KARACHI:
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain will address a public gathering today and is likely to express his views on the issue of delimitation of constituencies in the city.
The party also “appealed to students of law and the constitution to participate” in the event. MQM has been extremely critical of the Supreme Court’s order to redraw constituencies in the metropolis. Hussain and the coordination committee have called the move “unconstitutional” and “prejudiced” in nearly identical statements during the past two days.
Hussain told MQM leaders on Thursday that the apex court’s observation was a well-thought out plan to break his party’s majority mandate and speculated that this would spark ethnic discord. He also alleged that the remarks amounted to contempt for the mandate given by the people of Karachi, and presented an “open enmity” for the city. The party also questioned why the exercise was not being planned for other restive areas in the country.
The party had also conveyed its displeasure over the matter to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) during a meeting on Friday. MQM representatives had asked it to produce the “exact order” of the apex court. After the commission failed to do so at the time, the MQM refused to discuss the matter any further during the meeting. Other parties, including the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid and Jamaat-e-Islami asked the ECP to grant them one week so that they could submit their proposals for the delimitation.
MQM’s Raza Haroon told The Express Tribune that “the process for us stopped” when the election commission failed to produce the terms of reference for the delimitation.
In its October 2011 order in a suo motu case on the violence in Karachi, the Supreme Court observed that “boundaries of administrative units [including] police stations [and] revenue estates ought to be altered so that members of different communities may live together in peace and harmony, instead of allowing various groups to claim that particular areas belong to them and declaring certain areas as NO GO Areas”. The court order added that delimitation of various constituencies needed to be undertaken for the same purpose, and authorised the “Election Commission of Pakistan [to] initiate the process on its own in this behalf.”
Published in The Express Tribune, December 2nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (10)
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@Ante , whoa look who is talking .Imran's Tsunami in the tea cup is more than over bro . Try to save your faces first .Imran is anti Muhajir .He has proved it several times . Now he is aagainst the SLG , he is demanding demarcation of Karachi to "Win " some seats .He wont get votes from the Muhajirs like me .No way . How pathetic .
BTW ,General Pasha has gone to meet Sshsha in Moldova .Aint coming back soon to help you so .Pity .
People of Karachi have been facing this discrimination since the day the migrated from India, killing of Fatima Jinnah supporter, quota system, pakka kila or aligarh qasba massacre, operation 1992,operation 1995, and now redrawing of Karachi..
This is the end of the road for MQM.
This menace was created by Musharraf to favor MQM. In the beginning other political parties were not smart enough to figure fall out of this. Now that Supreme Court has spoken, it should be undone before next elections.
SC's decision to rectify wrong delimitation and gerrymandering is laudable but some media houses are bound to protect MQM. Yellow Journalism. Sindh was on strike against SPLG Bill on 30 Nov but so called national media gave it the lowest coverage. Sindh's issues dont get due coverage but here we go an excessive coverage to same news bulletin all the time. What a justice of so called National media.
Here is the start..fix Karachi and you will fix Pakistan
The Supreme Court is the Supreme Court for all Pakistan and its decisions should covered entire Pakistan and delimitaions of constituencies be done throughout the jurisdiction of SC. A review appeal must be filed in the court in line with the procedure of courts.
supreme court is showing baisedness in this matter.
I do not understand why altaf husssain refusing to give share to other ethnicities of Karachi. if MQM would have done some work in other non urdu areas of karachi this would not have said by supreme court.