PPP’s MPA Sohail Anwar Siyal on Thursday said that the MQM is fanning racism by saying that they are raising the people of Sindh.
Siyal was responding to remarks made by MQM’s Muhammad Hussain. Hussain said that the PPP was responsible for the disintegration of Pakistan, the 1981 hijacking of a PIA aircraft and the 1990 Pacca Qilla operation in Hyderabad.
Siyal responded to the MQM MPA’s by hitting out at the party leadership. He said, “It’s we who gave them lands and accommodation in our houses after Partition.” “The absconder, the traitor of the country had made a speech in India that the creation of Pakistan was a big blunder,” he said, referring to MQM founder Altaf Hussain. Altaf Hussain has been living in London in self-imposed exile since 1992.
Siyal then went on to comment on the arrival of Urdu-speaking people: “We gave them a place in our hearts and nourished them from our own grain. We are the ones who are rearing them.”
These were the people who introduced “bori-band lashain,” Siyal went on to say. Their people are involved in the May 12 violence. Siyal once held the position of home minister in Sindh.
Lawmakers from the opposition condemned the remarks as “racist”. MQM’s Ali Raza Abidi said Siyal should withdraw his statement. “He has humiliated the assembly with his remarks which can create trouble for them,” he said.
MQM’s Faisal Sabzwari said the PPP leadership “is playing the racism card to conceal their corruption.”
PSP’s Raza Haroon called Mohajirs the founders of the country. “They entered Pakistan as a matter of right not refuge,” he said.
“It was a biased and irresponsible speech,” said Haroon, a former MQM leader. “They should name a person, if they want to particularly point out anything.”
