BADIN: Former home minister Dr Zulfikar Ali Mirza has categorically rejected all reports about his meetings with former Karachi nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal or any Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) dissidents including Saleem Shehzad in Dubai or London in recent months.

Speaking to journalists in Talhar over the phone from London late Monday evening, Dr Mirza said he stood by whatever he had stated about the MQM at the much-publicised press conference in Karachi in September 2011.

In the press conference, Dr Mirza, holding the Holy Quran on his head, had stated under oath that most MQM leaders including its chief were involved in terrorist and criminal activities and that he possessed sufficient evidence to substantiate his claim. Dr Mirza told Talhar journalists that he did not believe in secret meetings. He alleged that [Bahria Town chief and property tycoon] Malik Riaz and Mustafa Kamal were still working on MQM designs and, therefore, he could not even think of talking to such people.

“The MQM and certain other forces are hatching a conspiracy to get Dr Ishratul Ibad replaced with Mustafa Kamal as Sindh governor,” he warned, and repeated his demand for the removal of Dr Ibad as governor and institution of an inquiry against him in the light of condemned prisoner Saulat Mirza’s televised statement.

He said whatever Saulat Mirza stated now was no different from the facts he [Zulfikar Mirza] had made public in Sept 2011.

Also read: Dr Zulfiqar Mirza 'disowned' by PPP

He vowed to continue his fight with “MQM terrorists and corrupt elements within the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP)”. He also reaffirmed his affiliation with the PPP and said he would resume his campaign to purge the party of its enemies under the leadership of [PPP chiarman] Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari.

Dr Mirza said the March 11 raid on MQM headquarters was a breakthrough achieved by the security agencies in their operation against terrorists, and called for more ruthless operations to wipe out terrorism.

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2015

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