Pakistan

MQM leaders enveloped in letter controversy

It requests Indian officials to look into this matter and raise their voice to safeguard and protect human values

Our Correspondent August 06, 2015

An Express News screengrab

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s letter to the Indian High Commissioner seeking help to free its arrested workers sparked a new controversy as the party’s leaders contradicted each other over the issue.

The letter titled ‘unauthorised arrests of innocent MQM workers’ which surfaced in the media, is addressed to the Indian High Commissioner TCA Raghavan and primarily speaks about the arrests of four workers.

It requests Indian officials to look into this matter and raise their voice to safeguard and protect human values.

However, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar, speaking outside the National Assembly, denied that any such letter was written and said that it must have been a technical or judgment error.He said that no help was sought from Indian officials.

The letter raises concerns about four workers in custody who were among the 13 arrested on their way to a friend’s wedding in Hyderabad. The letter says that their lives are in danger and their families are worried, calling the arrests a clear violation of human rights.

The statement from the top MQM leadership was later on contradicted by other leaders of the party, saying that this was a ‘routine practice’.

Party leader Wasay Jalil told The Express Tribune that they have written not only to the Indian official but have raised the issue with 55 other diplomats as well.

Another party leader Aminul Haque said that the MQM has been writing letters for many years over arrests and killing of its workers as well as for those who have gone missing.

“We have penned down letters to different countries, EU, Amnesty International and HRCP, copies of which are also sent to the prime minister and the chief minister. This is not a hidden practice,” he claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 7^th, 2015.

COMMENTS (1)

S.R.H. Hashmi | 9 years ago | Reply Even though the explanations given by MQM leaders on television may be slightly different, one thing that is common is that the letter was written to 55 diplomats, with copies to army chief and to civilian government’s top officials, and that it was a routine practice. It was also stated that since the letters were sent by e-mail, there is a possibility that Indian High Commissioner’s address also got ticked by mistake and the matter is being investigated, and that arrangements will be made to ensure that such an error did not occur in future. In support of the letter, it was stated that since the government is writing to different sources including the British High Commissioner, MQM felt that it also needed to present its case and explain it side, which seems quite fair. However, on the electronic media, most of the channels are presenting the news in such a way as to create an impression that MQM wrote only to Indian High Commissioner, presenting it as an anti-Pakistan move. In a recent talk show, Kashif Abbasi praised American media for just propagating the government version of events, ostensibly in the national interest. Kashif said words to the effect that America was fighting a war (perhaps Iraq war) in its national interest, and then body bags arrived and were shown in the media. Realizing that showing of body bags by the media could create opposition to the nvasion among Americans so their leader said “No body bags,” and thereafter acting ‘responsibly’ the media showed no body bags, and the war continued smoothly. I wonder if Pakistani media is following the American pattern by presenting censored version of the stories so as not to harm the Karachi operation which, broadly speaking is indeed being conducted in the national interest, though there are some genuine complaints from MQM. However, what Kashif perhaps did not realize was that the Iraq invasion erroneously called Iraq war was not even in American interest because apart from giving the US over five thousand dead bodies, it also caused massive disabilities and rendered a fifth of the attackers mental wrecks because of the guilt for the excesses and brutalities they unleashed on Iraq civilians: men, women and children. As for its effect on Iraq and the region, it gave the country one million civilians dead and left a stable state completely destabilized, which instability in turn gave rise to monsters like Daesh (Islamic state terrorists).who have paralyzed the whole region and beyond. Now, if the American media kept showing the body bags and presenting the real face of Iraq invasion, there would have been fierce opposition to the needless killing from the public which may have forced the government to end it sooner, and saved precious lives. So, showing censored versions of the news supposedly in the ‘national interest’ and out of patriotism can at times result in great tragedies and needless brutalities. Perhaps the best thing for media to do would be to present the actual and full, uncensored news, and leave it to the people to form their own opinions, instead of taking up the role of opinion-maker which, in the hands of biased and misguided persons, is open to wide misuse, with grave consequences for all concerned. Karachi

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