KARACHI - MQM leader Altaf Hussain has said the people of Sindh and Karachi did not want confrontation and are prepared to offer shelter to those arriving in the city from tribal areas, however, the Taliban would not be allowed to take control of the metropolis and the province. He appealed to the government to stop such elements lest the people of Sindh take the matter in their own hands. We did not believe in baton-controlled Sharia in the past and will continue to oppose this in future. He was addressing a gathering of the business community in a local hotel on Monday. Representatives of Federal Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Karachi Stock Exchange, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries, SITE Association, Korangi Association of Trade and Industries, North Karachi Trade Industries besides members of MQM Central Coordination Committee, MQM provincial ministers, members of National Assembly, Provincial Assembly and Senate were also present on the occasion. The country is facing these challenges and a bigger challenge has arisen once again in the form of Taliban. He said that the MQM has been warning of this danger and has taken out huge public rallies to express its concern and to demonstrate the true sentiments of the people of Karachi and Sindh. The people of Sindh and its capital Karachi are liberal. Even before the emergence of Taliban the people of Sindh were Muslims and performed all their religious prayers, duties and obligations - we don't need a baton-controlled Sharia in the past or even today. "Therefore, one should not try to convert us according to their interpretation of being a Muslim. He said that Muslims of all sects participated in the struggle for the creation of Pakistan. In the early days after the creation of Pakistan, it was the Memon community that provided blank cheques to Jinnah to support the country's economy and to put Pakistan on its own feet", he said. They never made any effort to impose their sect or belief upon other. Altaf further said that before the creation of the MQM, Karachi was facing sectarian violence, however, since his party has come into being all such conspiracies failed and the organisations responsible have been defeated. He said that prior to this, thousands of innocent Shiite men, women and children were brutally killed in Mazar Shareef city of Afghanistan and in Pakistan in Parachenar and Dera Ismail Khan. Now the same thing is being shifted to Karachi and people are being threatened and forced to join the Taliban while womenfolk are being asked to leave education and employment. The Taliban want to confine the women to their homes and wear shuttle-cock burqas, he alleged. "The MQM will continue to take concrete steps to face the challenge and to save the city from Talibanisation but the business community must also become fully active and form committees in their residential and industrial areas and educate the diplomats and people about the conspiracy of this growing threat to Karachi. He paid tributes to the business community for demonstrating their unity and harmony.