Altaf says Indo-Pak war out of question

By Hasan Mansoor

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s self-exiled leader, Altaf Hussain, said on Sunday there was no question of war between India and Pakistan in future as he had established an atmosphere of trust and mutual love during his recent 15-day visit to New Delhi.

“I believe that people of the two countries have immense love and affection for each other and during my visit to India I have established such an atmosphere that the culture of war between the South Asian neighbours has become history now,” Mr Hussain said during his telephone address to the party’s general workers’ meetings at the MQM headquarters 90-Azizabad. The address was simultaneously directed to the rest of 13 zones of Sindh and the party’s Belgium unit, said an MQM spokesman.

“People of the two countries are peaceful, they do not want war and in actual terms they have voted against the war,” he said.

He said his Indian visit to attend an international conference as a keynote speaker was the first such visit in his life. “But I spent some of pleasant days of my life and I felt myself at home.”

He praised the warm welcome he was accorded to by his Indian hosts. Mr Hussain asked the leaderships of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal not to destroy the peace of Sindh.

“Sindh has suffered the most and these leaders should launch their agitation somewhere else.”

He said the “enemies” became bewildered when they saw the huge coverage Mr Hussain got by the Indian media during his maiden visit to New Delhi. “The Indian newspapers wrote that Altaf Hussain stole the show by his speech.”

He said he gave some viable proposals for resolution of Kashmir and other disputes between the two South Asian neighbours during the conference. “I spoke for love and amity between the people of two countries, which my opponents did not like who launched a negative propaganda against me by distorting my statement relating to the Line of Control.”

He said he had proposed to make the Line of Control a temporary border between the two countries and to demilitarise the region until the two countries resolved the dispute. “Those who distorted my statement and criticised me should take up weapons and get Kashmir freed instead of wasting their time in criticism on me,” he said.

“We do not want war between Pakistan and India, but we want the two neighbours to live as brothers.”

He said people of Sindh wanted peace and their wishes would soon become a 0reality. “During my visit, Indian politicians expressed their happiness at the fact that all the communities in Sindh have united under the umbrella of the MQM.”

“Today the people of Sindh are freeing themselves from the clutches of feudal lords by gathering on the MQM’s platform,” he said. He said the Indians were ready to reopen the Khokhrapar-Munabao border and it would soon be reopened. Mr Hussain said he had invited Bharatiya Janata Party chief Lal Krishna Advani to visit Sindh. “We have assured him of a historic welcome when he will visit Sindh.”

He said he had also discussed with the Indian leadership the reopening of Indian consulate at Karachi and assured that the people would soon get visa facility at Karachi. He said immediately after his Indian visit Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited the Kashmiri leadership for resolution of the dispute. He said Sindh would play a pioneering role for improvement of relations between India and Pakistan.

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