MQM to mull rejoining government today

KARACHI: The leaders of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) are holding an important meeting today (Wednesday) to mull whether to rejoin the PPP-led government or become an active opposition at the federal level and in Sindh, TrendPK reported.

The MQM has summoned its members of the National Assembly, from Islamabad, to partake in the meeting of its Coordination Committee (CC) in Karachi. Members of the Sindh Assembly, senators and MQM office-bearers would also remain present on the occasion.

According to sources, MQM Quaid Altaf Hussain had sent the green signal to the members CC two days ago to rejoin the government after President Asif Ali Zardari pleaded withdrawal of the resignations of his party’s federal and provincial ministers.

However, Altaf had asked the central committee to hold a meeting to discuss with the party’s parliamentarians and office-bearers before reaching a decision on the issue.

The sources said that the meeting would also consult on the current state of affairs in Punjab where protests against loadshedding had turned violent as well as the law and order situation in the country. TrendPK/AGENCIES

Zulfiqar Mirza quits PPP position, portfolio

KARACHI: Sindh’s Senior Minister and PPP’s Senior Vice President Dr Zulfiqar Mirza announced on Sunday to quit party position and membership of Sindh Assembly, TrendPK reported.

He claimed that peace could be restored in Karachi within 15 days. “The bloodshed in the city will not end with my departure,” he added.

Zulfiqar Mirza said that he has so many Urdu speaking relatives. “I had not said that all Urdu speaking people were or are bad but I say that those who want to disintegrate Pakistan and specially Sindh are my enemies.”

Mirza said that Rehman Malik is the biggest enemy of Pakistan. “Rehman Malik is the biggest enemy of mine.”

Mirza said that Wali Khan Babar, a Karachi-based journalist, was killed by MQM. “Liaquat, a target killer, killed Wali Khan Babar,” he said.

“The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has not 100 percent mandate in Karachi and Hyderabad.”

“I am not a qualified actor. Rehman Malik is the vice chancellor of ‘liar’ university,” he added.

Mirza said that the Khidmat-e Khalq Foundation’s ambulances are used to transfer weapons and, he added, bodies are thrown through these vehicles.

“The chief of CPLC has affiliation with this organization. I don’t want to see him as the head of CPLC.”

“Altaf Hussain wrote a letter to UK’s premier Tony Blair in 2001, requesting him to eliminate ISI before it can create more Osama bin Laden,” he said.

He said that ISI and army have saved the country.

“I was forced to send to Nine Zero (MQM’s headquarter) once.”

Mirza said that Ishtiaq is a notorious target killer. He belongs to the MQM.

He said that during his time as a Sindh’s home minister he appointed about ten thousand policemen throughout the province. “I did not appoint anyone on the recommendations of the MQM,” he added.
“Altaf Hussain is a killer and the MQM is a terrorist organization,” he said.

“I have dedicated my life for the people of Karachi. I invite business community and traders to support me,” he said.

“It was attempted to defame me through facebook and other means.”

He said that Interior Minister Rehman Malik did not inform the party leadership rightly. “He is the aide of target killers.”

Replying to a question, he said that he will appear before the Supreme Court. “If am called by the court, I’ll say the truth on the Karachi situation,” he added.

Mirza said that MQM’s Nasreen Jalil wrote letters against him to 22 foreign ambassadors.

“I am not leaving PPP and my relation with President Asif Ali Zardari will be intact,” he replied.

Mirza said that he and Pir Mazharul Haq held a meeting with MQM’s Chief Altaf Hussain in London. “Altaf informed me that America wanted to disintegrate Pakistan and his party (MQM) will continue to support this cause and will kill Pakhtoon people,” he said. TrendPK

Pakistan’s poor dying in Karachi violence

KARACHI: Life stopped for Pakistani cab driver Ghulam Mohammed when his seven-year-old daughter was shot dead on her way home from school, a victim of senseless political and ethnic violence sweeping Karachi.

Shumaila was Mohammed’s only child, born after he and his wife struggled for 12 years to have a baby. It took two stray bullets to bury all the hopes and dreams they had for the future.

“She was the one who gave meaning to our life. Now we have no reason to live,” said the tearful 36-year-old, a resident of Qasba Colony, one of a series of troubled neighbourhoods in western Karachi turned into a battlefield.

Shumaila was one of 300 people whom the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) says died in political and ethnically linked shootings in Karachi last month and one of the 800 killed since the start of this year.

She was carrying her books when the bullets pierced her abdomen and splintered a rib. Seriously wounded, she was eventually picked up by an ambulance after medics struggled to access the street under gunfire.

“Someone told me my daughter had been shot and I rushed to hospital despite all the risks, only to find her dead in the morgue,” Mohammed said.

Many link the killings to rising tensions between the Mohajirs, the Urdu-speaking majority represented by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and Pashtun migrants affiliated to the Awami National Party (ANP).

Karachi is Pakistan’s financial capital and, with a population of around 18 million, its largest city. Helped by its Arabian Sea port, industry in Karachi is thought to account for around a fifth of the country’s GDP.

But authorities appear powerless to stop the bloodshed, human rights activists say, pointing out that most of the victims are innocent civilians.

“People have been killed because of their political affiliations, but it seems most are killed because of their ethnic background,” Zohra Yusuf, chairwoman of the HRCP, told AFP.

“The majority of them are poor and destitute.”

Shumaila was Pashtun. Her father arrived in Karachi from the northwest 20 years ago looking for work and then settled down and got married.

Today the northwest is on the frontline of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked bomb attacks and the migrant flow to Karachi is even greater.

Shumaila’s bereaved parents live on a congested street in a neighbourhood of Urdu and Pashtun speakers, where trigger-happy gunmen from both sides can quickly reduce the area into a battlefield.

HRCP says Karachi suffers political, ethnic and sectarian “polarisation”.

But the government blames vague mafias involved in land grabbing and drug pushing for the killings, and for creating “misunderstandings” among political parties and ethnic hatred.

“It should not be called ethnic violence,” said Sharfuddin Memon, an official in the home ministry of the southern province Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital.

“The mafias are killing people in such a manner that rival communities and parties are left with the impression of an ethnic war which is not there. The mafias do this to get stronger and weaken the writ of the state.”

The Urdu-speaking family of Anwer Ali, 22, say he was walking to work when unknown gunmen shot him dead.

“He was the only bread earner for his mother and two sisters,” said his cousin Mohsin Ali.

The family rent a one-room house in a squatter settlement near the area of Katti Pahari, a flashpoint for the most recent violence, and are deeply frightened about the future.

It is not just shootings. People have seen everything they own go up in smoke, with their houses, buildings and vehicles set alight by arsonists.

Despite the deployment of extra police and paramilitary forces, residents complain that the security personnel do nothing to help.

Leaders in the MQM and ANP have blamed each other.

“Mafias are involved in the killings, but armed wings of political parties have played a big role in creating the mess,” said Tauseef Ahmed Khan, who teaches mass communications at Urdu University.

The armed wings work to maintain party influence, prevent rival groups from infiltrating their territories and force people to remain loyal, he said.

“There are killings on ethnic grounds while most of the victims are poor people who don’t know the reason why they are being killed,” Khan said. AGENCIES

MQM chief condoles death of party workers

In a press statement issued from London, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain condoled the death of Asif Ali, Muneer Ahmed and Muhammad Naeem with the bereaved families.

The MQM Rabita Comittee said that the incident was a conspiracy to deteriorate the Karachi peace. The Rabita Comittee also demanded the governor and the Sindh chief minister take notice of the killings and order the arrest of miscreants involved in the incident.

MQM’s delegation reaches Pervaiz Elahi’s residence

LAHORE: A delegation of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has arrived at the residence of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi, a leader of PML-Q, TrendPK reported Thursday afternoon.

A key leader of MQM, Farooq Sattar, also the Deputy Convener of party’s coordination committee, is leading the delegation. TrendPK

Altaf sees France-like revolution coming

BHIT SHAH: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain on Saturday said his party’s Sindh Convention will turn out to be the last nail in the coffin of those working for Sindh partition.

Addressing the party’s Sindh Convention held here in Bhit Shah near Hyderabad, MQM chief Altaf Hussain said nobody could block the path of revolution in Pakistan.

‘Conspiracies were hatched in past against the people speaking Urdu and Sindhi languages, however, today’s gathering will drive the last nail into the coffin of these plotters,’ Muttahida founder stressed.

‘Today’s convention proves that Sindh was in the foremost position in the making of Pakistan,’ he added.

He also urged the party to seriously decide about staying with the coalition government. TrendPK

President phones MQM chief, talks about Mirza’s speech

KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari telephoned Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain and discussed the situation after Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza’s speech.

Mirza had criticized the coalition partner (MQM) for target killings in the city yesterday.

MQM has suggested to Mirza to go to court if he has proof regarding MQM’s involvement in the target killings.

MQM said it would contact the President and Prime Minister after Muharram 10 to discuss Mirza’s speech. TrendPK

Mirza bitterly criticizes MQM

KARACHI: Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulifqar Mirza accepting the responsibility of the prevailing condition of Karachi said that other coalition partners of the provincial government, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP), should also accept the responsibility.

While addressing the business community at Karachi Chambers of Commerce on Monday, Mirza bitterly criticized the MQM.

Mirza said that he had the list of 60 target killers, adding that 26 belonged to the biggest political party of the city. “I haven’t said that foreign elements are behind such activities. We are responsible for crime and target killings in the city”

Sindh home minister also pointed out that the banned organizations are given money by the business community of the city in the name of charity.

20 pc Khi People Supported MQM: Leaks Quotes Zardari

KARACHI, News Trends: President Asif Ali Zardari told the then US ambassador Anne W Patterson that Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) hardly enjoyed support of 20 per cent population in Karachi, the capital city of Sindh.

Although, MQM had adopted an aggressive posture but we wanted to take them along, said Zardai to ex-US envoy Patterson, as reported by WikiLeaks.

According to leaked diplomatic memos, the party always emerged victorious only on the basis of delimitation of constituencies, Zardari further told her.

Karachi wears a deserted look

Staff Report

KARACHI: Security has been put on high alert in Karachi ahead of the arrival of Dr. Imran Farooq’s body from London.

The city is wearing a deserted look as public and private transports remain off the roads.

All small and large markets of the metropolis have not opened.

According to provincial administration, more than 5, 000 rangers and police personnel have been stationed from Karachi Airport to Liaqatabad’s Jinanh Ground, where Dr. Imran Farooq’s funeral is scheduled to take place.

In addition, specialist shooters have been positioned at city’s key buildings and high points.

A large number of MQM supporters and activists from Interior Sindh are also converging to the Muttahida’s Headquarter Nine Zero.

The volunteers of MQM have installed two walk through gates at Mukka Chowk.

Sources told Trend Pk

Next Page »