May 25, 2007	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 08, 1428

ISLAMABAD, May 24: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Thursday said it was a `collective decision of the ruling coalition’ to hold a rally in Karachi on May 12 and the MQM should not be singled out and held responsible for all that happened in the city.

Speaking at a news conference, the parliamentary leader of the MQM in the National Assembly, Dr Farooq Sattar, said that after the massive rally of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry in Lahore on May 5, it was decided at a meeting that the Pakistan Muslim League (PML) and the MQM would hold rallies in Islamabad and Karachi respectively on May 12. "All are responsible for what happened on that day.”

Haider Rizvi, another MQM leader, was also present at the press conference.

Looking visibly angry over reports that some PML members, at a central executive committee meeting, had held the MQM responsible for the Karachi bloodshed, the Muttahida leaders said the decision (to hold rallies) had harmed the MQM the most. They, however, did not explain as to when and where this decision was made. The MQM leaders said their party had sought a reply from the president over the `mysterious absence’ of the police and Rangers from the city that day.

"This is a big question and even we have no answer. We have asked the president to tell us where were the police and Rangers and we will again ask the same question when Gen Musharraf meets us in Karachi on Friday,” Dr Sattar said.

He said the MQM believed the bloodshed could have been prevented had the police and Rangers been deployed at sensitive spots.

In reply to a question, he said the decision to put containers on roads leading to the airport and the Sindh High Court building was taken by the local administration as part of security measures for the chief justice’s rally. He said the MQM had nothing to do with the decision to block roads.

Dr Sattar said he wanted to make it clear that the May 12 rally of the MQM was neither against the chief justice nor lawyers. He said the party would welcome the chief justice to Karachi if he visited the city to address the bar. The two MQM leaders, however, parried a question whether it would give an assurance that it would not hold a rally on the day of Justice Chaudhry’s visit.

The MQM leaders called for an `independent’ inquiry into the Karachi killings, saying the party was `open’ to an investigation. Presently, they said, a blame game was on between them and the opposition and only an independent inquiry could clear the picture. They termed the May 12 incidents a conspiracy against the MQM to scuttle its expanding network. They said 31 offices of the party were ransacked in different parts of Karachi. On the other hand, they added, not a single office of any other party was damaged.

Fearing retaliatory action, they said, the MQM decided to close down its offices in Karachi.

In reply to another question, Dr Sattar said if Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan wanted to file a case against MQM chief Altaf Hussain in London, his party was even ready to pay for the air ticket.

At the outset, journalists protested over reports that the Mohajir Rabita Council had branded some journalists as `enemies of the MQM’, seeking an explanation from the MQM leadership.

The MQM leaders, however, said the party had nothing to do with the MRC and it had already issued a press release in this regard.