Fireworks in the house: MQM hits out at govt over Saulat’s video

Demands truth and reconciliation panel, body to monitor Karachi operation

ISLAMABAD:

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) hit out at the government on Friday over the explosive confessional statement of death row target killer Saulat Mirza, calling for a similar treatment for all condemned prisoners.

Citing Articles 4, 10A and 25 of the Constitution, the party said why similar rights were not extended to GHQ attacker Dr Usman. In a rare video statement aired by private TV channels hours before his execution, Saulat Mirza, formerly associated with the MQM, made serious allegations against the top leadership of the party. Subsequently, his hanging was stayed.

MQM lawmakers wanted to raise the issue on the floor of the National Assembly on Friday. Speaker Ayaz Sadiq, however, warned senior MQM lawmaker Dr Farooq Sattar that he could not make a ‘political speech’ on a point of order.

All MPs of the party stood in their seats and started shouting slogans. Ten minutes into sloganeering, the speaker gave in, suspending the agenda and giving the floor to Sattar. The MQM MP raised several questions on the video confession of Saulat Mirza and asked the ‘so-called democratic setup’ to clear its position on the matter.

“If today there is a Saulat Mirza, then tomorrow there will be a Zulfiqar Mirza to put senior politicians in trouble,” Sattar said, referring to the renegade PPP politician from Sindh.

Sattar called for a judicial commission to investigate and find out who recorded the statement of a condemned prisoner [Saulat Mirza]. Sattar also voiced MQM’s grievances against the media, saying TV anchors were not fair in their analyses.

“If confessional statements can be arranged from Saulat Mirza and Umair Siddiqi, then there is need to get confessional statements through a truth and reconciliation commission from those responsible for the 1986 massacre, 1992 military operation and target killing of over 1,200 party workers,” he added. “There is also a need to find out who had forced hundreds of MQM workers to go underground and involve in criminal activities.”

Sattar alleged that the ongoing surgical operation in Karachi was an attempt to ‘crush a progressive party [MQM]’. “We are not against the Rangers’ operation, but why is a middle class phenomenon being eliminated?”

The MQM also put forward a set of demands, including formation of a judicial commission, a truth and reconciliation commission and a body to monitor the Karachi operation.

Sattar said there was a need to revise the policy of Karachi operation. “We have great respect for the army.  Our party leader [Altaf Hussain] has tendered an apology for his statement [against the Rangers head],” said Sattar and suggested the paramilitary force share a list of wanted criminals with Speaker Ayaz Sadiq.

“We will cooperate with the law enforcing agencies. We will also reveal where the May 12, 2007 [carnage] plan was made and who was responsible for the bloodshed on that day,” Sattar claimed.

He claimed that barring Nine-Zero, all MQM offices have been closed in Karachi. If MQM’s offices are not allowed to operate, no other political party will be able to maintain its offices in Karachi either, he said. “Mr speaker, I’m not threatening but stating facts,” he added as a quick rejoinder.

Sattar said that instead of wasting energies on political disputes, focus should be on the war against terrorism, otherwise Karachi would become the centre of war. “I want to ask for how long you will test our loyalty and who will give us the certificate of loyalty?” he added.

He said that instead of ‘victimising’ the MQM continuously, it would better for the government to ban the party for ‘clarity of our status’.  “I will dissolve the MQM if I become a threat to the country,” he added.

He also expressed concern over Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s statement regarding cooperation with British authorities in the Imran Farooq murder case. “It is not understandable how the pain of this murder suddenly gripped the interior minister.”

PkMAP chief Mahmood Khan Achakzai criticised Speaker Ayaz Sadiq for allowing the MQM to violate parliamentary rules and norms in the name of an ‘urgent political matter’. Achakzai told Sattar that he wanted to show him mirror.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 21^st, 2015.