KARACHI, Aug 10: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain on Wednesday called upon the people of Sindh, particularly of Karachi, to overwhelmingly vote for the Haq Parast candidates in the upcoming local bodies elections to defeat the religious extremists and slammed the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal for imposing the discriminatory Hasba Bill which, he said, was aimed at curbing the rights of women and taking back the country to the stone-age.

Speaking to a general workers convention on Wednesday in Bahadurabad, Mr Hussain declared that people would not accept the tribal system in the name of Islam.

Mr Hussain said the women of Karachi do not want to be kept in chains. They wanted to be educated in universities and they want their right to vote.

He stressed the need for a serious thinking on the treatment being meted out to Islam and Muslims in the contemporary world, especially in the Western countries.

Mr Hussain alleged that mullahs and religious extremists were responsible for that and said in the name of religion and at gun-point they usurped the rights of the people and wanted to take back the people to the stone-age.

He said that Hisba Bill was introduced in the NWFP to put the women-folk in chains as was done under Talibans in Afghanistan when they were confined to their homes. He claimed that it was contrary to the teachings of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH).

He said before the MQM was established there were hardly a few religious seminaries in Karachi. But now people from tribal areas and the NWFP have set up religious seminaries in the metropolis .

He asked them why they were setting up far away from their home. Mr Hussain said the people of Karachi were educated and did not require religious seminary because they are also good Muslims.

“Go and set up Madressahs in your own territory, don’t impose tribal system and don’t impose tribal system in the name of Islam,” he asked the clerics.

He made it categorically clear that MQM and its supporters would not only resist attempts by the Muttahida Majlis-I-Amal and Jamat-I-Islami to introduce Hisba laws in Karachi and expressed the hope that people of Sindh would also join the MQM in rejecting such moves.

Mr Hussain claimed the bill was in conflict with Islam and denied those rights to women, which were enshrined in the religion.

He pointed that unfortunately such parties which had opposed the creation of Pakistan were now part of the MMA.

He said the Hisba bill passed by the NWFP assembly which is controlled by MMA, had barred the women from participating in elections and in taking part in the normal vocations.

Mr Hussain said if women were not allowed to play their Islamic and constitutional role, how these extremists would explain the way Bibi Fatima (RA), Hazrat Ayesha (RA) and Hazrat Khadija (RA) conducted themselves in practical life.

He claimed that JI was destroying the image of Islam and religion. He said that Quarn has clearly spelt out everything for the mankind because Allah is Rabul Aalameen. He asked the people to follow Quran and not the propaganda of JI.

Altaf Hussain warned the people that religious seminaries, whose number could be counted on fingers before the emergence of the MQM on the political map of the country, but their number had proliferated in Karachi after the emergence of the MQM. These were now in thousands. It was clear, therefore, that these institutions were not only used to poison the minds of the younger generation about Islam and the concept of Jihad, but their principle objective today was to counter the MQM which has swept these religious extremists organizations out of the political arena.

Mr Hussain was of the view that Pakistan was lagging behind in progress vis-à-vis India, because the country was plunged into political and economic turmoil shortly after independence and despite fragmentation of the country, no one was punished in the light of Hamoodur Rahman Commission report.

He said that the MQM as part of the coalition government had strived for improving the law and order situation and claimed that whatever development work was seen in Karachi today were initiated by his party.