HYDERABAD, Jan 30: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has said that international conspiracies are being hatched against the people of Sindh aimed at making the province a part of ‘greater Punjab’. Referring to some write-ups appearing on websites, he said he would never support a division of Sindh and would not like it to become part of another province.

He was addressing on phone from London a general workers’ convention here on Wednesday at the Pucca Qilla ground. Mr Hussain’s speech was heard in MQM’s 10 zones in Sindh. The convention was attended by people from various districts of the province. Extraordinary security arrangements had been made in and around the venue of the convention.

Mr Hussain said that at present the seventh generation of the people who had migrated from India was living in Sindh. Therefore, he said, there should be no reason not to treat these people as a permanent community of Sindh. He asked the audience if the Urdu-speaking people would like to migrate to India again and ‘No’ was the emphatic reply.

He said that the way the MQM had taken up the issues of Kalabagh dam and the NFC award proved that the Urdu-speaking people were committed to this land where “they have to live and die ”.

He said that the people of Sindh were not aware of the conspiracies being hatched against them at the international level.

He said the daughter of Sindh was killed, but an organised violence was let loose following her assassination. “Are the people of Sindh or MQM responsible for her assassination,” he asked. Then who was behind the violence which caused losses of billions?, he asked.

He referred to a write-up by a man called John Berlin headlined “Why the US wants the collapse of Pakistan” and another by Mishall Chaudawski “The destabilisation of Pakistan” to substantiate his point that international conspiracies were being hatched against Sindh.

“In addition to these articles, some other documents on websites mention greater Balochistan while Karachi being the gateway of Central Asia and a port city and the rest of Sindh have been shown part of greater Punjab. Does it mean that there is an attempt to obliterate the name of Sindh?”

He warned the people of Sindh against the conspiracy and said that only the true sons of the soil could save their land which was already in distress. He said that during the violence after Ms Bhutto’s murder, shops, homes and businesses of MQM workers were looted and burnt. “Even women were subjected to criminal assault but despite receiving calls about these excesses I kept advising patience, and had I not done this anti-Sindh forces would have succeeded in their designs,” he said.

“Sindhi intellectuals, writers and journalists should realise the gravity of the situation and disseminate the message of love and peace, instead of hate in order to save Pakistan and Sindh.”

He said that the people were required to keep a close eye on the forces which were bent upon pitting the people of different provinces against each other.

He urged the Election Commission and the caretaker government not only to ensure transparent ballot boxes but also transparent and honest elections.

“The majority party should be handed over power after the polls and there shouldn’t be any rigging,” he demanded.

He also said that the Sindhis and the Urdu-speaking Sindhis would have to work together to achieve their rights and must not let any conspiracy to incite ethnic riots succeed.