QUETTA: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui apologised on Thursday for his party’s “misjudgement” during the May 12 tragedy that saw around 50 people lose their lives to riots some 15 years ago in Karachi.

“We had been used and we regret that, but that was not our intention. This is not how we function as a party,” he said while addressing a gathering organised by the Balochistan High Court Bar Association on Thursday. “If we wanted a clash, we would not take out a procession along with women and children.”

On May 12, 2007, the deposed chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, was scheduled to visit Karachi and attend a function of the Sindh High Court Bar Association.

However, members of civil society, including lawyers, were not allowed to reach the airport to welcome Mr Chaudhry, which led to clashes between his supporters and activists of the then MQM, an ally of the Musharraf-led government at the time. The ensuing clashes saw nearly 50 people dead and hundreds of others injured.

Khalid Maqbool says party is ‘ashamed of being used’

Now 15 years later, Mr Siddiqui regretted what happened that day. “We feel ashamed of being used on May 12. Our assessment was wrong,” he said and conceded that the MQM’s image was tarnished in the wake of the May 12 clashes.

He spoke at length on the struggle of MQM and the lawyers’ community, and paid tribute to the lawyers of Balochistan who were martyred in the Aug 8, 2016 Quetta suicide bombing that claimed more than 70 lives, including 54 lawyers.

Touching upon other issues, Mr Siddiqui said there was a need to establishing a parliament in which lawyers were represented by lawyers and peasants represented their own elected members instead of big landlords and other privileged people.

“Those who destroyed peasants are representing them in the parliament,” he said.

On missing persons, the MQM-P leader said his party was a victim in this regard, as “a large number of our workers went missing.” He said the elements involved in forcibly disappearing political workers and other people could not exist in a democratic society.

“We are making all-out efforts for the recovery of missing persons,” he said and asked the Balochistan’s lawyer community to extend their help and cooperation to MQM-P for legislation on different issues in the parliament.

He said Pakistan could not progress and develop until every citizen was not considered loyal by the rulers and other institutions.

Later, Mr Siddiqui also met the leadership of the Balochistan National Party (BNP-Mengal) at the residence of Sardar Akhtar Mengal. However, Sardar Mengal was not present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn, March 4th, 2022