‘Pak Govt moves force MQM not to collect hides on Eidul Azha’

Karachi, Sep 11 (PTI) For the first time in over 30years, Pakistan’s Muttahida Qaumi Movement has decided not tocollect hides of sacrificial animals on Eidul Azha this yearfor its welfare projects, citing "unfavourable conditions" and"targeted" by state institutions. The announcement was made by MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattarwho said the party reached the decision after consultationwith the coordination committee and all office-bearers of theKhidmat-i-Khalq Foundation (KKF). The leader of the party, which had been winning annualmajor share of hides collection in the metropolis for decades,decided to stay away from the process considering the"unfavourable conditions" that did not allow the party to gofor its "social welfare activity". "To generate funds for our social welfare projects, wehave only two options, which are Zakat and Fitra collection inRamazan and hides collection on Eid-ul-Azha," Dawn newspaperquoted Sattar as saying at the party’s temporary headquarters. "However, for the past one year, we have not been allowedto carry on with the activities. We were denied this right. Weare being forced to announce that we are not collecting hidesthis Eid." Last year, he said, the law-enforcement agencies"targeted" party workers and "snatched truckloads of hides"donated to the KKF and then handed them over to other charityorganisations. The law-enforcement agencies did not allow KKF volunteersto collect hides and they "illegally seized hundreds oftruckloads of hides" in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur and otherparts of Sindh, he added. The MQM leader said the snatching of truckloads of hidesby the law-enforcement agencies despite the fact that the KKFhad been granted permission was against the law, theconstitution and the official code of conduct. "And it did not end here," he said, adding that dozens ofKKF workers and volunteers were arrested in the process whowere only collecting hides and then they were booked underfalse charges. "So we decided to stay away from this welfare work onlyto keep our workers safe as we don’t want to waste our energyunder the given circumstances. This gap will allow us toreorganise the KKF and MQM," he said. MQM is a political party claiming to represent theMohajir (Urdu speaking people) in Sindh. It remains the singlelargest party in Karachi for decades now and have dominatedthe political landscape of Pakistan’s largest city for yearssweeping provincial and national elections but since theclean-up operation began on the orders of the federalgovernment, the party has come under intense pressure. Last month, Pakistan charged London-based MQM leaderAltaf Hussain with treason for an inflammatory speech slammingIslamabad. The MQM Chief is reported to have criticised Pakistan bycalling it a cancer for the entire world. According to Pakistan media reports Hussain calledPakistan under the Nawaz Sharif administration a "cancer ofthe world" and an "epicentre of global terrorism." PTI AKJAKJ