Zardari 'angry' over Lyari operation, forms committee to probe city violence

Committee will visit Lyari, Malir, and Moach goth, placate party workers.

KARACHI: President Asif Ali Zardari, while taking notice of the “operation in Lyari,” has constituted a three member committee to probe the incidents and present him with a report soon. 

The decision was made during a meeting of the President with Pakistan Peoples Party-MNA Abdul Qadir Patel who called on him at Bilawal House late on Friday.

The committee will comprise MNA Qadir Patel, Senator Yousuf Baloch and Senator Saeed Ghani. They will also undertake a visit to Lyari, Malir, Moach Goth and other PPP dominated areas where local leaders and workers of the party had staged protests against the government and party leadership.

Talking to The Express Tribune, MNA Addul Qadir Patel, who also is also Chairman of the Standing Committee of National Assembly on the Interior,  said that the members of the newly formed committee would start meeting with the people in order to know the actual reasons of the  Lyari operation before submitting a report.  He said that Rehman Malik had no idea about the Lyari situation and that the committee would try to console voters who still loved their party and believed in the leadership.

Meanwhile, in a meeting with the Chief Minister of Sindh and Interior Minister Malik, directives were given to the Sindh government on Friday to take action against the suspects involved in the attack on the Awami Tahreek rally and bus which came under attack in Shaheed Benzairbad.

Party sources said that President Zardari, who arrived in Karachi on Friday after attending the Nato summit in Chicago, was very angry over the incidents of violence and issued directives CM to present him a detailed investigative report soon on how the incidents took place and who all were involved in it.

Shah briefed President Zardari about the both the incident and actions taken by the provincial government.  No other official was present on the occasion.

On the other hand speaker National Assembly Dr. Fahmida Mirza also called on the president.  Meanwhile, a handout issued by Bilawal House said that the President, while condemning the brutal acts, expressed his deep sorrow and grief with the bereaved families.

He also directed that all necessary measures be taken for maintaining order in the city and said that strict action be taken against the culprits involved in the firing incidents.