I will never bow down to MQM pressure: Memon

Says MQM should be thankful to Mirza for assisting Imran Farooq case.

KARACHI: Former Sindh information minister Sharjeel Inam Memon left for Dubai on Monday night, saying that he was neither bowing down to Muttahida Qaumi Movement pressure nor leaving the country as a result of an agreement.

Talking to reporters at the Karachi Airport, he said that he will return to Pakistan soon and that Dr Zulfiqar Mirza’s views were his own standpoint and personal mission, with nothing to do with the party (PPP) or himself.

However, Memon added that irrespective of Mirza’s beliefs and views, his own position was exactly the same as his chairman’s, which was to never give in to MQM’s pressure tactics.

“MQM should have been happy that Zulfiqar Mirza was in London to help arrest the assassins of Dr Imran Farooq and should be thankful to Mirza for this,” Memon said.

The former minister said that if the situation arose again, where he was to go to London, he would not keep it a secret, adding that he was unaware of the rule that a minister had to obtain leave before going abroad.

“This is my soil, I shall live here and die here. I am going to Dubai to monitor my business,” Memon said, adding that this time around he was leaving the country after receiving approval from the assembly.

Furthermore, the minister appreciated the efforts made under the leadership of Mirza and Manzoor Wasan, adding that the people of Karachi should be pleased that some of the most dangerous target killers had been arrested during their tenures.

Memon said that the biggest achievement of his party’s government was that it never bowed down to any pressure from the MQM and carried out targeted operations against all miscreants in Karachi without any discrimination.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 23^rd, 2011.