
KARACHI:
The Pakistan Peoples Party leadership and Sindhi nationalist parties strongly reacted to MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s statement on Friday.
The party’s patron-in-chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Friday wrote ‘Marsoon Marsoon, Sindh na Ddaisun’, [We will die but won’t give Sindh to others] on social networking website Twitter.
https://twitter.com/BBhuttoZardari/statuses/419089258037923840
Reacting to statement by Altaf Hussain terming Bilawal his nephew, the PPP patron-in-chief also made a post saying his love for Sindh was greater ‘than his love for his uncle (Altaf Hussain)’.
Qaumi Awami Tehreek leader Ayaz Latif Palijo asked the MQM leadership to retract the statement within the next 48 hours and apologise.
“We won’t tolerate such a scheme,” he said. He also warned that his party would call a strike if the MQM chief did not take back his statement.
“It is not only against the interest of Sindh but against the Constitution of Pakistan,” reacted Sindh United Party President Syed Jalal Mehmood Shah. He said the MQM and the PPP intended to create hatred between Sindhis and Urdu-speaking people to uplift their plummeting popularity graphs.
“Sindh is not a cake. It is a province and will remain a province,” reacted Sindh Senior Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, adding that the division of Sindh was possible only over the bodies of PPP workers. He said that the environment of brotherhood will be disturbed with such statements.
Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon also denounced Altaf’s recent statement. “The anger over Musharaf’s trial is being outpoured over the people of Sindh,” he reacted.
He said that MQM’s leader should avoid of such statements, adding that the MQM’s governor was in power for the last 11 years. He said complaint to federal or provincial governments should be sent through the Sindh governor. “Such statement should not be made in public gatherings,” he said.
Pakistan Muslim League-Functional has also strongly reacted to Altaf’s statement and suggested that the MQM should bring all issues before the Sindh Assembly if anybody had harmed or wronged it.
“We’ll support the MQM, if government does anything wrong with them but Sindh people won’t tolerate division of Sindh. There is strong reaction in Sindh after Altaf Hussain’s statement,” said Imtiaz Shaikh, the PML-F’s secretary general.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 4th, 2014.
COMMENTS (25)
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Bilawal is racist
This twitter lad`s great garndfather had to go to Junagadh to find employment and to keep his family in Bombay for education and cultured life , it is the arrival of skilled , qualified , honest hard working people believing on meriticracy that developed karachi , All Altaaf Bhai has asked to give rightful share to all people of sindh , both urban and rural , and he just warned if injustice continues , it would lead to struggle and who knows where this would culminate.So the key lies in distribution of everything based on justice ,
just to reminf people karachi was never historically attched to sindh , remember it was with BOMBAY recidency during british Raj
@Irfan:
And the urdu speaking sindhis should start learning and speaking sindhi if they want to be counted as Sindhis! 66 years down the line, urdu speaking sindhis do not know the language of the Land.
He did not have the guts to demolish,'Billa Walls', in front of the Bilawal House,which have closed public roads even on the orders of the court.So,stop making tall claims and endeavour to resolve the issues.
@Sallar: That's why after being disappointed from Scotland Yard, I am pinning my hopes upon his cholesterol!
@J.N: There is no quota system in USA and no waderas, I am sure nothing more is needed to make you understand.
We were not happy in India. We are not happy in Sindh. We want to go to foreign countries and get their citizenship and create hatred among the local people. You have left Pakistan for quarter of a century just leave us alone we can decide our own fate. No more division of our motherland.
@Irfan: PPP leaders are sleeping, instead of caring of the Sindhi nation, we are in majority but when comes to education and services, we are far behind others.
This is all theater.
On green card, we start behaving Americans, but we are born in Sindh, and still we hesitate to own this great and historic land of Sindh which gave us every thing. I am Urdu speaking Sindhi and I am proud to belong to this land and I dont support Mohajir soba demand.
@Arzoo: Evrything wrong about creating new administrative units, it would mean finances and resources changing hands and fuedals losing their grip over power and their Harees beginning to feel as equal citizens with rights, so everything wrong for PPP's feudal leadership
No Urdu-Speaking person in his right mind wants a division of Sindh based on Language. I am one and I will not support any such move.
Everyone deserves their freedom. If feudals can enjoy it in their villages then let them keep their freedom so we can enjoy ours in city. And yes we fought for our freedom once and wont hesitate to fight again. Injustice and oppression had to end soon.
I had predicted in earlier comments in ET that if local governments are not empowered to self-rule we will soon see a day when people will be asking for their own province. This is now happening. Same thing happened when Bangladesh came into being: continued refusal on the part of West Pakistanis to acknowledge East Pakistan's rights.
India had 11 provinces in 1947. Today it has 28 States, soon to be 29 when Telangana is carved out of Andhra Pradesh. Increasing population will necessitate new entities for administrative purposes. What is wrong in that????
@Ahmed - Karachi:
If PPP was any good in city or land management the Sindhis in Interior Sindh would not be considered more neglected & poor than any people in any poor country including from Africa and South America. PPP just comes to Cash-In on MQM's hard work of setting-up the money Machine that Karachi is.
Ask PPP to show what they have done for Karachi or any city in Sindh lately that changed the fate of their people? They just can't move their poor to Karachi fast enough, that's all PPP is good at.... in changing the fate of their poor voters. MQM ran the city efficiently so PPP has today lot of resources to feed their voters from this money machine that happen to be in the province of Sindh.
Imagine if Twitter got blocked in Pakistan. Poor Bilawal's political career would end.
@ET: Hey, ET- how much is PPP paying you guys to put up every single tweet he spits? If you look at his followers, over half of them are spam accounts.
This sort of reporting is sad and reflective of rather low journalism standards - it perpetuates mediocrity where you allow the public to simply be angry about his tweets, then Altaf's tweets, and then what's the point of it all? Save the advertising revenue you guys can get, but hey, be nice to this country. It's screwed up as it is, it doesn't need further nails in its coffin.
Not rapping you guys on the knuckles, but hold yourself up to better standards - it would serve you better in the long run.
If so, then treat urdu-speakers like Sindhis.
-Stop calling them "others" -Remove Quota system -Allow fair Local Body system in Karachi and Hyderabad. -Stop importing police from other provinces -Give them the due share of budget.
If not, let them have their own province.
Well said but altaf bhai's love for cakes is evident
Much ado about nothing!
I'm Urdu speaking but I can only imagine what would happen if MQM had a province to themselves. The tussle between MQM and PPP in Sindh keeps them both in check.
Lol without the PPP to fight with them the new province run by MQM will be shut down everyday by 'namaloom afraad'
It is important for the country to have smaller units. But this should not be decided by hot heads instead wise people. Divide Punjab in 3, Sindh, KPK and Balochistan in 2 provinces each. This will help to solve the problems faced by people.