KARACHI: Lawyers battling with terrorists: Asfandyar
By A Reporter
KARACHI, May 21: Chief of the Awami National Party Asfandyar Wali Khan has said that the ongoing campaign in the country is a battle between terrorists and peace-loving people, and not between ethnic groups.
Addressing lawyers at the Shuhada-i-Punjab Hall of the City Courts here on Monday, he held the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and President Gen Pervez Musharraf responsible for the May 12 bloodshed.
He said the MQM was not a political party but a group of people terrorising citizens.
He said lawyers and other people belonging to different political parties who suffered a loss of life and property in the May 12 mayhem in Karachi were engaged in a battle with terrorists. He regretted that the May 12 bloodshed was being described by the MQM in an ethnic light.
Mr Khan said there was no clash between Pushto- and Urdu-speaking people, rather, the Urdu-speaking people themselves had suffered a lot at the hands of what he described as the terrorist group.
The ANP leader said it was time for all opposition forces to unite and take a firm stand against the role of the armed forces and agencies in politics.
He said the military ruler’s act of suspending the Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, was a cruel joke with the nation and the constitution.
Through this move, Gen Musharraf just wanted to show to his opponents that to what extreme he could go if the masses continued to demand restoration of the constitution and democratic institutions in the country, he said.
Appreciating the role of the lawyers fraternity in resisting the general’s move tooth and nail, Mr Khan reminded political parties of their duty to lead the nation in this critical phase.
He said that credit for the ongoing struggle for the independence of the judiciary must go to the lawyers fraternity as political forces had failed to discharge their duty in the wake of the general’s highhandedness.
Condemning Gen Musharraf’s allies for defending the killers of the participants of the opposition’s campaign in Karachi, he said May 12 would always be remembered as a ‘black day’ in history of the country.
“Gen Musharraf is not a president… he is an army general who talks of upholding the constitution and at the same time tramples over the statute book,” he remarked.
He deplored that Gen Musharraf had given a freehand to the MQM, which inflicted heavy a loss of life and property on people by indulging in shooting and arson.
He observed that while innocent people were being mercilessly killed on the streets of Karachi on May 12, the rulers in Islamabad were dancing at a public rally. He regretted that neither Gen Musharraf nor Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz bothered to condemn the terrorists. Instead, Gen Musharraf described the terrorists’ frenzy as “people’s power”, he deplored.
Mr Khan claimed that the May 12 mayhem was a pre-planned move to disturb peace in Karachi. In this context, he recalled that all major thoroughfares in the city had been blocked, a state of emergency declared in hospitals, leaves of police and hospital staff cancelled and police set-up at the SHO level reshuffled to facilitate the execution of the move. Even the media people were subjected to torture and attacks, he added.
The ANP chief said that the evidence of the government’s involvement in the May 12 terrorism was so glaring that the entire episode, watched live on TV channels, was very difficult for the ruling coalition to hide or deny.
He said the MQM must recognise the claim of all citizens to Karachi.
He advised the Urdu-speaking people to distinguish between their friends and foes, pointing out that Pakhtuns never indulged in violence and always worked hard to develop the city. He said Pakhtuns were a peace-loving people and would never resort to violence. They would play their due role in restoring peace, brotherhood and tranquillity in the city, he added.
About the call for a three-day wheel jam strike, the ANP chief said it was given by the Pakhtun Action Committee (PAC) in the exercise of their fundamental right to protection.
