluntly and simply as I can. Hopefully some of you will understand: Party A and Party B make a deal. Party A wins election. Party A sucks the country dry. People become unhappy and need a change. Party B kicks into gear pretending to be the voice of the people and simulating a revolution. Party A knows that it needs to pass on the baton so who else to pass it to than its under-the-blanket ally i.e: Party B. Party B wins election. Party B repeats the same process as Party A. Makes loads of dough. People become unhappy and need a change… and repeat. This is a ping pong game amongst the political mafia. This is what is happening. This is what has been happening. Wake up if you do not want this to happen in the future. I know we all have our own personal problems to deal with but trust me these problems are never going to go away unless we fix the biggest problem. The real currency my friends is not the dollar, the pound, the yen or the peso. It is the people. It is you. The value of a country and its representative entity (the chosen government) is dictated by the the head count controlled by that representative entity. External entities; some such san or some such sheikh, are not going to come down and speak to you personally. In fact it is impossible for them to worry about every individual in the country. They’re going to speak to the representatives. If the corrupt representatives will keep on interfacing with external entities you can bet your life on the fact that you’d never see any of the relief funds, those scholarships or any other genuine help extended to our country, trickle down to the masses. Oh remember the rupees that should have been used to issue a state funded scholarship for your genius kid? Oops sorry they’re used up to install gold faucets in the big mans mansion. But hey its not so bad he’ll give you a yellow taxi to drive for 2 years. He’ll make sure that you taste the luxuries of being a cabby and your kids. To the brain washed masses, you serve a purpose for these so called representatives. You are like the gust of wind that is needed for a lift off on a glider. Once that is done, the glider has no need for a powerful gust / a revolution / or stick in your favorite analogy. The people who “think” they are part of the revolution aren’t going anywhere. They were on the ground and they will be while the gilder flies the skies. Nothing is going to change for you. You’ll still have your problem of electricity while the big man runs his house on a generator. You’ll still have the problem of gas when the big man is eating out in sheraton. You’ll still have the problem of roof when the big man is flying around in his air conditioned jet. Your kids are going to be sick and hungry when the big man’s family is feasting on kfc, mcdonald and other crap. These idiots who ride around on a honda cd 70, eating raja jani paans forming the bulk of these rallies and other such processions, You think they know jack about what the bigger picture is? These guys are none the wiser themselves yet they are controlled in such a way that they’d be sent out to convince even lesser educated, even more deprived people in smaller colonies. On voting day, biryani degs will be served to pull in poor people and steal their vote. Unfortunately, to a lot of our country wo/men the value of a vote is equivalent to a day’s (if even a day) meal. Please just this time, do not forget and do not forgive.
Wrong page, that was meant for PTI jalsa. Getting sleepy I guess :)
@Anonymous: Not when it comes to parties with provincial mindset.
Pro-democracy lol the same altaf bhai was inviting generals few months back!!!!!
Shouldn't the national flag fly higher than party flags according to protocol?
Watching live from San Francisco :) It's nice to see people happy for a change. Oh btw junoon playing!
It's not in Zardari's favor, it's pro-democracy, since PMLN way of changing govt through abusing language is not appropriate.