Alleged victimisation: MQM lawmakers resign en bloc

24 MNAs, 8 senators and 51 MPAs submit their resignations; party presents 19-point charge-sheet against govt, LEAs

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI:

Lawmakers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in both houses of parliament and the Sindh Assembly tendered their resignations on Wednesday in protest against what they called the party’s ‘victimisation’ at the hands of the security agencies in Karachi and the federal and provincial governments’ ‘blind eye’ towards their grievances.

“The MQM parliamentarians, including eight senators and 24 MNAs, and 51 MPAs have submitted their resignations to the Senate chairman, the National Assembly speaker and the Sindh Assembly speaker,” announced MQM parliamentary leader Dr Farooq Sattar.

“After serious deliberation, we have decided to quit parliamentary politics,” he announced in the National Assembly before the party’s MNAs marched into the chambers of Speaker Ayaz Sadiq to submit their resignations.

The party simultaneously submitted the resignations of its 51 MPAs, although only 38 of them were actually present in the house. The MQM senators also filed their resignations at the same time without taking part in the proceedings of the upper house.

The decision came days after the government announced it would send a legal reference against MQM chief Altaf Hussain for his recent ‘anti-state’ speeches which criticised law-enforcement agencies in particular.

Upon receiving the resignations, Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said he would accept them after verifying that the lawmakers’ actions were voluntary.

In his speech before the National Assembly, Sattar alleged that the MQM was being singled out by the federal and provincial governments and the security agencies. Terming the list of wanted MQM workers produced by the Rangers fake, he claimed the Karachi operation was solely against his party.

“[All other] criminals in Karachi are being set free. Baba Ladla, Ahmed Lasi, Uzair Baloch, they were all given a safe exit,” he told the lower house amid chants of ‘goodbye’ from some members of the treasury. “Only MQM workers are being targeted in the Karachi operation.”

Sattar also held up the government’s decision to initiate legal proceedings against Altaf as an example of ‘discriminatory’ attitude towards the MQM. “Why is [Interior Minister Chaudhry] Nisar moving against only Altaf Hussain? Why is he not recalling how Imran Khan, Asif Ali Zardari and Munawar Hassan openly criticised the military?”

Sattar said the MQM tried to approach both the army chief and Karachi corps commander, but in vain. He accused the government and its institutions of culpable negligence for failing to understand the issue of Karachi. Drawing a comparison with the insurgency-hit tribal areas, he said not a single bullet was fired in Karachi even after the arrests of ‘thousands of MQM workers’ in the city.

Comparing the Karachi operation to a “blind man’s search for a black cat in a dark room,” Sattar claimed it was misdirected since the ‘black cat’ in this case was ‘not even there’. He warned that “If you cannot feel the heat of a fire engulfing our homes, just remember this fire can also engulf your home.”

“Our party is being pushed into a blind alley. Our workers are being targeted and harassed, and our offices raided. Protest is our right when political vultures are attacking our workers,” he said.

Sattar also produced a ‘charge-sheet’ before the National Assembly listing 19 reasons which compelled the MQM top leadership to quit parliamentary politics. Copies of the charge-sheet were also attached by all the MQM lawmakers with their resignations.

In the document, the MQM accused the Rangers of trying to erode the party’s position in Karachi and propping up Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf in its stead.

“The law-enforcement agencies, particularly Rangers, are supporting PTI workers in an attempt to impose the party on Karachi by marginalising the MQM,” it said. “The same is being done with criminals operating under the MQM-Haqiqi who are being officially patronised just like they were during the infamous operation clean-up of 1992.”

The charge-sheet claimed that the MQM was being victimised under the garb of the Karachi operation with the party’s office-bearers, workers and supporters being unlawfully arrested and subjected to brutal atrocities. “In two years’ time, more than 40 workers and supporters of the MQM have been killed extra-judicially by law enforcement agencies,” it alleged.

Outside the Sindh Assembly, MQM’s Khawaja Izhar warned the Pakistan Peoples Party-led provincial government that it would “shed tears now that we are out of the assemblies.” He added that the MQM would hold assemblies in every union council of Sindh.

Reacting to Sattar’s speech, PTI MNA Dr Arif Alvi asked “How can a party which seeks the help of RAW and India, kills many people and destroys the peace of Karachi blame other parties?”

“The MQM has sucked the blood of the people of Karachi for decades. Thousands of murders have been linked at some extent with the MQM,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2015.