KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain on Tuesday requested Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and members of the provincial assembly to pass a bill against the stay of the Pakistan Rangers in the province.

According to a press release, Mr Hussain while talking to MQM office-bearers at the party headquarters Nine Zero over the phone from London said he was informed that the chief minister was mulling over extending special powers given to the Rangers. “If you [CM and MPAs] really consider Sindh your motherland, then pass a bill that we don’t need the oppressive Rangers on the land of Shah Latif.”

“We will very soon hold a sit-in at CM House against the repressive actions, arbitrary arrests, torture, and extrajudicial killings by the Rangers. If they open fire on protesters, the Rangers and their captain will be held responsible for the consequences,” he warned.

About a recent Rangers statement in which the paramilitary force claimed that they were arresting “sector and unit in charges of MQM”, Mr Hussain said: “Neither the chief minister nor the judiciary took notice of the Rangers’ statement. Had the courts been free, they would have taken notice and sought an explanation of such an illegal statement.”

The MQM chief regretted that rights organisations were silent about serious violations of human rights in Sindh, particularly in Karachi. “International organisations should raise their voice against the injustices against Mohajir, Sindhi, Baloch, and Pakhtun people in Pakistan,” he said.

He also warned Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif that the additional powers he granted to the Federal Investigation Agency would be used against him in future.

Mr Hussain lashed out at what he called “biased anchors” and those labelling the MQM an anti-state party and said: “We don’t need motorways and big development projects. We want Kashmir to be liberated. The Rangers should be sent to liberate Kashmir.”

Several army actions had been carried out in Balochistan by calling Baloch people Indian agents, he said. “An army action was conducted in Sindh and Karachi. Thousands of innocent people were killed but nothing happened in Punjab,” he observed.

He asked the MQM office-bearers to write letters to international organisations to inform them about the injustices against the Mohajir, Sindhi, Baloch and Pakhtun communities in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, July 8th, 2015

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