KARACHI: MMA wants lawmakers to probe May 12 bloodshed
By Our Staff Reporter
KARACHI, May 24: President of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal Qazi Hussain Ahmed has demanded that a parliamentary commission probe the May 12 violence that claimed the lives of over 40 people.
The demand came in an address by the MMA chief, who is also Amir of the Jamaat-i-Islami, to members of the Malir Bar Association on Thursday.
He was accompanied by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Allama Sajid Mir, Anas Noorani, Allama Jalil Naqvi, Qari Gul Rehman, Dr Mairajul Huda Siddiqui and other MMA leaders.
He also demanded an immediate removal of the Adviser to the Chief Minister on Home Affairs, Waseem Akhtar, for what he described as Mr Akhtar’s questionable role in handling the situation on May 12.
Mr Ahmed also asked Gen Pervez Musharraf to step down and hand over power to a neutral interim government.
He was of the view that Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad’s meetings with leaders of the Awami National Party, Jamaat-i-Islami and other opposition parties would not help resolve the issues arising out of the May 12 violence. He asserted that the government had failed to arrest the terrorists involved in earlier attacks, even the one that took place in Nishtar Park and left hundreds of people dead and injured.
He also condemned the ruling quarters’ threat of taking an unspecified extra-constitutional step, apparently to stay in power for long. He declared that the rulers would not be allowed to violate the constitution anymore.
Describing the MQM as ‘a fascist outfit’, he claimed that it had destroyed the peace of the city and let loose a reign of terror. “People will no more tolerate the terrorists and will not allow them to stage a repeat performance in future,” he said.
The MMA chief noted that conspiracies were being hatched to stoke ethnic tensions in Karachi by pitting Pashto- and Urdu-speaking people against one another, and pledged that the MMA would foil all such nefarious designs. “People must know that there was no linguistic issue involved in the May 12 violence… they should also recognise the conspirators at work behind the scenes.”
Referring to the May 25 Multi-Party Conference in Islamabad, he said it was aimed at chalking out a comprehensive strategy to get rid of the military dictatorship as soon as possible. Regretting that the PPP was the only opposition party that had declined to participate in the MPC, he urged the PPP to join the proposed ‘grand alliance’ to launch a massive drive for the restoration of democracy and independence of the judiciary in the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Maulana Fazlur Rehman claimed that by holding a parallel rally on May 12, the MQM had tried to provoke an ethnic clash in Karachi. He recalled that sensing such a danger, the MMA had requested the MQM to defer its rally plan, but it did not oblige the MMA.
He rejected the government’s allegation that the opposition was politicising the issue of the reference against the chief justice, and said that, in fact, the rulers had politicised the issue to subjugate the judiciary in an attempt to prolong their rule.
He urged all opposition forces to unite on a single platform for launching a struggle to save the country. “Bringing an end to the army’s role in politics once and for all is a must for the survival of the country,” he stressed.
President of the Malir Bar Association Zahoor Mehar and General-Secretary Naeem Memon were among others who spoke on the occasion.
Talking to newsmen at the People’s Secretariat to offer his condolences to leaders of the Pakistan People’s Party on the death of their workers in the May 12 violence, the MMA chief claimed that a terrorist network was being laid under the supervision of police and Rangers, and accused General Pervez Musharraf of patronising the terrorists.
Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman accompanied the MMA chief.
Mr Ahmed condemned the Sindh government and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement for attempting to what he described as suppress the will of the masses with the might of the gun. “While Karachi was bleeding, the general (Musharraf) was busy celebrating in Islamabad!” he remarked.
