MQM, ANP told to avoid confrontation

KARACHI: Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Ghillani on Friday asked the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) to agree to a code of conduct for political activities in Karachi and avoid “politics of confrontation”.

A draft code of conduct has been handed over to the MQM and ANP. The parties, after consultation with their senior leadership, are likely to sign it on Saturday (today) during a joint meeting at the Sindh CM House.

Both parties will not issue controversial statements against each other nor will they support criminals, one of the salient points in the draft stipulates. Sources in political parties told The Express Tribune that the draft code of conduct also obligates the two parties to support the government in its drive against land encroachment and de-weaponisation.

Both the parties will not mount pressure on the government to release any political activists involved in crimes, another key point of the draft says.

The draft was handed over to MQM and ANP during a meeting held at the Crisis Management Cell here. The meeting was chaired by Interior Minister Rehman Malik who brought the top leaders of the two parties on one table.

Senator Afrasiab Khattak, Bashir Jan, Rana Gul Afridi and Amin Khattak represented the ANP, while Wasay Jalil, Raza Haroon, Kanwar Naveed Jamil and Hamad Siddiqui took part on behalf of the MQM. Sources said that during the meeting the two parties accused each other of being involved in land grabbing and killing their workers in the city, which led Rehman Malik to phone MQM and ANP chiefs Altaf Hussain and Asfandar Wali to defuse the tension.

Later Malik told the media that the meeting ended on a positive note, with both parties promising to make an all-out effort to bring peace in the city. “Good thing is that leaders of the parties are concerned about the worsening law and order situation. I hope positive result will emerge soon,” he said.

Delegates of both parties held separate meetings with Prime Minister Gilani at the CM House on Saturday and handed over a list of their grievances. After hearing them out, the premier said: “I have come here to defuse the tension, therefore please cooperate with each other and take the city of lights out of darkness”.

The ANP team led by Afrasiab Khattak handed a 12-page report to the premier. It details “just how Pakhtuns were targeted and their houses and business burnt” following the murder of MQM MPA Raza Haider.

They told the PM that during the four days of rioting some 56 Pakhtun, including seven ANP activists were killed and 22 shops and four hotels were set ablaze. They demanded compensation for the victims.

“We have told the prime minister that ANP is ready to cooperate in the drive against encroachment. But it should be initiated without any discrimination,” Amin Khattak, a leader of ANP Sindh chapter, told The Express Tribune.

MQM delegation including Babar Ghauri, Wasim Aftab, Adil Siddiqui, Kanwar Naveed Jamil and Mustafa Kamal also held a meeting with the premier and told him that the ANP has been patronizing militants as well as land and drug mafia in the city.

They demanded a high-level inquiry into the murder of their party MPA, Raza Haider. “We have handed over to Rangers and police a list of criminals involved in the murder of our party activists and attacks on our offices, but police are reluctant to take action against them,” they said.

The prime minister said that the entire country is in the grip of terrorism and militancy therefore all political forces should make a joint strategy to defeat the nefarious designs of terrorists.

Despite repeated attempts contact with MQM members could not be established, while Qamar Mansoor of Muttahida said “let our delegation come out, then we will issue our statement on the meeting.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2010.