Delimitation of new constituencies: MQM chief terms judges’ remarks ‘unconstitutional’

Urges chief justice, president to take notice.

KARACHI:

In the wake of the Supreme Court calling for the delimitation of new constituencies in Karachi, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has called the court’s remarks “unconstitutional” and “undemocratic”.

The Supreme Court does not have the authority to say that constituencies should be formed in such a way that a single-party majority does not exist, Hussain said during an address to MQM representatives in Karachi.

The MQM, which is the ruling party in Karachi, has several constituencies that are considered to be key strongholds.

Hussain claimed the observation was a well thought out plan to break the MQM’s majority mandate and speculated that this would spark ethnic discord.

He said such remarks were widening the sense of disenfranchisement among the people of Karachi.

He added the remarks amounted to contempt for the mandate given by the people of Karachi and presented an “open enmity” for the metropolitan.

Hussain called on Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, President Asif Ali Zardari and the federal government to take notice of the remarks, adding that constitutional action should be taken against the judges who made these comments.

He said that the delimitation of constituencies without a new census was against the spirit of the Constitution.

He questioned why the formula suggested for Karachi was not being applied to the rest of the country, when there were cities throughout Pakistan where one party or another had a majority.

The MQM chief said it was the right of Karachi’s residents to vote for whom they wanted and that no one had the right to take this away from them. He termed the move an “act of gerrymandering.”

Hussain said if the Supreme Court’s observations were in light of the security situation in Karachi, then by comparison, Balochistan was in a far worse situation wherein the nation’s flag could not be raised in half of the province.

The Supreme Court, he noted, had not issued any such order there. Similarly, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa was wracked with terrorism, but such remarks were not made about the province, he added.

Hussain called on party workers to get physically prepared to fight undemocratic, tyrannical and unconstitutional acts.

“Not only do Karachiites reject these remarks, they also appeal that no plans be put into place to further divide Pakistan,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 30^th, 2012.