KARACHI: Sindh govt sows confusion about processions
By S. Raza Hassan
KARACHI, May 10: The Sindh government is responsible for the confusion that is likely to prevail on Saturday because it has allowed both the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the supporters of the chief justice of Pakistan to take out processions along almost similar routes.
“No representative of the chief justice approached us for permission to take out the rally. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement applied for permission to take out the rally. So subsequently they were allowed,” Adviser to the Chief Minister on Home Affairs Waseem Akhtar told Dawn.
“They know it is Sindh. One must obtain government permission to take out a rally,” the adviser said.
Munir A. Malik, President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, representing the chief justice, said that Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry did not need government permission to go from the airport to the Sindh High Court.“We are not taking out a rally. We will just be accompanying the chief justice,” Mr Malik said.
Earlier at a meeting, Mr Waseem Akhtar said that all security measures had been taken for the arrival of the chief justice in the city and he would be accorded full protocol.
The home secretary, Ghulam Mohammad Mohtaram, on Wednesday issued an advisory for the chief justice, suggesting to him to postpone his visit to Karachi scheduled for May 12 citing various reasons, including fears of a breakdown in law and order. Coinciding with the advisory, police also claimed arresting 12 suspects who, according to the police, were planning to carry out a terrorist attack on the chief justice’s caravan.
The legal fraternity here on Thursday once again expressed their determination that they would go ahead with the earlier announced rally to accord a historic welcome to the chief justice, and would stick to their earlier announced route.
The MQM, at a press conference on Thursday, formally announced the route of their rally, saying that workers would be coming from the interior of Sindh to participate in the rally using the National Highway.
Meanwhile the Pakhtun Action Committee also announced its plans to accord a warm welcome to the chief justice, saying that the committee would set up welcome camps at eight different points in the city.
Expressing fears for May 12, the Karachi Transport Ittehad, a representative body of transporters, expressed their apprehensions saying that their vehicles would be impounded by the police for security duties. At a meeting held on Thursday, they said that their past dues had not yet been paid by the government. They held a political party and police responsible for their miseries.
The transporters warned that they would be forced to call a strike for May 18 if their vehicles were taken over by the police or any other force.
