MQM presents list of 500 criminals in NA

ISLAMABAD Charging the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) with unleashing a 'massacre in Karachi, Muttahida Qaumi Movements parliamentary leader Dr Farooq Sattar, on Friday, demanded the government to form a judicial commission to investigate the events surrounding targeted killings in the port city. The judicial commission should probe and fix the responsibility for the killings of innocent people in Malir, Kati Pahari and other neighbourhoods in Karachi. It should also investigate that why was Rangers sent so late to Kati Pahari, he said, while speaking in National Assembly. The MQM leader also demanded that families of those killed in Karachi violence should be compensated. He claimed that the Karachi police had become increasingly politicized, therefore, MQM chief Altaf Hussain demanded deployment of army in the city. He further said that the MQM chiefs demand was a constitutional one and was aimed to preserve peace in Karachi. He further demanded that patrolling and pickets of Rangers be enhanced and more powers be given to them. Sattar also pressed the government for formation of a parliamentary fact-finding committee. Saying that unrest in Karachi simmered after November 2008, the MQM leader alleged that the government gave a free hand to underworld, land mafia and those who came from the countrys northern areas to ruin the mandate of the MQM, following its pulling out of the governments in Sindh and Centre. Sattar, while waving a list containing names of as many as 500 gangsters, said that action should be taken against them, adding that a surveillance committee of the Awami National Party and PPP should also be formed in Karachi to keep an eye on their (gangsters) areas. He further said that coordination committees should also be formed, while coordination between police and public must also be improved to bring peace in Karachi. Earlier, PPP legislator Mehmood Hayat Khan Tochi, while taking part in the debate, asked the House to take notice of US ambassadors visits to southern Punjab and Balochistan. Talking about law and order in Karachi, he said that the army was not a solution to the problem and the political parties should find a political way out to bring peace in the economic hub of the country. Shireen Arshad Khan said that security of Karachi moved around three As Asif Ali Zaardari, Asfand Yar and Altaf Hussain. She said that these three should play their due role for maintenance of law and order in the city. She said that steps should be taken to arrest criminals and proceed against them legally. MQMs Abdul Wasim said that terrorism, price hike, inflation, unemployment and poverty were the main causes of unrest in Karachi and other parts of the country. He said that time had come to address the issues and problems of the masses, otherwise it would result in a revolt in the country. The parliamentarian deplored that feudal lords and rich segment of the society wanted to rule the country without giving opportunity to intellectuals, scholars, professionals and experts. Laiq Muhammad Khan criticised the government for not apprehending and punishing the assassins of Benazir Bhutto, and questioned if the government could not arrest the killers of Benazir Bhutto how would it establish its writ in the country. He proposed that heads of all political parties should leave all their political activities and sit together to find out a solution for durable peace in Karachi. Captain (r) Muhammad Safdar of the PML-N said if the government had not allowed the murderer of Nawab Akbar Bugti to leave Pakistan, the situation in Balochistan might have been different. He alleged that the government was supporting creation of new provinces on linguistic basis, but when the people of Hazara demanded a province for them a gift of 20 dead bodies was given to them.

ePaper - Nawaiwaqt