Karachi violence: Karachi killing condemned by WPP, ex-senator

The WPP said the MQM must take responsibility given its overarching role in Karachi over the past two decades.

Worker’s Party Pakistan (WPP) Friday slammed Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for violence in Karachi, said a press release. About 100 people in Karachi have been killed in different incidents over the past week.

The WPP said the MQM must take responsibility for the current situation given its overarching role in Karachi over the past two decades. Rather than depicting itself as a victim of the situation, the MQM culpability in facilitating mafias and renegade violence must be recognised, the party said in its statement.

The statement added that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and Awami National Party (ANP) cannot be exonerated either for the desperate law and order situation the city faces.

WPP leaders Abid Hasan Minto and Akhtar Hussain said that the MQM has been raising xenophobic sentiment against Pakhtun and other ethnic populations in the city consistently over the past decade which is one of the major reasons for the violence that has engulfed the city.

The WPP leaders said that whether in Karachi, Balochistan, Federally Administered Tribal Areas or even in settled parts of Punjab, the state is failing in its basic responsibility to maintain public peace. They said that in such an environment renegade violence becomes commonplace and ordinary people are left at the total mercy of mercenaries that claim to act in the interests of people.

In another statement, Razina Alam Khan, Vice President of Pakistan Muslim League-Q and former senator, expressed concern over the poor law and order in Karachi.

She called upon the federal and provincial governments as well as the law enforcement agencies “fulfil” their responsibility by taking strict notice against those who are disturbing the peaceful environment of Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 9^th, 2011.