TheMuslimTimes Editor for Pakistan
Credit: Dawn.com
From the Newspaper | Azfar ul-Ashfaque | 14 hours ago
KARACHI: In what is being described as a major shift in policy towards the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has appealed to its leaders to lay down arms and enter mainstream politics.
“You cannot make friends by using force… make them yours with the power of peace and love,” he said in his speech from London to a big gathering held on Saturday at the Lal Qila ground to kick off the MQM’s election campaign.
The MQM has fielded 671 candidates — 221 for the National Assembly and 450 for the four provincial assemblies.
Mr Hussain used the occasion to convey to the Taliban that his party would have no objection if they stopped killing innocent people and instead joined mainstream politics.
He, however, did not name the Taliban when he said the MQM, the PPP and the ANP were being targeted and conspiracies were being hatched to stop these ‘enlightened and liberal’ parties from taking part in the general elections. More