HYDERABAD, June 26: The president of the Sindh chapter of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, Zubair Khan, said on Tuesday that General Musharraf’s refusal to order an inquiry into the deaths of 47 innocent people in Karachi on May 12 was enough proof that the government itself was involved in the tragedy.

Mr Khan told a news conference at the press club that the massacre of innocent people had jolted people out of their stupor and they were now joining the movement for the restoration of democracy and independence of judiciary in great numbers.

The courageous stand taken by PTI chief Imran Khan against MQM’s head Altaf Hussain had taken the wind out of the sails of MQM, which had terrorised PTI activists in Karachi and raided their houses, he charged.

He said that rallies were staged against Imran Khan and his effigies were burnt but at last Altaf Hussain had to order his men to delete all the anti-Imran writings on the walls after the opposition parties threw their weight behind PTI chief.

Mr Khan said that it appeared as if Gen Musharraf had become chief of MQM. The conditions had become so uncertain that even Gen Musharraf was forced to complain that his supporters had left him alone.

He paid tributes to the lawyers and the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry for their struggle for the independence of judiciary and rule of law.

He hoped that in future no CJP would be appointed after the GHQ’s consent and only people would decide who should be their chief justice.

To a question about local bodies system, he praised the system but said that the selection of nazims by the president had destroyed it.

If free, fair and impartial elections were held, 70 per cent of old faces would be defeated, he said.

He claimed that the popularity graph of PTI was rising with each passing day and people were joining the party in large numbers.

He praised the role of press and said that the press had achieved its independence by rendering tremendous sacrifices in the line of duty.

If the media had been that much independent in 1971, Pakistan would not have disintegrated, he remarked and expressed the hope that the multi party conference being convened in London would herald a new era of democracy and independence of judiciary and media.