Pakistan

‘MQM leaders could be assassinated’

MQM's Coordintaion Committee requests government to provide security to its leaders who have received death threats.

Express October 26, 2010

KARACHI:

An interior ministry report revealed life threats to leaders of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), following which they were instructed to limit their activities.

The interior ministry cautioned the MQM leaders to be extra vigilant about their personal security. The report, which has been sent to MQM, says Farooq Sattar, Haider Abbas Rizvi and Mustafa Kamal face serious threats to their lives.

MQM’s Coordination Committee has expressed grave concern over media reports and about the information received from the interior ministry regarding threats to the lives of its leaders. The committee urged the government to take concrete steps for protecting the lives of people mentioned in the report.

Federal Minister for Interior Rehman Malik informed The Express Tribune that there are serious threats to the lives of MQM’s Deputy Convener and federal Minister Dr Farooq Sattar, federal Minister Senator Babar Khan Ghauri, Deputy Parliamentary Leader of MQM in the National Assembly Haider Abbas Rizvi, provincial Minister Faisal Sabzwari and former city nazim Mustafa Kamal, hence they should remain extremely cautious.

Despite repeated attempts to contact them to confirm they have been provided adequate security or not, the MQM leaders were unavailable for comments.

Meanwhile, the deputy spokesperson of the party told The Express Tribune that it is the constitutional and legal responsibility of the government to provide parliamentarians with strict security. He confirmed that no security has been provided to them as yet, but the government has assured that a security would be provided soon to ensure the safety of their party leaders.

The MQM, which has its roots in Karachi, has witnessed assassination of two of its top leaders recently.

Party chief Altaf Hussain has also said that there were threats to his life even in London.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2010.

COMMENTS (18)

KarachiCrisis | 14 years ago | Reply 1947 Pakistan Zindabaad!! :) 2010 Pakistan Say Zinda Bhaag!! :(

Tanzeel | 14 years ago | Reply MQM leaders should also understand ground realities of Karachi and demand security from agencies, I found them careless about their own security, Karachites often witness them roaming around like ordinary men with no protocol, sitting at Dhaaba and visiting markets without any security. Even the Governor Sindh takes his car and moves to market just like that. Lately Faisal Sabzwari's car has been snatched at his doorstep due to no security around him.

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Guy | 14 years ago | Reply its not 92, its 2010....any foolish misadventure against Mqm can be really costly..

Kashif Iqbal | 14 years ago | Reply Good political stunt.

zain hasan | 14 years ago | Reply who iz nxt..?

KNS | 14 years ago | Reply @ Amjad Abro: same justification is given for taliban suicide attacks, so should we accept this justification?

Noreen Shams | 14 years ago | Reply Who is the next target any guesses ????

amjad abro | 14 years ago | Reply well what do they expect,they've murdered thousands,terrorised millions in the city,extorted billions in the decades that they have been in power.when you've spilled so much blood then it's a natural reaction the victims' families will also once in a while get you back for your misdeeds. the media dominated by the urduspeaking community paints a false picture of the mqm as saints whereas all the rest of karachi knows & unfortunately is made to feel the reality on a daily basis. No matter how many times the tv channels keep on repeating lies about the innocence of mqm,the truth can not be hidden or changed. the ppl know

Inqilabi | 14 years ago | Reply If I recall the 90's era the same drama was staged by the Intellegencia when an Urdu-Speaking Senator from Karachi Mohsin Siddiqui got killed and the blame was imposed on MQM Leadership. The same conspiracy is again being hatched against the party and to start an operation they have to eliminate a high profile leader. Beware!!

Asmat Jamal | 14 years ago | Reply Violence begets violence. The sad part of the story is that MQM introduced violence in the Political culture of Pakistan. Before MQM landed in the body politic of Karachi, it was a peaceful city. Since 1985 Karachi has not seen a peaceful day. May there souls rest in peace

Usman | 14 years ago | Reply "According to a report in The Express Tribune, this year has seen 1,100 violent deaths in Karachi. The only other time killings of this nature reached such numbers was in 1995 during Benazir Bhutto’s second tenure." These last lines of this news item is enough to provide evidence of how good is PPP for the country & specifically for Karachi.

Natasha Suleman | 14 years ago | Reply Danish, It is naive of you to think that way. MQM has much bigger non-taliban enemies brother! I don't need to tell you who they are.

Danish | 14 years ago | Reply For raising their voices on media frequently boldly and exposing the truth against the talibanization in the country specailly in karachi....disclosing the nexus ..

imkarachi | 14 years ago | Reply Why MQM leaders only ??

imkarachi | 14 years ago | Reply Police recently arrested Lyari gangster Baba Ladla and will soon release him on bail

Qasim Khan | 14 years ago | Reply If the Government is unwilling to give protection to the Leaders, how will it protect the civilians. Should the Civilians think that they are vulnerable to anything now? Sham Government of PPP, they should be punished over this. NO ECONOMY - NO PAKISTAN

Ishaq Narejo | 14 years ago | Reply Threat

Naz Ebr | 14 years ago | Reply Good attempt to draw the public sympathy toward the MQM leadership.

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