Raid will echo in Khursheed Begum Secretariat halls for times to come

KARACHI:

Broken. Chairs, locks, cupboards, tables, water coolers, doors, minds. The Rangers marched into the Muttahida Qaumi Movement headquarters early on Wednesday morning and walked away with several workers, some of them senior party officials.

Hours later, thousands of wild-eyed workers and supporters swarmed the streets around the party headquarters. Some were angry. They screamed for revenge. They yelled for a revolution. “Let’s just shut down the city for three to four days,” said one elderly man to another. But most of them were simply bewildered. Could this have happened? The timing made no sense, said one of the supporters. “We are in talks with other political parties for the Senate elections,” he reasoned. “Why would anyone want to severe ties with us at this stage?”

Inside the secretariat building, more workers scurried around trying to make sense of it all. They would have to start accounting for the losses soon. “We suspect some of the files are missing,” said one of the workers meekly. He could not say which ones for sure as they hadn’t started accounting for them yet.

 

Rangers went through MQM files stored at the Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall on Wednesday morning. PHOTO: AFP

The library in the basement was even worse, with books strewn across the table and floor. The locks had been forced open on all the cupboards, with the paperwork unceremoniously thrown around.

The worst damage had been done to the upper floors, with the doors of most rooms having been kicked in. The central command room, where the CCTV monitoring equipment is stored had been quite literally, ransacked. Four men sat around a square table, staring fixatedly at blank TV screens. “They even took the AC,” exclaimed one worker angrily. “Would you believe this is how they behave with a political party?” The Rangers personnel had even taken away the DVR equipment and the wireless routers with them.

In the minorities division, several men sat along a long table. It led to a smaller room that housed several lockers, all of which had been broken into. “Look! There are just files and paperwork here. Material that is important for the functioning of any political party.” He claimed the Rangers had smuggled in the weapons that they were claiming were found at the premises. Of course, he couldn’t prove his claims either: the Rangers had taken away the DVR equipment.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2015.