A storm brewing?: MQM workers protest Sialkot killing

The party’s vice-president for the region was shot dead on Tuesday night

SUKKUR/ HYDERABAD/ KARACHI:

Screams of 'qatil qatil Punjab hukoomat qatil' echoed through the crowd outside Karachi Press Club (KPC) as workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement vented their anger against the Punjab government.

They were protesting the murder of the party's vice-president for Sialkot, Bau Muhammad Anwar, who was shot dead in his hometown on Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, scenes of sorrow and fury unfolded outside the KPC where the protesters held black flags and banners, condemning the murder. Before the start of the protest, workers and supporters offered funeral prayers in absentia for the deceased leader.

With the Rabita Committee dissolved and its members suspended by the party's chief, Altaf Hussain, no prominent leader participated in the demonstration and the protest was led by caretaker incharge of Pakistan Rabita Committee, Qamar Mansoor. The latter was previously a member of the party's Central Information Committee (CIC).

"If such killings and injustices continue against us, things may get out of control," warned Mansoor. Addressing the protesters from the top of a truck, Mansoor said that real change had been brought by their party when they had brought the poor to the assemblies. He called for the arrest of the killers of all their workers, including Tahira Asif, who was killed in Lahore in June.

Khalid Mehmood Awan of Provincial Punjab Committee said that Bau Mohammad was killed on the same day the party was observing Youm-e-Shuhada, marking the deaths of 17,000 workers. "I want to ask why we are being targeted. What is our fault?" he questioned.

 

In Hyderabad too, the party's supporters took to the streets to protest the Sialkot incident. Demonstrations and sit-ins were held in Hyderabad, Tando Allahyar, Nawabshah, Mirpurkhas, Thatta, Sanghar, Jamshoro and other districts.

The zonal in charge Hyderabad, Navaid Shamsi, complained that 45 workers of the MQM were missing and many had been killed but the television channels were not discussing this serious issue. "If one worker of another party dies in Faisalabad, the television channels keep discussing it for days. But we are even denied the basic coverage."

He asked the media to change its attitude towards the MQM, warning that they will close all the media channels in Hyderabad if their demands were not heard.

Upper Sindh

The protests made their way to Sukkur too where party workers staged a demonstration at Dolphin Chowk, Minara Road. The protesters, led by the zonal incharge Shahzada Gulfam, Tasleem Khan and other leaders, marched from their office at Jinnah Chowk to Dolphin Chowk, where they staged a protest demonstration.

Walkout

In the Sindh Assembly, the murder of the MQM leader in Sialkot dominated the proceedings. "A tragic incident has taken place last night. A leader of our party has been killed in Sialkot. Please take up this resolution," said Faisal Subzwari. After brief arguments on whether the agenda should be finished first or priority should be given to the resolution, the MQM members succeeded in moving the resolution.

Later, MQM leaders walked out of the session and continued to protest outside the assembly after the session was over.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2014.