Leaders hold govt responsible for May 12

Parties call for unity to demand justice and expose those responsible.


Our Correspondent May 12, 2012

KARACHI:


Five years after the killings on May 12, the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and several other political and religious parties have adopted a resolution to demand the government apprehend and expose those responsible.


At a national conference organised by JI at the Regent Plaza Hotel, the party chief Syed Munawar Hassan placed the blame squarely on a coalition partner in the government. When asked if that particular party had been invited to the conference, Hassan replied, “We would invite the […] if it were a political party, but political parties have different cultures and aims from terrorist organisations”.

The Awami National Party leader, Shahi Syed, said that a military operation should be carried out against criminals in Karachi but Hassan did not advocate a military solution, saying that the military cannot find a solution to Karachi’s problems. Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf compared the state of the judiciary today with the events on May 12, saying that the judiciary still isn’t free and that the government does not accept the Supreme Court’s decisions.

The process of litigation into May 12 had been impeded and the court’s doors had been forcibly shut, declared the Karachi Bar Association president, Mehmoodul Hassan. The party members called for unity between the parties to pressure the government into carrying out justice. The Pakistan People’s Party was held responsible for giving patronage to those behind the chaos on May 12.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.

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