Pakistan's Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) leader Altaf Hussain feels that President Pervez Musharraf should continue as the country’s Army Chief to carry on the ‘‘war’’ against terrorism, Al Qaeda, Taliban and other religious fundamentalist elements.‘‘If he (Musharraf) gives up his uniform, then his position will become weak and he will not not be able to do what he is doing now against terrorism, Al Qaeda, Taliban, so-called jihadis and other religious fundamentalist and fanatic parties,’’ said Hussain, who was here to attend the Hindustan Times leadership initiative conference.Self-exiled in London since 1992, 51-year-old Hussain — a bitter critic of the regimes of former PMs Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto — said he had to leave Pakistan and continue his fight for the cause of the mohajirs from abroad as several assassination attempts were made on him with the ‘‘connivance and knowledge of the authorities in my country’’.He, however, said: ‘‘Now there is commonality between the policies of MQM and General Musharraf who is an ally of the international community against the war on terror. We are also lending moral support to this war.’’In a wide-ranging interview, Hussain made a strong plea to the Indian and Pakistani governments to set up a rail link between Khokrapar in Sindh and Munnabao in Rajasthan to allow Muslim familiesm meet.Hussain also appealed to New Delhi and Islamabad to reopen their consulates in Karachi and Mumbai as the poor people from the two countries were facing a lot of problem in getting visas to visit their relations. ‘‘With composite dialogue between India and Pakistan progressing, the two sides should ease visa restrictions to allow greater people-to-people contact which would help in furthering relations between the two countries,’’ he said.The divided Muslim families, the MQM leader said, now have to travel to Islamabad or New Delhi to get visas. ‘‘With the reopening of the consulates, the difficulty in getting travel documents will ease.’’On when he proposes to return to Pakistan after having established telephonic contact with Musharraf and also some top officials of the Pakistan government who visited him in london, he said: ‘‘I would love return to my people in Pakistan but my life is still in danger.There have been assassination bids on the life on General Musharraf. I wonder what will happen to me in case I go back. I do not not have any plans to return to Pakistan in the near future’’.
