KARACHI, July 27: Leader of the Muttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM), Altaf Hussain told a big gathering of workers on Thursday night that his party was forced to quit the government at centre and in Sindh by ‘the conspirators’ who ought to be proceeded against.

By implication, he named the Muttahidda Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) who he thought was being backed by the establishment.

Addressing the party workers by telephone from London, he cautioned President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to beware of these elements.“ They should distinguish between friends and foes because these very elements had often brought downfall of government in the past,” he said.

Mr Hussain regretted that despite being the first to ask for permission to stage the independence day rally at Minar-i-Pakistan,Lahore, MMA was given preference for staging a similar show, and MQM was asked to advance its function by a day. His party, he said, had gladly accepted the government request but was quick to realise the catch in it.

The MQM leader, who had summoned the emergency session of the workers to inform them about the background of the party’s decision to bid farewell to the government after over three years, remarked that certain conspirators had been trying to mislead the president and the prime minister and asked them to be careful against them.

However, he warned that any attempt on the part of the establishment to suppress or repress MQM would be stoutly resisted because the party had come of age. It was no more in infancy. The 1992 incident should not be repeated because then it will be “all dama dam mast qalandar”, he remarked meaning that those trying to crush the party would face a different organisation this time.

Simultaneously, he asked the former ministers, advisers and special assistants to continue to serve the masses as MPAs, senators and MNAs. He emphasized that MQM was committed to the welfare of the poor and the downtrodden.

He explained that while Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim was creating obstacles in the way of the MQM ministers and advisers in Sindh, a handful of generals and army officers tried to create problems for the party ministers at the Centre.

They not only refused to listen to these ministers, but wrote insulting and indecent letters against them. Things had come to pass where MQM had no option but to finally quit the cabinets at federal and provincial levels.

However, he asked the people not worry about government and keep working harder and harder for the welfare of the people.

He advised the intelligence agencies to learn from the past and desist from polluting the atmosphere from their foolish actions.