Altaf’s drone on the founder of the nation – Quaid e Azam M.A Jinnah

It came out of the blues, none was expecting such statement as ” Political Drone ” almost leaders of political and nationalist parties of the country have condemned the comments of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain he gave about Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah in his “political drone attack” on Thursday.

These leaders came down hard on Altaf Hussain for citing Quaid-e-Azam’s example to justify his dual nationality and demanded an apology from him.

“That was not a drone, that was a distortion of facts and history,” said former governor Punjab and senior leader of PPP Sardar Latif Khan Khosa while talking to The News. He said Altaf Hussain was committing another mistake by joining hands with Dr Tahirul Qadri and participating in his long march.

Pakistan Muslim League-N spokesman Dr Asif Saeed Kirmani also strongly reacted over the comments of Altaf Hussain and termed it an insult to 1.8 million people of Pakistan. He said the MQM leader should seek an apology from the people of Pakistan and withdraw his comments.

PML-N Secretary General Iqbal Zafar Jhagra said Altaf tried to distort history and mislead the nation by tarnishing the image of Quaid-e-Azam. He said Altaf unnecessarily tried to drag Nawaz Sharif into a controversy and his allegations against Nawaz Sharif were a pack of lies.

PML-N spokesman Senator Tariq Azeem claimed that Altaf had tried to distort history of independence through his “political drone attack”. He claimed that it was a direct attack on the sentiment of the people of Pakistan just to appease a Canadian Qadri.

Senator Zafar Ali Shah said Altaf Hussain attacked the Pakistan Movement, history of independence and Quaid-e-Azam with his “political drone attack”. He demanded the federal government impose a ban on MQM as it was no more a political party and that he had tried to divide Sindh on linguistic basis.

Jamaat-e-Islami also took strong exception to MQM chief’s statement that Quaid-e-Azam had shown allegiance to King George XI and his descendants. JI Naib Amir Sirajul Haq strongly condemned Altaf for dragging the Father of the Nation into a smear campaign to justify his own dual nationality, and said he actually made his drone attack on the respect of Quaid-e-Azam and Pakistan’s ideology.

Meanwhile, terming Altaf Hussain’s statement a joke, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan demanded him not to drag the founder of Pakistan into any such debate. Trying to draw a comparison between the situation then and the status of Altaf’s being a British citizen, was a complete distortion of facts and history, said Imran.

Ayaz Palejo, a noted nationalist leader of Sindh who is also the head of Awami Tehreek, while talking to The News termed Altaf Hussain’s comments childish. He said Altaf Hussein dropped a drone on Pakistan’s ideology and Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

According to Dr Safdar Mahmood, a noted researcher on Pakistan History, Quaid-e-Azam never remained a British citizen. He said before 1947, united India was governed by Britain and British government had the authority to issue a passport. He said Quaid-e-Azam acquired that passport through which he could visit Britain for the purpose of education or attend a conference but it didn’t mean that he was a British citizen.

Afaq Ahmed, head of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, condemned remarks of Altaf Hussain and demanded Pakistan’s Foreign Office to take up the issue with the UK authorities. “What to comment on the frivolous statement, he doesn’t even know that in 1947 when Quaid-e-Azam took oath, Pakistan wasn’t running under the present constitution which was promulgated in 1973,” said Afaq Ahmed. “Pakistan must convey to the UK that if any of its citizens passes remarks against our leader, reaction can be very severe among Pakistani people,” he said.