Feeling lonely: Altaf 'deeply hurt' by PPP leaders not answering his calls

MQM chief says Sindh CM could not hear him the first time due to 'old age' and later stopped answering his phone

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain claims to have been ‘deeply hurt’ by the apathetic attitude of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leadership after he was unable to convey his grievances to them regarding the recent arrest of his workers by Rangers personnel.  

Altaf had called Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and PPP co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari but was unable to speak to them. According to a press release issued by the party, the MQM chief called Shah but the line was not clear and because of the chief minister’s ‘old-age’, the latter could not hear Altaf Hussain clearly.

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The MQM chief then told the chief minister that he would call again from his direct phone. When he called the second time, instead of Shah, it was his operator who picked up. The operator made Altaf wait for several minutes, during which time he was forced to listen to recorded speeches of the deceased Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto, said the press release.

The operator then said that the chief minister would call him back but the call never came.

Altaf also called the PPP co-chairperson, Asif Ali Zardari, several times on his two numbers in Dubai but he did not pick up.

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Following the incident, an angry Altaf in a press statement condemned the attitude and said that at a time when the whole of  Sindh was being occupied by the Rangers and MQM workers were being treated as ‘war prisoners’, the irresponsible attitude of the PPP leaders was disheartening.

Meanwhile, the party’s Rabita Committee in London directed the Rabita Committee in Pakistan to take notice of the irresponsible and indifferent attitudes of the PPP leaders.