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Musharraf skirts Mohajirs issue

Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf on Sunday avoided answering a question about the plight of Mohajirs in his country.

The president was visibly taken aback when IANS asked him at Taj Mahal, "Do you have any plans of improving the status of Mohajirs in Pakistan?"

The 57-year-old Musharraf, himself a Mohajir, did not respond but turned stern and put up his hands in the air as if to say: What are you asking?

When the correspondent repeated the question, he said, "Abhi kya (What, now?)?" and walked away.

He did not take any more questions from reporters after that.

Mohajirs are the Urdu-speaking population from India who migrated to Pakistan when the sub-continent was partitioned in 1947.

Most of them live in Karachi. The family of the New Delhi-born Musharraf also migrated to Karachi in 1947. Sections of Mohajirs claim that they are discriminated in Pakistan.

Indo-Asian News Service

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