No-go area: MQM-Haqiqi goes to court over freedom to do politics

The party is being pushed to the wall, says the petition.

KARACHI: The Mohajir Qaumi Movement or MQM-Haqiqi has filed a petition in court over not being able to freely go about its political work. The papers were submitted on Tuesday, a day after the party’s chief was incriminated in a second case just as he was about to be released.

The MQM-H’s chief Afaq Ahmed has been behind bars since 2004. He was granted bail in the last case against him last week, but the government detained him further over fears that his release would lead to violence. An old and a new case surfaced in the meanwhile, and he was rearrested.

On Tuesday, the petition on the freedom of association and expression was filed in the Sindh High Court through the party’s central information secretary Aleem Ahmed Khan and Syed Iqbal Kazmi of the Human Rights Commission for South Asia (not to be confused with the HRCP).

They argued that according to Articles 17 and 19 of the Constitution, everyone has the freedom of association, that is, the right to come together with other people and collectively express, promote, pursue and defend common interests. But the petition says that the MQM-H is being pushed to the wall and denied a chance to undertake political activities, which is in violation of constitutional clauses 4, 9, 17, 19 and 25.

The petition said that MQM-H chief Afaq Ahmed was put behind the bars by former dictator Pervez Musharraf in April 2004 to appease his most-favoured and trusted ally, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and this policy is still being adhered to by the present political set-up.

The petitioners brought up ‘no-go areas’ in Karachi where MQM-H activists cannot enter. Just weeks ago, the Supreme Court had ordered that the government had to ensure this ended, said the petition. They requested the court to allow MQM-H members to work as a political organisation and provide security to their lives and property.

The petition is likely to be heard by a division bench in a day or two.

In a related development, the anti-terrorism court II for Karachi division asked the investigating officer and special public prosecutor to ensure that Afaq Ahmed is produced in court for the 2001 kidnapping-for-ransom case. If he cannot be produced, then they would have to produce a notification to hold the trial inside prison.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2011.