Fight against terrorism: The nation stands behind army says Altaf

After terrorism it will be the turn of corrupt politicians, says MQM chief.

KARACHI:

While reaffirming his support for the armed forces, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has said that after terrorism is defeated, accountability of corrupt politicians with a feudal mindset will begin.

“Once terrorism is defeated, it would be the corrupt politicians’ turn to be eliminated… their accountability will begin,” Altaf said on Sunday while addressing a huge rally organised by his party to express solidarity with the armed forces in Operation Zarb-e-Azb.

The MQM chief, who spoke to the crowd gathered at Jinnah Park via video link from London, said that he could see a revolution coming in Pakistan. “The time when honest people will rule and when bribery will be seen as illegal is not far away,” he said.

He called upon the politicians “who have properties and money stashed abroad,” to either return the country’s wealth or move to countries where they have stowed away their wealth.

At the same time, Altaf paid tributes to the armed forces and said the people gathered at the rally were proof that the entire nation backed them. He warned terrorists against enforcing their ideology ‘at gunpoint’.

The MQM chief passed a sarcastic comment in reference to Pervez Musharraf’s treason trial, saying, “[Gen (retd) Ashfaq Parvez] Kayani

should be given a house next to Musharraf’s. Or just set up a colony for army officers to be tried under Article 6 of the Constitution.”

He also shared a light moment with Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed, pointing out how both of them had been to jails and had now seen the British lockup as well.

Altaf also called for a uniform education system in the country and said his party wanted to establish a just system, based on equal rights.

Most of the country’s main political parties sent delegations to Sunday’s rally. Those in attendance included leaders from the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) and All Pakistan Muslim League (APML). No one from either Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) or Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) attended the rally, however.

Addressing the participants, Sheikh Rasheed said that he came all the way from Rawalpindi to attend the rally. He expressed confidence that that the army would be successful in North Waziristan, the same way it was in Swat.

At the same time, he said the issue of internally displaced persons (IDPs) was very sensitive and called for proper allocation of relief goods for them. “The war will be lost if the hearts of the IDPs are not won,” he added.

PML-N’s Elahi Bux Soomro told the participants that it was Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who took the initiative to launch the army operation, “something the previous government did not do.”

PPP’s Rubina Qaimkhani, on the other hand, said the party’s leadership itself had fallen victim to the Taliban.

APML’s Ahmed Raza Kasuri did not deliver a speech, but read out a poem, written by his grandfather in 1951, about the army.

Politician Mairaj Mohammad Khan said the Taliban were not patriots, as they did not accept the Constitution, democracy or even the federation of Pakistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2014.