THE statements by two important personalities associated with the 1992 operation that the Jinnahpur conspiracy was fabricated come as a startling disclosure.

For over 17 years, the people of Karachi have been made to suffer on that account.

While the raging controversy raises many questions, it is the role of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif that has come to the forefront once again.

The PML(N)'s insistence that Mr Sharif was not taken into confidence at the start of the operation reminds one of the Kargil controversy.

Can it be that Mr Sharif had absolutely no idea of the impending operation when the whole country had a fair idea through the print media?

This does not absolve the then prime minister of his role in the operation in which over 15,000 people have been alleged to be killed, for if Mr Sharif was not taken on board at the start, it is his role in the subsequent events that need to be ascertained.

Why did he not put his foot down then and stop the madness when he got the knowledge of the operation?

Further, if the whistle blower (then IB director-general Brig Imtiaz) had found within a week that the Jinnahpur conspiracy was nothing but a figment of imagination of a few, then why didn't Mr Sharif give a statement to that effect then and bury the controversy?

Fast forward 15 years to 2007, the APC convened by Mr Sharif, on the host's insistence declared that no party would get into any sort of understanding with the MQM.

This was clearly a move to isolate the MQM from mainstream politics. Such shenanigans on the part of the former prime minister only go on to strengthen the general belief in Karachi that Nawaz Sharif had an axe to grind with the MQM.

The nation is waiting for an answer, Mr. Sharif.

REHAN ZAMIN

Karachi