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| December 23, 2002 | Monday | Shawwal 18, 1423 |
Govt appeasing Muttahida: MQM
ISLAMABAD Dec 22: The Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) MNA Mahmud Ahmed Qureshi has called upon President Gen Pervez Musharraf to mediate between the rival Mohajir factions instead of becoming a party in hunting down and harassing the Mohajir leaders of his group to force a large-scale exodus of its workers from Karachi and Sindh.
Talking to this correspondent during a visit to Dawn offices here on Sunday, Mr Qureshi said the so-called operation launched by the government in Karachi “to appease the Muttahida” would only prove counter-productive and fail to achieve any political mileage.
He said if the cases were the basis of massive arrests then why a Muttahida man (Dr Ishratul Ibad) was being tipped as the next Sindh governor even though he was charged with a number of criminal cases before he left the country.
He declared that he will not cast his vote in favour of Zafarullah Khan Jamali on Dec 30 as he had done in his election by coming to the National Assembly on a stretcher.
He said he will abide by the policy of the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy after joining it.
“How can I support the Jamali government, which has become a party in hunting down my party leaders and workers to appease the rival Muttahida, when the sole MPA of the Mohajir Qaumi Movement has been thrown behind bars?” he demanded.
He said he had been away from home since the mid of Ramazan, finding no respite from the operation launched at the behest of his rivals. He said he was unable to even meet his only daughter in Karachi.
On this occasion, he issued a memorandum drafted by the wife of Afaq Ahmed, the chief of Mohajir Qaumi movement, challenging the “rationality” of the operation against “no-go areas” in Karachi. She has raised some questions on technical grounds.
She has questioned as to why the Muttahida announced its support to the Jamali government after the presidential orders of doing away with the “no-go areas” in Karachi.
“If the Muttahida people had returned to the “no-go areas”, and their claim that they had their houses in those areas was correct, why they chose to erect camps on the roads?”
On the contrary, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement’s intimation about the areas “occupied by the Muttahida” was never given any consideration nor any action taken to vacate those areas in an operation.
She asked as to why President Musharraf “does not maintain his impartiality” by inviting both the factions to the negotiating table? He could create harmony in Karachi by playing the role of a mediator, she added.
She urged all the political and religious parties to raise their collective voice and condemn the state operation on the demand of a rival faction.
The government should be asked to get both the rival factions on the negotiating table to settle their differences on the “no-go areas”.
The memorandum also demanded constitution of a high-powered judicial commission tasked to define the so-called “no-go areas”.
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