MMA denounces MQM statement on border

The hard line Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal yesterday denounced a statement by a key government ally, which asked Pakistan and India to consider accepting the Line of Control in Kashmir as a permanent border.

Altaf Hussain, the self-exiled chief of the regional Muttahida Qaumi Movement, on Sunday urged the two South Asian rivals to resolve their bilateral issues, including that of Kashmir, through negotiations. "India and Pakistan must now decide that they would never go to war and resolve all issues, including Kashmir through meaningful dialogue and negotiations," Hussain had said by telephone from London to his supporters in Karachi.

"The geo-political reality of Pakistan is that it is isolated in South Asia. In case of a problem, no country will come to our rescue," he said.The statement came in the wake of a recent thaw in India, Pakistan relations and hopes of the resumption of dialogue between the two hostile neighbours.

But the MMA, an alliance of six Islamist parties, said such statements were issued by the Indian lobby in Pakistan which wants to undermine what it called the struggle and sacrifices of the people of Kashmir. "By issuing such statements, Altaf Hussain has justified Indian atrocities on Kashmiris. They are doing what Indians could not do - to stab the freedom movement in the back," Syed Munawaar Hasan, a key MMA leader and secretary general of its one of the main components, the Jamaat-e-Islami, told Gulf News.

"The government should give a denial," he said. Otherwise we will take it as a test balloon," he said by telephone from Islamabad.The MQM is a major coalition partner in Sindh and supports the government of Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali at the centre.

The party dominates Karachi and enjoys the support of Urdu speaking people who migrated from India at Partition and their descendants.