PSP, MQM-P workers clash in Hyderabad

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has accused Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Vice President Anees Qaimkhani of leading an assault on the party's Hyderabad office on Friday evening. The two sides were embroiled in a clash when PSP Chairperson Syed Mustafa Kamal and Anees Qaimkhani were heading to Bhai Khan Charhi area, MQM-P's headquarters, to visit the residence of a local worker.

Shouting slogans, the workers of both the parties mocked each other's leaders, creating a tense situation in the locality surrounded by commercial areas. They also exchanged kicks and punches.

Speaking at a press conference later, MQM-P Hyderabad zone in-charge Zafar Siddiqui, flanked by the party's MNAs and MPAs, alleged that Qaimkhani led the attack with around 150 persons.

He named Raees Raja, Nadeem Siddiqui and Naimatullah Qureshi as those who were at the front of the mob. Siddiqui went on to allege that the police connived with the PSP workers during the attack.

He said that a rally of the PSP's workers entered the MQM-P's zonal office and ransacked the place. He also alleged that PSP workers tore apart his party's flag and kite symbol as well as banners of his party. Glasses of the office were also damaged. "PSP is sensing defeat in the upcoming Hyderabad Cantonment Board elections. The people are rejecting them and [consequently] they are losing their mind."

Siddiqui warned that MQM-P would not be able to stop its workers from reacting to such attacks if no action is taken. He demanded the arrest of all persons involved in the assault. A large number of workers of the MQM-P gathered at the zonal office as the situation heated up.

On the other hand, Qaimkhani said they were visiting the area to inquire about the health of a PSP worker, Iftikhar Ahmed. He denied that his party workers attacked or misbehaved with any other party's workers. He alleged that MQM-P's workers provoked his party's workers the other day during the local government election campaign.

Earlier at a press conference, Kamal accused the Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP)-led Sindh government for its alleged bad governance and endemic corruption, which has deprived the people of the province from development. "The people of rural areas of Sindh have considered their deprivations as their fate. They don't even have proper clothes and shoes and the PPP wants to do the same with the people of Karachi and Hyderabad."

He said advanced urban transport mechanisms have been introduced in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa but in Sindh age-old public transport buses still ply the roads. "The PPP is ruling the province on the basis of racist politics," claimed Kamal.

He said he wanted to convey his complaints to the intellectual class of Sindhis as they remain silent at the injustices being meted out to the Urdu speaking population in Karachi and Hyderabad by the Sindh government.

He also opposed the recurrent imposition of the lockdown which affected trade and industry and deprived people of earning their livelihood.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2021.