Post-Abbas Town blast: Militants won’t be allowed to subvert polls says Zardari

Asks Sindh govt, law enforcement agencies to protect people’s lives; orders halt to Lyari operation.

KARACHI:

President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday directed the Sindh government and law enforcement agencies to take stern action to protect the lives and property of citizens as this was the “prime responsibility and top priority of the government”.

He also reiterated his resolve that the general elections will be held on time and that militant, sectarian and extremist elements will not be allowed to subvert the electoral process.

He was chairing a meeting at Bilawal House to review the law and order situation in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, after the deadly bomb blast in Abbas Town that claimed the lives of approximately 50 people.

During the meeting, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad and Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah briefed the president on the security situation in Karachi and the measures the provincial government has taken to curb violence in the city and restore order.

Spokesperson to the president Senator Farhatullah Babar said that at the outset of the meeting, President Zardari condemned the Abbas Town blast and offered Fateha for the deceased.



Expressing his sympathies with the bereaved families, President Zardari extended full support to the victims by directing the provincial government to take speedy rehabilitation measures and to provide the victims with medical treatment at the government’s expense.

He called upon all political forces and stakeholders to come forward and work together with law enforcement agencies in Karachi and play their part in restoring peace and stability in the metropolis.

“We have to work together to augment the government’s efforts to protect the lives and property of the citizens of the economic hub of the country,” the president said.

Lyari operation to be stopped

In a separate meeting with the Pakistan Peoples Party Karachi division office-bearers, the president directed the Sindh government to stop any operation or targeted action started in Lyari.

MNA Qadir Patel, Senator Yousaf Baloch and other PPP leaders told the president that a “unilateral” action has been started in Lyari in order to hurt the party’s vote bank, in view of the general election.

“We told the president that this operation in Lyari is just a facade. Criminals can be found in Azizabad and Lalukhet (the two Karachi neighbourhoods considered MQM strongholds). Why aren’t the police and Rangers taking action against them there?” Baloch asked rhetorically while talking to The Express Tribune.

He said that soon after the briefing, the President asked the chief minister to stop the operation in Lyari without any delay.

“We also told him that people will not vote for PPP if the operation in Lyari continues. It goes against the people in our own government,” Baloch said.

Apartments for victims

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said on Friday that President Zardari directed the provincial government to hand over keys of constructed flats for the families of the victims of the Abbas Town blast. “the government has acquired apartments for the victims and keys for the flats and shops will be handed over to the victims soon,” he said while speaking to the media outside the CM House.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2013.