KARACHl: Terming the assassination bid on Khwaja Izharul Hasan a `conspiracy to destroy peace`, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan chief Dr Farooq Sattar has said that the Sindh government cannot absolve itself from the responsibility of providing adequate security to lawmakers and office-bearers belonging to his party.

`We all have been informed [by the government] of serious threats to our lives, but despite the threats there is no security at our houses,` he told reporters outside the Buffer Zone residence of Khwaja Izharul Hasan on the first day of Eid. `This is solely the responsibility of the provincial government.

Accompanied by Mr Hasan and other party leaders, Dr Sattar said that not only the MOM-P`s senior leadership but `all our leaders, MNAs, MPAs, senators, mayors and deputy mayors are unsafe`.

He said workers of his party were angry and questioned what would have happened if the plot against any of the leaders had succeeded. `What would be the situation of this city? What happens in the cities across Sindh ... is a conspiracy to destroy peace.

The MQM-P chief said that those involved in this assassination attempt on Mr Hasan, leader of the opposition in Sindh Assembly, and those who killed two Pak Sarzameen Party workers in Orangi Town as well as those who killed an MOM councillor in Korangi must be taken to task. However, he did not directly blame any group or individual for the incident and said that the threats his partymen were facing were not hidden from anyone. `The audio and video statements coming from London [the headquarters of the Altaf Hussain-led MOM] are known to everyone. Besides, we are facing threats from religious extremists and terrorists because of our traditional liberal policy.` Dr Sattar said that the provincial government had abandoned Karachi and everyone could see the destruction caused by torrential rains. The provincial government had snatched all resources and put the responsibility of the metropolis on Karachi mayor and the MQM-P, he added.

`We had given an SOS call to the federal government but they too left all work for us ...

so we asked the armed forces of Pakistan [to help] and it was due to [the presence of] their personnel that people [were] in a position to sacrifice their animals on Eid,` he added.