KARACHI: Muttahida leader Altaf Hussain has declared that he never wanted to divide Sindh where Mohajirs and Sindhis are brothers. He was addressing the intellectuals, journalists and editors of Sindhi newspapers, invited at a lunch, hosted by the Hyderabad zone of Muttahida on Monday.

Altaf said the interests of Mohajirs and Sindhis belonged to this province only. He alleged that Punjabi establishment wanted to divide Sindh. He urged both the communities to struggle jointly to foil the anti-Sindh conspiracy. The Muttahida leader assured he would never betray Sindh neither he would enter into any deal with the establishment.

He offered Muttahida's full cooperation to Benazir Bhutto if she promised to support complete autonomy to provinces under 1940 resolution and to take action against the killers of Sindhis and Mohajirs.

He said the ball was now in Benazir's court who must decide whether she should enter into deal with the establishment or join the struggle for the people. Also, he said, if ARD is ready to demand provincial autonomy the Muttahida coordination committee would consider withdrawing other demands.

LAHORE: The Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD) has linked any further talks with its now erstwhile component Muttahida Qaumi Movement with the latter's shunning "the politics of disintegration of Pakistan", sources in the alliance told The News.

The sources said the invitation extended to MQM to attend the forthcoming two-day ARD meeting at Karachi on January 14 and 15 was nothing more than a formality as all the important components had decided to part ways with the MQM in their pursuit of the federation of Pakistan and democratic order in the country.

The parleys between the ARD committee and the MQM failed because the latter remained stubborn to the demand of going back to 1940 Lahore resolution for creating four states out of federation of Pakistan. "We think that MQM's demand is reinventing the wheel with motives behind the move shrouded in mystery," an ARD leader said.

The ARD president pleaded the MQM case before the military regime in his meeting with Inter Services Intelligence Deputy Director General Maj-Gen Muhammad Akram who called on him at his Khan Garh residence couple of weeks ago, the sources said.

The Nawabzada tried to convince the representative of the military regime to restore the political process to remove their grievances of any political party's indulgence in anti-state activities, if any, the sources said.

The ARD components expressed their reservations over the increasing anti-Pakistan statements but kept along with it hoping that working with mainstream parties for national cause rather than localised issues would help the MQM improve its working.

Sources said all efforts failed to produce desired results, hence the time had come when the ARD found it difficult to go along with the MQM any more unless there was a public backtracking of all of its statements against the federation, the Two-Nation Theory and the formation of Muslim League in 1906.

ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto has called for reigning in Pakistan's army-led intelligence agencies, accusing them of destablising her two short-lived governments and engineering her two election defeats.

In an interview with an English monthly, Benazir accused the agencies of taking money from Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden to try to topple her first government (1988-90) and from banks to help her opponents.

She said a constitutional mechanism should define the intelligence agencies' role, lay down procedures and ensure their working within the law and Constitution. She said she could be elected prime minister a third time but reforms were needed to ensure that a democratic process succeeded.

"Without putting an end to stabilisation, democracy will fail again, even if we have another election and another government," she said. The former prime minister said that country's security apparatus had "run amok" and no civilian government could function smoothly unless these elements were brought under a structure that could prevent them from acting as "a state within a state".

"We cannot have an army or intelligence agencies that constantly destabilise governments," she said. She said both times she formed governments, in 1988 and 1993, key generals respected her. "Ultimately they turned against me, affected by the smear campaign labelling me a Jewish agent, an Indian agent, an American agent and accusing my husband of being corrupt," she added.

KARACHI: The DIG Karachi Police Range, Tariq Jamil, has ordered transfers and postings of various Station House Officers (SHOs) on Monday.

Sources from the CPO said the DIG ordered transfer of the following: Inspector Ch Sohail Faiz, SHO Jamshed Qrs and posted him as SHO Korangi Industrial Area; SI Iftikhar Khan of Darakhshan and posted him as SHO Gulzar-e-Hijri; Inspector S Shaukat Ali of Bin Qasim was posted as SHO FB Industrial Area; SI Abdul Jabbar of Risala as SHO Gulistan-e-Jauhar; Inspector Pervez Iqbal of Police Lines South as SHO Jamshed Qrs; Inspector M Zaman of Police Lines West as as SHO Landhi; Inspector MM Akhtar of Police Lines Malir as SHO Shah Faisal Colony; Inspector Kashif Rabbani of Police Lines East as SHO Al-Falaah; Inspector Inam A Khan of Police Lines Central as SHO Nazimabad; Inspector Imran A Khan of Police Lines East as SHO Sharifabad; Inspector Iftikhar A Lodhi of Police Lines East as SHO Aarambagh; Inspector Asghar A Shah of Police Lines South as posted as SHO Darakhshan; Inspector Sain Muhammad of Karachi Police Range as SHO SITE; SI Basheer A Khan of Police Lines West as SHO Manghopir and SI Afzal A Baloch of CIA as SHO Bin Qasim.

KARACHI: The IGP Sindh Aftab Nabi has ordered the transfer of three DSPs on Monday. Sources said the IGP ordered the transfer of DSP Sharea Faisal Shaduddin and posted him as DSP Darakhshan, the DSP Darakhshan Javed Baloch was transferred and posted as DSP Crime Branch while DSP CIA South Ayub Gabol was transferred and posted as DSP Sharea Faisal.