Patronisation of criminal elements should be stopped for peace in Karachi, said Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain. He was addressing a huge gathering of students in Jinnah Ground on the occasion of the 34th Foundation Day of the All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation (APMSO) on Monday.
He said Karachi was made the centre of conspiracies against the MQM, adding the same game had been re-enacted against the MQM. He said criminal elements involved in extortions and kidnapping for ransom were being harboured and funded in order to crush the MQM one way or another, while they were being given lethal weapons to create a sense of fear in the city by kidnapping people and cutting them into pieces, he added.
"The killers and extortionists are moving in the city with impunity and no one has dare to stop them besides government law enforcement agencies have been miserably failed to provide security to citizens", Altaf Hussain stressed. Hussain said the relations of Pakistan with the neighbouring countries were not good. The recent "love affair" was also eyewash as it was dictated by interests. The United States and the west had turned against Pakistan and looking upon Pakistan with suspicion.
MQM Chief said rulers must take heed, adding "we were cutting the same branch on which we were sitting. It was the path of utter destruction on which we were moving ahead." Hussain said there was no part of the country that was not disturbed. The situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was fluid and Balochistan was on the verge of breaking away. The seeds of cessation taking roots in Balochistan called for bold steps. People were on streets in the Punjab.
Altaf Hussain said there were unemployment, financial hardships and economic downturn and people were being forced to commit suicide due to oppressive poverty. There was a shortage of gas and electricity in the country that had brought the wheel of the industries to a grinding halt, he added and asked how the country could progress without adequate supply of energy.
He congratulated the office-bearers, workers of APMSO and students on the occasion of the 34th Foundation Day of the APMSO, and asked the students to study with devotion and acquire true knowledge instead of adopting unfair means for passing. Earlier shields and cash prized were distributed among the students belonging to various boards and universities securing top positions in the examinations.