Warns that Pakistan is at a ‘critical crossroads’ and urges political parties to address growing political instability
MQM-P President Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui addresses a press conference at the party headquarters at Bahadurabad in Karachi on Sunday, accompanied by senior leaders Syed Mustafa Kamal, Dr Farooq Sattar, Aminul Haq, Anis Kaimkhani and others.
“Pakistan has defeated India this year; now it is time to defeat its proxies,” Mutahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) President Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said on Sunday.
Referring to the events of August 2016, when the MQM-P abandoned its founder, Siddiqui said: “The MQM places the sanctity of the state above personality; PTI people will have to decide which is bigger, their leader or the country.”
MQM-Pakistan President Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has warned that Pakistan is at a “critical crossroads”, urging political parties to jointly tackle what he described as growing political instability and alleged foreign interference in national affairs.
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He was speaking at a packed press conference at the party headquarters in Bahadurabad, accompanied by senior leaders Syed Mustafa Kamal, Dr Farooq Sattar, Aminul Haq, Anis Kaimkhani and others.
Dr Siddiqui claimed that the MQM-P was deprived of its “real representation” in the 2018 elections, when its 14 seats in the National Assembly in Karachi were reduced to four. Despite this, he added, the party chose the “legal and political” path rather than confrontation.
He claimed a “concerted campaign” was being waged against the country and called on the government to identify and take action against those involved. “Political parties must unite and expose anyone who works against Pakistan,” he said.
Referring to India, he remarked: “This year we have defeated India, and now we will also defeat its proxies. »
Dr Siddiqui added that the MQM-P had “never placed any individual above the state”, thereby distancing itself from its former founder. “If the PTI feels that its leader is bigger than Pakistan, it has to make a choice,” he said.
“The army belongs to the entire nation”
Senior Deputy President Syed Mustafa Kamal accused the PTI and its leaders of “maligning the Pakistan Army globally” and trying to demoralize the institution. He said the military had dashed India’s “ambitions for regional dominance”, despite facing a much greater adversary.
“The army is not the property of any party; it belongs to the entire nation,” Kamal said. He urged PTI supporters to review their political strategy, saying it was unacceptable to criticize military leaders simply because “they do not act according to the wishes of a party.”
Kamal added that even after facing “serious allegations”, the army still chose dialogue. “Ask families in Karachi who have spent years searching for their missing loved ones. You are lucky the state is still talking to you,” he said.
“The narrative constructed in prison is dangerous”
Dr Farooq Sattar said the PTI founder was removed through a constitutional process and the PDM government was formed democratically. “Your politics only revolves around hostility towards the army,” he said, criticizing the language allegedly used by the KP chief minister.
He said the narrative emerging from the prison was “something only a mentally unstable person could construct”. “Your ego cannot be placed above national security and unity,” Sattar said.
Referring to the post-Pulwama crisis, he questioned why the PTI government released Indian pilot Abhinandan. “Your own MPs who attended a briefing at the National Defense University were called traitors, why?” he asked.
The press conference was attended by members of the coordination committee, MPs, MPs and officials from different wings of the party.
