MQM Foundation Day: Altaf holds Punjab govt responsible for Davis’ release
Hussain says the US should pay compensation to heirs of all those killed in drone attacks in North Waziristan.
KARACHI:
The Punjab government is responsible for the release of Raymond Davis because the incident took place in Lahore and the provincial government was prosecuting the case, chief of the Muttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain said on Friday.
Addressing a large gathering of party workers on the occasion of his party’s 27th Foundation Day, he said, “The US should pay compensation to the heirs of innocent citizens killed in drone attacks in North Waziristan just as it paid blood money to secure the release of (Raymond) Davis in accordance with the Shariah.”
Urging the US administration officials to heed the calls of other Pakistanis, Hussain said: “Dr Aafia Siddiqui did not murder anyone, but she is in jail. If the US is willing, the Pakistani nation may pay Rs180 million to get her free”.
He questioned the logic of the Punjab government for criticising him for doing politics from abroad and said they should know that he had never said or done anything against national dignity. However, he said, people saw that the rulers of Punjab opted not to stay in the country whenever confronted with major issues like the release of Raymond Davis or other crisis.
Laying the blame squarely on the doorstep of the Punjab government, he asked why the Punjab government failed to ensure that the case reached a logical conclusion. He also asked why Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had gone abroad just like his elder brother the same day when Raymond Davis was freed.
He said that today people claim that Raymond Davis’ was released after the grieving families were paid compensation money. If that was true, the US had many such debts to settle.
He said that it is the duty of all Pakistanis that they should not only hold the Pakistan Army or the ISI responsible for the deal, adding that they should also wonder why Pakistani rulers had been unable to face the pressure exerted by the US administration.
Expressing frustration at Pakistani people for electing “weak rulers” again and again with their votes, he said that they should now vote for MQM instead of hardened politicians.
He urged the US administration to note that the game of musical chairs in Pakistan, which empowered selective politicians, was going to end, replaced by respectable “Haq Parast Pakistanis”.
He said that fate and the divine had also ordained that his party should now rule the country.
Hussein simultaneously addressed MQM workers on phone in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Jamshoro, Sukkur, Nawabshah, Tando Allahyar, Sanghar and Lahore. He congratulated workers of MQM from Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir who attended various party functions on the occassion.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 19th, 2011.
The Punjab government is responsible for the release of Raymond Davis because the incident took place in Lahore and the provincial government was prosecuting the case, chief of the Muttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain said on Friday.
Addressing a large gathering of party workers on the occasion of his party’s 27th Foundation Day, he said, “The US should pay compensation to the heirs of innocent citizens killed in drone attacks in North Waziristan just as it paid blood money to secure the release of (Raymond) Davis in accordance with the Shariah.”
Urging the US administration officials to heed the calls of other Pakistanis, Hussain said: “Dr Aafia Siddiqui did not murder anyone, but she is in jail. If the US is willing, the Pakistani nation may pay Rs180 million to get her free”.
He questioned the logic of the Punjab government for criticising him for doing politics from abroad and said they should know that he had never said or done anything against national dignity. However, he said, people saw that the rulers of Punjab opted not to stay in the country whenever confronted with major issues like the release of Raymond Davis or other crisis.
Laying the blame squarely on the doorstep of the Punjab government, he asked why the Punjab government failed to ensure that the case reached a logical conclusion. He also asked why Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had gone abroad just like his elder brother the same day when Raymond Davis was freed.
He said that today people claim that Raymond Davis’ was released after the grieving families were paid compensation money. If that was true, the US had many such debts to settle.
He said that it is the duty of all Pakistanis that they should not only hold the Pakistan Army or the ISI responsible for the deal, adding that they should also wonder why Pakistani rulers had been unable to face the pressure exerted by the US administration.
Expressing frustration at Pakistani people for electing “weak rulers” again and again with their votes, he said that they should now vote for MQM instead of hardened politicians.
He urged the US administration to note that the game of musical chairs in Pakistan, which empowered selective politicians, was going to end, replaced by respectable “Haq Parast Pakistanis”.
He said that fate and the divine had also ordained that his party should now rule the country.
Hussein simultaneously addressed MQM workers on phone in Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Jamshoro, Sukkur, Nawabshah, Tando Allahyar, Sanghar and Lahore. He congratulated workers of MQM from Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir who attended various party functions on the occassion.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 19th, 2011.