SUKKUR: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah has called for an investigation into the allegations levelled by former Karachi mayor Syed Mustafa Kamal against Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad.
Speaking to the media at his residence here on Saturday, Mr Shah also stressed the need for a thorough investigation of the episode in which a stockpile of sophisticated arms and ammunition was unearthed from a house located very close to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) headquarters, better known as Nine Zero, in Karachi’s Azizabad locality recently.
He observed that security forces were trying to ascertain as to when and how the deadly weapons were taken to the place, and said it should also be known that under whose supervision the arms, explosives and ammunition were taken out of what was described as an underground tank.
“Secrets are exposed when thieves pit themselves against one another,” he remarked.
In reply to a question about heightening tension between MQM factions, Mr Shah said it was beyond his comprehension as to why a ban on the MQM-London was not being imposed. “Things will not improve until this is done,” he said.
He argued that on the one hand, the remarks and statements given and slogans raised by the London-based MQM supremo and endorsed by his party colleagues sitting abroad were declared ‘anti-state’ by the government but, on the other, the MQM-London was being activated here in Pakistan and allowed to function.
The MQM-London should be banned now when Dr Farooq Sattar, who parted ways with that leadership in August, had taken over the mainstream party.
“Things must be monitored and assessed minutely,” he advised all and sundry.
Responding to a question about Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s plan to besiege Islamabad on Nov 2 and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s intention to foil it, Mr Shah observed: “[Imran] Khan knows little about politics and Nawaz [Sharif] knows little about running a government.”
At the moment, Mr Shah said, the prime minister was in a difficult situation as he was summoned by a court. “But we hope he appears in court,” he added. Mr Shah did not approve of the Islamabad sit-in, saying that holding protest was every citizen’s right but closing a city was an illegal act. “Whenever state is challenged, it [state] comes into action,” he cautioned, adding that if participants of the sit-in were arrested, we [the PPP] would see if violation of human rights occurred.
He observed that the ministry of interior was still silent as it had always been [in such a situation].
Published in Dawn October 23rd, 2016
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