Mr Mirza should have welcomed action against terrorists instead of getting sentimental over the issue.
KARACHI: My reading of Zulfiqar Mirza’s press conference and resignation is as follows: The ANP and the PPP joined hands of late to reduce the MQM’s hold on Karachi. After all, the latter has had complete control of the city for the past 20 years or so. Obviously, this was strongly resisted by the MQM. To further counter the MQM, the PPP invited the PML-Q into the government in the centre. This isolated the MQM further. And then the following two months saw over 500 people being killed in Karachi. This then forced the government to carry out an operation to take charge of the situation and end the killings. However, this time, Lyari was also chosen and this is something that the former home minister of Sindh obviously did not like.
Mr Mirza resigned after making several serious charges, and these warrant some investigation and answers, not least the charge that the MQM is siding with the US in the break-up of Pakistan. It has to be said that this break-up theory has appeared even in credible sections of the western media as well. Mr Mirza should have welcomed action against terrorists instead of getting sentimental over the issue.
So what is the solution to the problem? It is that all political parties must be brought to the table and should agree to disarm their armed wings and surrender their weapons. A surgical operation or one led even by the military can provide only temporary relief, not a lasting solution.
Mukhtar Ahmed
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2011.
