Altaf Hussain. PHOTO MQM
Addressing workers at Lal Qila Ground in Azizabad on Friday evening, Altaf said that “PM Nawaz Sharif can order for allowing the MQM to open its offices, but he is not giving such an order.”
“If he has any compulsion, he should tell the nation openly. If he does not come clean with the facts, then I will disclose to the nation the facts that I have.”
He questioned the point of negotiations with the government if they kept repeating their helplessness to lift the ban on his speeches or of allowing the MQM to resume its political and welfare activities.
“If the federal government cannot do anything, and is unable to accept the [party’s] legitimate demands, why is it trying to hold dialogues with the MQM. Why is the MQM being asked to come back in assemblies?”
Ban on KKF
The MQM chief also lamented the unannounced ban imposed on the party’s charity wing, the Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation (KKF).
“MQM is the third largest political party in the country, but an unannounced ban has been placed on its political and welfare activities,” Altaf complained, adding that, “MQM’s charitable wing KKF has been serving the humanity for the past 37 years. It has nothing to do with politics.”
“KKF collects zakat and fitra during the month of Ramazan and hides of sacrificial animals at the time of Eidul Azha. The money obtained in this manner is spent for supporting family members of slain workers, widows, needy students and physically challenged people in the form of monthly assistance.
“KKF also arranges dowry for marrying girls belonging to low-income families. It also runs hospitals, mortuaries, dispensaries, blood banks, and ambulance service and coffin carriers.”
Altaf said that attempts had been made to stop the welfare activities of the KKF, sometimes by PPP and sometimes by PML-N.
“Now the Director General of Rangers is saying that the MQM would not be allowed to collect hides of sacrificial animals.”
The MQM chief said that the party’s sympathisers can voluntarily collect the hides.
Ban on Altaf’s speech
Speaking about the ban on his speeches, Altaf said that he will resort to writing letters.
“I had written a letter to our mothers and sisters when I was in jail, and the local government elections had been announced. I will write a similar letter once again, and these letters will remove the distance between me, my workers, and the people.”
“Certain federal ministers are saying that they are helpless on the issue of allowing Altaf Hussain’s speeches as the Lahore High Court has banned it. If the order of the High Court is correct, why is the judgment of the Supreme Court giving the death sentence to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto not being accepted?”
Is the 'ban' on MQM constitutional, asks Sattar
Earlier, MQM leader Farooq Sattar in a press conference said that the unannounced ban on the party’s activities, its charity wing and unlawful detention of its wokers was tantamount to an unconstitutional ban on it.
“The MQM has a right to ask whether there is any provision in the constitution for imposing such ban on it.”
Claiming that the party had been pinned to the wall Sattar said that Rangers had arrested party workers Mirza Zeeshan Baig and Syed Tanveer Ahmed in January 2015. When a petition was filed in the Sindh High Court over their enforced disappearance, Rangers had denied that the two men were in their custody. Yet, on September 4, 2015, after unlawfully detaining them for 180 days, the two men were produced in an anti-terror court by Rangers, and a further 90 days detention was obtained.
He said that all that MQM wants is for someone to pay heed to its grievances and address their concerns, ensuring respect and protection of their rights.
Sattar said that since the schedule for local government had been announced, pushing the MQM up against the wall would allow another party to “occupy the mandate from the city.”
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