Nine-Zero raid: MQM boycotts Senate proceedings

Asks PM, army chief to clarify Rangers’ role in Karachi


Qamar Zaman March 12, 2015
Asks PM, army chief to clarify Rangers’ role in Karachi. PHOTO: INP

ISLAMABAD:


Lawmakers from the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) boycotted Senate proceedings on Wednesday to protest a Rangers raid on the party headquarters and asked Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif to clarify the role of the paramilitary force in Karachi.


“The army chief should tell us what the Rangers are doing in Karachi,” asked MQM Senator Babar Ghauri. “He should tell us if he had approved their raid. He should clarify if political parties in the city are going to be banned and if a soft coup has occurred.”

Senator Ghauri also asked Premier Nawaz to clarify if the Rangers were given the go-ahead for the raid after the MQM had announced that it would vote for the opposition in the election for Senate chairman.



Opposition parties joined the MQM lawmakers in the walkout against the raid. Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq said he could brief the house only after getting information from the Sindh chief minister because he was heading the apex committee tasked to oversee implementation of the National Action Plan against terrorism.

While ANP Senator Shahi Syed condemned the raid, he also wondered “how the mastermind of journalist Wali Babar’s murder was arrested from Nine-Zero and why arms and ammunition were found there?”

PPP Senator Raza Rabbani called the raid irresponsible and said if the Rangers had evidence against the MQM, they should have taken the party leadership into confidence. Another PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar suggested that the issue should be referred to the Senate’s human rights committee.

Outgoing senators

The house passed a unanimous resolution paying tribute to the Senate chairman, his deputy, leader of the house and leader of the opposition. Their efforts for political harmony were recognised. The term of half of the senators ended on Wednesday and all the standing committees of the upper house now stand dissolved. The bodies will have to be reconstituted within 15 days of new senators being sworn in.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12th, 2015.

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