Another perspective: Rangers operations a formality: JSQM chief

Qureshi claims that Sindhi people are being targeted because of their love for Sindh.

KARACHI: The chairman of Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM), Bashir Khan Qureshi, has said that the ongoing operations in Karachi by the police and rangers are just a "formality".

He declared that the raid on his house and his arrest were a "conspiracy to murder him". According to him, a judge had ordered the police to present a clarification about his armed licences by September 20. "But they have not presented their report yet."

Qureshi said that he was attacked twice in the city. "I kept the weapons for personal security but now they have been snatched by the Rangers."

He alleged that during their search and arrest operations, the Rangers were not venturing into no-go areas or the houses of sector in-charges. They were also bypassing people who travel with "vehicles full of modern weapons".

He also scoffed at an operation in Gulshan-e-Hadeed, where he claimed that the crime rate was already very low. Only the houses of Sindhis, Pakhtuns and Urdu-speaking people were searched by the rangers but none of the Punjabi people's houses were searched, he alleged.

"Everything was searched in our houses. Even the women and children were body searched," alleged the JSQM chief. "This was done to punish us for loving Sindh."

Published in The Express Tribune, September 22^nd,  2011.