Chief slams Sindhi nationalists

Islamabad: The leadership of the Karachi-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has expressed grave concern over a "conspiracy" to stoke up communal hatred in Pakistan's southern Sindh province.

In a statement, MQM chief Altaf Hussain said Sindhi nationalist elements and certain political leaders were using provocative and foul language against Urdu-speaking people, a reference to migrants from India after the 1947 partition of the subcontinent and their descendants.

The London-based MQM leader urged the president, the prime minister, the federal interior minister, the army chief and the ISI head to rein in the troublemakers.

If the so-called nationalist elements in Sindh are not stopped from "threatening" the Urdu-speaking community the people "may take matters into their own hands, Hussain warned.

He said his party had publicly asserted that it opposes the division of Sindh but despite this the so-called nationalists continue to make "threats of terrorism and bloodshed."

Sindh's capital Karachi is the political stronghold of the MQM, which also enjoys support in some other urban centres and is the second largest party in the Sindh assembly after the Pakistan People's Party. The MQM is part of the PPP-led coalition governments at the centre and in Sindh. Karachi has been rocked by a spate of targeted killings this month, the victims included members of the MQM and the rival Sindh chapter of the Awami National Party (ANP), also a PPP ally. The country's biggest city and financial centre has a history of recurring violence linked to ethnic, religious and political rivalry.

Coinciding with Hussain's statement, unknown assailants reportedly attacked a branch office of MQM at Tando Mohammed Khan in Sindh, damaging its furniture and fittings.