KARACHI, May 11: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Thursday demanded that Islami Jamiat Talaba, a student wing of Jamat-i-Islami, should be banned along with other “anti-education, violent and anti-state" organisations for ensuring permanent peace in educational institutions of Karachi and other parts of Sindh.
Speaking at a news conference at Nine-Zero, Mr Wasim Aftab, a member of the MQM’s coordination committee termed Jamaat-i-Islami's allegations against the MQM for its alleged involvement in violence in the city and demolition of old Sindhi villages in Karachi as 'baseless and concocted'.
On the contrary, he alleged that the JI and its students' union, IJT, were making such allegations to mislead the people who were joining the MQM.
He said the JI and other religious and political parties had tried to implicate the MQM in the false case of Nishtar Park blast but they failed.
He said the strike call given by the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal and other opposition parties were a part of a conspiracy to destroy peace in Karachi and rest of the province. He also claimed that the MQM did not demolish any villages in Karachi.
The MQM MPAs at the press conference said the JI had established a task force to destroy peace in Karachi and Sindh, malign the MQM and perpetuate violence in educational institutions of Karachi.
MPA Akhtar Bilgrami said in 2004 the APMSO and the IJT had agreed on a code of conduct in colleges and other educational institutions and signed it at the Governor's House to maintain peace but the IJT allegedly violated it.
"We have sacrificed a lot during all that period. The APMSO has been dissolved politically and its members are merely attending classes without indulging in political activities," he said.
The MQM leaders also issued a 'white paper' on campus violence.
The paper mentioned more than 60 incidents of the violence from Aug 18, 2004, to March 29 in which three students were murdered while dozens received injuries.
It was alleged that their presumed rival group was involved in these incidents. The paper alleged that 'armed activists' killed Zahid Narejo, Ishtiaq Chaudhry and Naseer Abbas during that period.
It claimed that many educational institutes were 'no-go areas' for their activists. The MQM also arranged visit of journalists to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where eight injured activists of APMSO were getting treatment.
The wounded activist Waqas told newsmen that armed men in a white vehicle kidnapped him from Guru Mandir Roundabout at 1pm.
He showed the newsmen the marks of torture on his back, hands and cuts caused by hard and blunt objects on his legs. Another activist, Tabish received head injuries who was later shifted to Aga Khan hospital.
Waqas said the police recovered him and Tabish later in a raid in the same area. Waqas alleged that instead of admitting him in a hospital immediately, the police roamed around for around three hours in its mobile.
