MQM’s stance: Altaf lashes out at military role
Blames Balochistan violence on law enforcement agencies’ ‘incompetence’.
KARACHI:
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has blamed Pakistan’s military establishment for killings in Balochistan and questioned why the Supreme Court had not taken any action against it. He has also alleged that elements of the establishment support killings in Karachi.
The party chief offered his point of view on militancy and the future of Pakistan in an interview on Samaa TV on Wednesday night.
“Parliament cannot pass a bill without the military and establishment’s agreement,” Hussain said. “Why do we lie to ourselves? This government cannot make an amendment without agreeing with the military establishment. The government issued a notice that the Inter-Services Intelligence would be under the control of the interior ministry. It had to withdraw it within 12 hours. Is that the government’s control?”
He added: “I am not criticising the military, but it is not working properly ... Pakistan’s armed forces have not won a single war. No one would ever admit this. My country is sinking.”
As far as the state of security in Karachi and Balochistan was concerned, he blamed the incompetence of the law enforcement agencies. “If the Frontier Corps releases 10 of their (the Baloch) people, if the Baloch also show some flexibility… It is not the Baloch people’s fault. If someone is related to those who are sitting on the mountains, they are detained. I have not seen any action of the Supreme Court against the military establishment who is killing people. I don’t care if the chief justice files a case against me.”
“People are being killed in Karachi because extortionists and kidnappers have the support of some elements of the military establishment as well as the police,” he said.
Altaf also spoke extensively on militancy. “The mindset needs to be broken and Altaf Hussain alone can’t do that. Enlightened, progressive, liberal, educated professors, youth, intellectuals, reporters, anchorpersons need to take off the cloak of fear and educate people that the Taliban mindset is totally against the basic principles and teachings of Islam.”
Furthermore, he added, “We need to create the mindset of what the solution is. Dialogue? We have done a dialogue with the Taliban 13 times. Each time, the pact has been broken by the Taliban.
The last pact, by the ruling party of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government (alluding to the Awami National Party, with which the MQM has been at loggerheads with for several years) and the federal government made a peace pact and only the MQM walked out. Now the people should know which party is brave.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2012.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has blamed Pakistan’s military establishment for killings in Balochistan and questioned why the Supreme Court had not taken any action against it. He has also alleged that elements of the establishment support killings in Karachi.
The party chief offered his point of view on militancy and the future of Pakistan in an interview on Samaa TV on Wednesday night.
“Parliament cannot pass a bill without the military and establishment’s agreement,” Hussain said. “Why do we lie to ourselves? This government cannot make an amendment without agreeing with the military establishment. The government issued a notice that the Inter-Services Intelligence would be under the control of the interior ministry. It had to withdraw it within 12 hours. Is that the government’s control?”
He added: “I am not criticising the military, but it is not working properly ... Pakistan’s armed forces have not won a single war. No one would ever admit this. My country is sinking.”
As far as the state of security in Karachi and Balochistan was concerned, he blamed the incompetence of the law enforcement agencies. “If the Frontier Corps releases 10 of their (the Baloch) people, if the Baloch also show some flexibility… It is not the Baloch people’s fault. If someone is related to those who are sitting on the mountains, they are detained. I have not seen any action of the Supreme Court against the military establishment who is killing people. I don’t care if the chief justice files a case against me.”
“People are being killed in Karachi because extortionists and kidnappers have the support of some elements of the military establishment as well as the police,” he said.
Altaf also spoke extensively on militancy. “The mindset needs to be broken and Altaf Hussain alone can’t do that. Enlightened, progressive, liberal, educated professors, youth, intellectuals, reporters, anchorpersons need to take off the cloak of fear and educate people that the Taliban mindset is totally against the basic principles and teachings of Islam.”
Furthermore, he added, “We need to create the mindset of what the solution is. Dialogue? We have done a dialogue with the Taliban 13 times. Each time, the pact has been broken by the Taliban.
The last pact, by the ruling party of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government (alluding to the Awami National Party, with which the MQM has been at loggerheads with for several years) and the federal government made a peace pact and only the MQM walked out. Now the people should know which party is brave.”
Published in The Express Tribune, October 18th, 2012.