KARACHI: In what appeared to be part of the unspecified deal struck by the Pakistan People’s Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the Sindh government on Wednesday decided to shift jailed MQM activists back to Karachi from other cities of the province, officials and party sources said.
Some 25 prisoners were shifted to the jails in three different cities of the province — Hyderabad, Sukkur and Shikarpur — earlier this month after the MQM had decided to part ways with the PPP-led coalition both in centre and Sindh.
While the MQM insists on sitting on the opposition benches in the national and the provincial assemblies, the development indicates rebuilding of ties between the former coalition partners.
“After consultation between Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad and Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, orders have been issued to shift jailed MQM workers to Karachi prisons,” said a Governor’s House brief statement about the decision though it offered details of the meeting between Dr Ibad and Home Minister Manzoor Hussain Wassan.
“The home minister informed the governor about his strategy. The governor appreciated the minister’s efforts and said the required results can only be achieved through cooperation from all segments of society. Several mafias are involved in deteriorating peace of Karachi and the province, and they should be apprehended and brought to justice.”
Meanwhile, the sources privy to the recent meeting between the governor and the chief minister said the two reached the understanding after leaders of their parties — President Asif Ali Zardari and MQM chief Altaf Hussain — agreed on certain measures ‘to maintain stability’ in the province.
Despite several attempts, the PPP leaders and key members of the provincial cabinet refused to share details on the record and explain reasons behind the decision that irked the MQM and caused the families of its jailed workers to take to the streets.
“There is no formal sitting held between the two sides but an understanding was reached during a recent meeting between the governor and the chief minister,” said a member of the provincial cabinet but wished not to be named.
“We are moving forward under the directives of President Zardari, who is also our party leader. So there is no room left for arguments to question any move on these lines. You may see more such decisions in the coming days.”
The jail authorities confirmed to have received the directives under the reviewed decision saying that transportation of all the 25 prisoners was likely to begin on Thursday.
However, they denied that all the prisoners shifted recently from Karachi to prisons in the interior of Sindh were political activists.
“The step was in fact taken due to several reasons which have nothing to do with politics,” IG prisons Ghulam Qadir Thebo told Dawn.
“The decision came after due deliberations and findings which suggested that some inmates were operating from inside the prison and also involved in grouping. However, under the fresh directives, we will start shifting them to Karachi prisons tomorrow (Thursday).”
He said almost half of the 25 prisoners shifted to the Hyderabad, Sukkur and Shikarpur prisons from Karachi were not associated with any political party. But he confirmed that Arshad Pappu, the alleged leader of one of the Lyari gangs, and MQM worker Saulat Mirza, who was charged with the 1997 murder of Karachi Electric Supply Company Managing Director Shahid Hamid, was among them.
Wasay Jalil, an MQM spokesman, rejected the assertion that the inmates shifted from Karachi to prisons in the interior of Sindh included professional criminals and insisted that all the 25 prisoners transported were party activists.
“They all are Karachiites and some of them are very senior members of the MQM,” he said.
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