Take it back: Khursheed Shah retracts words on MQM demand

Shah had earlier urged the Urdu-speaking community to stop calling themselves Muhajirs

KARACHI:

Khursheed Shah, the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, apologised on Friday for his remarks against Muhajirs earlier in the day after the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) lashed out against his statement.

Speaking to the media after visiting the October 18 jalsa venue near Mazar-e-Quaid, he said that the Urdu-speaking people of Pakistan were now permanent residents and should therefore stop calling themselves 'muhajirs'. "The word 'muhajir' is a 'gaali' (curse) for me," the Pakistan Peoples Party leader said. "I urge our friends to please stop referring to themselves as muhajir." He added that Muhajirs were those living in segregated camps to be repatriated to their respective countries.

"Pakistan's Urdu-speaking people are our brothers; they have to live and die with us," Shah remarked. "I request MQM leaders to come and negotiate with the Sindh government if they have any grievances and to avoid using such language."

Soon after his statement, the MQM held an emergency press conference at the Khursheed Begum Secretariat to demand that Shah take back his words and apologise.

"Who is Khursheed Shah to say that he will let us stay in the country?" asked furious MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi. "We will not allow him to say that Muhajir is an abusive word." He asked Shah to tender an apology. "Such statements will only spread hatred and divide the people of the province of the peace-loving Sufi saints on the basis of ethnicity."

Rizvi added that the Muhajirs were not refugees in Pakistan. "We left everything, our lands and our homes, back in India of our own free will, and sacrificed our lives for our country," he said. "Muhajirs are the owners of 80 per cent of Sindh, and one crore acres that belonged to us was captured by the feudal lords."

Subsequently, Shah apologised for his remarks while speaking to the media again. "I had no bad intentions and I did not give such a statement intending to hurt anyone," he said. "I have never used Muhajir as an abusive word and I tender my apology if anyone was hurt because of my statement."

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2014.