The Supreme Court does not have the authority to say that constituencies should be formed in such a way that a single-party majority does not exist, Hussain said during an address to MQM representatives in Karachi.
The MQM, which is the ruling party in Karachi, has several constituencies that are considered to be key strongholds.
Hussain claimed the observation was a well thought out plan to break the MQM’s majority mandate and speculated that this would spark ethnic discord. He said such remarks were widening the sense of disenfranchisement among the people of Karachi.
He added the remarks amounted to contempt for the mandate given by the people of Karachi and presented an “open enmity” for the metropolitan.
Hussain called on Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, President Asif Ali Zardari and the federal government to take notice of the remarks, adding that constitutional action should be taken against the judges who made these comments.
He said that the delimitation of constituencies without a new census was against the spirit of the Constitution.
He questioned why the formula suggested for Karachi was not being applied to the rest of the country, when there were cities throughout Pakistan where one party or another had a majority.
The MQM chief said it was the right of Karachi’s residents to vote for whom they wanted and that no one had the right to take this away from them. He termed the move an "act of gerrymandering."
Hussain said if the Supreme Court’s observations were in light of the security situation in Karachi, then by comparison, Balochistan was in a far worse situation wherein the nation’s flag could not be raised in half of the province.
The Supreme Court, he noted, had not issued any such order there. Similarly, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was wracked with terrorism, but such remarks were not made about the province, he added.
Hussain called on party workers to get physically prepared to fight undemocratic, tyrannical and unconstitutional acts. "Not only do Karachiites reject these remarks, they also appeal that no plans be put into place to further divide Pakistan," he said.
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Altaf Hussain has to think rationally in terms of Karachi. There may be problems of a heinous nature in KP, but the way bodies fall daily in Karachi and businesses are looted at gunpoint, KP is far removed from such a level of chaos. The judiciary might be going above board in deciding the fate of the country. However, for democracy to actually survive in Pakistan, the cleansing of the election process is very important. For a change, keeping mollycoddling of the MQM by the PPP aside, let the country savour the real taste of free and fair elections, even if that calls for a change in the electoral complexion of Karachi.
COMPREHENSIVELY AGREE WITH ALTAF HUSSAINE AND HIS POINT OF VIEW THIS IS DISCRIMINATION NOT JUSTICE. WELL MANY ENEMIES WHO ALWAYS LOSE FROM KARACHI ARE HAPPY BUT PEOPLE OF THE CITY WITH YOU ALTAF HUSSAIN MQM WILL WIN HISTORICALLY AGAIN
And I guess Mr. Altaf Husain thinks that he knows the Constitution better than the Supre Court! then why does he not come to the country, why is he hiding in UK? What is he afraid of?
@Aysha: still some hope are alive of the people of this great city.
Why Karachi is treated differently? Why don't anyone know that yet? What a mystery, that everyone know but no one has courage to expose it. Any way, this is not the Only Secret in Pakistan that whole Pakistan know about. Amazing land of Open Secrets is called Pakistan.
A british national has no right to comment on pakistani judiciary. He thinks that he is only one in whole world who understands each and every thing
My question to media ! Why this man is given so much coverage. Is this because MQM holding a ministry
@Rex Minor:
You mean court of Punjab based judges? You think they will give justice to non-Punjabis? When was the last time that happened?
Is this just an attempt to give Punjab based parties PTI and PMLN space in Sindh? No such level playing field for MQM and PPP in Punjab?
@Adil: Supreme court is body of justice. undemocratic and illegal delimitation is against the fundamental rights of voters. How can some one not appreciate such move by SC and ECP to fix wrong things related to elections in Past which gives people a free and fair election. Hats off to SC on such a historic decision.
@Aysha: you counted a long list of injustice, does that imply that illegal and undemocraticaly engineered delimitation should not be corrected because of some past events? Fair elections are fundamental right of every Pakistani, illegal delimitation are pre-poll rigging and they must be corrected. No sane person ever will oppose such healthy move.
Those questioning why delimiting constituencies alone in Karachi is unfair were quiet and are mum about Sindh Local Govt Ordnance which is applicable only for a limited area.
The fact remains if any political party claims to truly represent Karachi it should have no objections to the court order. However I fail to understand how the MQM leader believes it will cause ethnic discord unless ofcourse it is a veiled threat to Karachis peace.
First of all, who made Altaf Hussain the spokesperson for all of Karachi? He doesn't even live there! Second, rather than bickering over whether this is an extra judicial step or not, look at the pros and cons of the decision (which is essentially undoing an earlier decision of making these constituencies).
This is provincialism. Why has the same decision not been made regarding Punjab? Every attempt is being made to help out parties from Punjab.
Lets see how SC handles these threats.
let mqm go to constutional court. the contempt of court is also an offence.
rex minor
The courts have no rights to impose thier whims and wishes to impose directives in certain part of country. Laws are not made or implemented to taget certain area or pupulation section.These directives should be applied equaly for all over the countrty. If the population of karach has reached 200 million then the number of seats in National and provincial assemblies should be increased proportionately. The present electoral boundary demercation can not be done without a new population census countrywide. Also if the elections are to be held under Army supervision why not in whole country why Karachi alone. This only shows prejudice against Karachi. Has any body ever thought of Finding alternatives to massive influx of newcomers to Karachi. It appears that soon half of pakistan will move into Karachi. Is there any planning to face that?. I request sensible and responsible elements of country not to stirr pot at this time and after this elections electoral boundreies should be redrawn all over the country.
@ Sindhi_Pakistani, MQM has won in Karachi and Hyderabad long before Musharaf regime, therefore your comments about Musharaf helping MQM are not historically correct.
@Syed Talal Haider Zaidi: The comments were not from CJ
@Syed Talal Haider Zaidi: what has anything ever been appropriate when it comes to Karachi. May it be the killings in Karachi when the people chose to support Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, or the quota system which blocks admission of students into professional colleges (students of Lahore, Quetta or Peshawar never faced this kind of discrimination), or its share in the revenue it generates or state managed extra judicial killing of its inhabitants in the 90s and now this verdict. There is no hope for the people of this city, no matter how hard its people work or produce most educated and genuine leadership from he city
what has anything ever been appropriate when it comes to Karachi. May it be the killings in Karachi when the people chose to support Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah, or the quota system which blocks admission of students into professional colleges (students of Lahore, Quetta or Peshawar never faced this kind of discrimination), or its share in the revenue it generates or state managed extra judicial killing of its inhabitants in the 90s and now this verdict. There is no hope for the people of this city, no matter how hard its people work or produce most educated and genuine leadership from he city
A welcome step from the apex court.
What about PMLNs monopoly of Lahore or PPPs monopoly of Larkana
what business is it of the SC who people vote for?
I think Supreme Court, and its judge, need to relaize that state is run by appropriate authorities and every institution should work within its legal and moral limits. We have government, parliament, and judiciary as seperate institution for a reason. Altaf is perfectly correct in suggesting that Supreme Court has no legal, constitutional or moral authority to direct people anywhere in the country about how they should vote, nor supreme court or its judges have any right to decide constituensies be changed if they dont like them. It is the prerogative of people of Pakistan to decide who should be incharge of political system in which city, provine or country.
Let's MQM should observe a day of strike against the remarks made by a judge of the apex court that the delimitation was to break a “monopoly”, was in contravention of section 9 of the Delimitation of Constituencies Act 1974.
Engineered delimitation of constituencies were done in whole Sindh during Mushraf era to help his supporters. It was completely against democratic norms. Secondly if MQM is so called popular party of Karachi then they can win any where, why to worry on correcting wrong delimitations done during Mushraf Junta Govt.