KARACHI, Sept 16: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain has asked the government to convene a roundtable conference of all political, religious, ethnic and linguistic parties and groups to discuss ways of meeting the challenges confronting the country.

Addressing workers of his party from London on Sunday, he said the worsening law and order situation in different parts of the country and attacks on an army mess and a bus carrying employees of an intelligence agency required all parties and groups to sit together along with the president or the prime minister to solve the problems threatening the solidarity and integrity of Pakistan.

Mr Hussain’s telephonic address was relayed to 20 cities and towns of Sindh, besides Karachi.

He regretted that some religious and political parties were fighting each other, ignoring the crisis confronting the country.

He said that the MQM believed in non-violence and rejected all kinds of terrorism. “There is no place in the MQM for any kind of terrorists and elements who take the law in their own hands.”

He directed the MQM Coordination Committee not to issue statements against any party or leader or against bar associations.

Mr Hussain condemned the murder of Advocates Raja Riaz and Ateeq Ahmed Qadri and urged the Sindh government to apprehend the culprits and give them exemplary punishment.

He called upon the countries and organisations providing financial assistance to Pakistan to link their aid with the abolition of feudal system.

He said that the MQM wanted to bring and end to the rural-urban divide, adding that people of all ethnic and linguistic groups and minorities enjoyed equal rights in his party.

He condemned a report appearing in a section of the press about alleged distribution of arms in Karachi and asked his workers if they had seen any distribution of weapons in their areas. The workers replied in the negative.

He asked them to ignore provocations from any side and remain peaceful to foil what he said a conspiracy being hatched to engineer Pakhtun-Mohajir riots in Karachi.

Mr Hussain said that some of the remarks he had made in a programme of the Graduate Forum had been reported out of context. He apologised to lawyers and journalists for anything which might have hurt their sentiments.