Partition of India was a huge mistake: Pak leader Hussain
http://www.mqm.org/
London: The division of the Indian sub-continent was the biggest blunder in the history of mankind, Altaf Hussain, leader of Pakistan’s Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), said at a meeting in London on Sunday.
The dramatic statement marked the first time that the leaders of the Mohajirs - who did the most for the partitioning of India from Pakistan - have said that the creation of Pakistan was a mistake. Mohajirs are Muslims who migrated from India to live in an Islamic state.
The dramatic statement was backed by Sindh, Baluch and Pakhtoon leaders who all gathered at the London meeting to signal a united opposition to Punjabi dominance within Pakistan.
“The Titanic of the Islamic ‘ummah’ (community) is now sinking,” Hussain said. “It’s time for everyone to play their role.” Hussain took the Titanic analogy further. “Do you know the sinking process of the Titanic? Did you see that film? The Titanic did not sink suddenly. It sank slowly. They shot off distress flares. But nobody came. In the end it sank. And this is not a film, it is a fact.”
For the first time Hussain took on the founder of Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Jinnah. Dismissing suggestions that the Mohajirs were carving out a province for themselves to be called Jinnahpur, Altaf Hussain said, “If we break the country, we will never name it after Jinnah.”
Hussain told the packed hall in London that there are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan. “So far I have been writing to Pakistan leaders,” Altaf Hussain said. “My next letter will be to Indian Muslims. I will tell them what is happening to us in Pakistan, come and see.”
The MQM leader said that “we did not want to hear the truth in 1971 (when Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan), and Pakistan broke. Now if you want to treat us like slaves, a time will come when we will get independence, and you will be without slaves.”
Altaf Hussain even proceeded even to sing the first line of “Sare jahan se achha, Hindustan hamara” twice. He sang it when journalists from Jang newspaper asked him to name his favorite poet. The song by Iqbal, who became Pakistan’s national poet, was Altaf Hussain’s reply.
Altaf Hussain said, “None of us want to dismember Pakistan; we want to strengthen Pakistan and make a prosperous Pakistan, so please try to save Pakistan.” But Pakistan cannot be saved under the present dominance by the Punjabi elite, he said. “There cannot be a Pakistan where Punjabis are considered faithful and Sindhis, Mohajirs, Baluchis and Pakhtoons are considered traitors.”
Hussain said that “if Pakistan breaks, then it is not Sindhis, Baluchis and Pakhtoons who will be the losers; the loser will be Punjab, the loser will be Punjab, the loser will be Punjab.”
The meeting was addressed also by Sardar Attaullah Mengal, convenor of the Pakistan Oppressed Nations Movement (PONM) and also president of the Baluchistan National Party, by Mahmood Khan Achakzai, chairman of the Pakhtoon Khwa Milli Awami Party, and by Sindh leader Syed Imdad Mohammed Shah. “This assembly is a warning to those committing crimes against humanity with brute state force,” Altaf Hussain said.
Altaf Hussain said, “There is still time.” But the rulers must immediately “make a new constitution and stop treating Baluchis, Sindhis and Pashtuns as traitors.” When speaking of Sindhis he meant also the Mohajirs. Altaf Hussain said there will be no differences among Urdu-speaking people and Sindhis, and that “I myself will learn Sindhi.”
Speaking of earlier differences with Sindhis, Altaf Hussain said: “Whatever had to happen has happened. If we join forces, we have 70 per cent of the wealth of Pakistan, and then we can keep our money and even feed Punjab.”