Thursday, April 30, 2009

Ethnic Hatred - PPP, ANP and MQM



STOP PRESS!

This post was written in November 2008 on the Riots in Karachi - Sindh:

As per Daily Dawn dated November 28, 2008, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said on Thursday that the elements that were defeated in the election were looking for issues to destabilise the coalition government of the Pakistan People’s Party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and the Awami National Party, but they would not get any such opportunity. “Our endeavours would be to keep this alliance intact. We want that problems of the people could be solved to provide them relief,” he said. The chief minister gave this assurance on the floor of the Sindh assembly in response to the issue of the reported simmering tension between the Pakhtun and Urdu-speaking populations in some localities, raised through a point of order by Amanullah Mehsud of the ANP and responded to by Faisal Sabzwari of the MQM. He said: “Our all-out efforts are for keeping this alliance intact because it is in the interest of the people of Sindh and Pakistan,” he said.[1]

As per Daily Dawn dated November 29, 2008, Nearly half a dozen incidents of arson, looting and ransacking in different parts of the city were reported during the 24 hours ending Friday evening, deepening fears and speculation of ethnic violence, as cited by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah during the current session of the Sindh Assembly.[2]

Saeen [MQM members and Ministers are included in this Saeen] these so-called Anti-Social Elements are having a field day right under the nose of your Coalition Government i.e. PPP, MQM and ANP and mind it, any loss life and property of anyone [no matter belong to which Ethnic Group] would be the responsibility of this coalition of PPP, MQM, ANP because you are in the government. I wonder why the PPP-MQM-ANP government in Sindh forget that those elements who are fomenting Ethnic Tension to create Law and Order Situation like 1980s and 90s are the very members of the Coalition of PPP-MQM-ANP who were elected in Feb 2008 General Elections e.g. Shahi Syed of ANP was basically in Anti-Arbab Rahim Camp and his ANP was supporting a key corrupt Rasputin of Mehran Gate Scandal Imtiaz Sheikh [during 2002-2007 Sindh Assembly] and in the same Coalition we have people like Mustaf Kamal on whom you will read later.

Altaf Hussain from London, Day In, Day Out, talk about Conspiracy against MQM but failed to tell that in Sindh, the MQM since 1986 enjoys immense support [in General Elections 1988, 1990, 1993, 1996, 2000 and Local Bodies election as well] and this mandate should be respected but MQM didn't learn anything from their past mistakes because they have a mayor Mustafa Kamal who whenever open his mouth, he vomit Ethnic Venom. He should know that Mayors are symbol of Neutrality but Karachiites are unfortunate in this regard. The so-called second best Mayor in the World i.e. Mustafa Kamal is also a Ethnic Bigot

Explain, Mr Nazim Monday, July 07, 2008

Monday, July 07, 2008, Rajab-al-Murajjab 03, 1429 A.H

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=122629

Karachi Nazim Mr Mustufa Kamal made some startling remarks and observations at the businessmen’s dinner in Karachi on Friday night in honour of President Pervez Musharraf. He told the members of the audience that they should not take their money away from Karachi because “if they return after six months or one year the region and its geography may not be the same”. The comments, made in the presence of the president and the governor of Sindh are alarming to say the least. President Musharraf in his speech supported the observations of the nazim and had his own advice for politicians and others.

Mayor Kamal’s remarks are intriguing, if not downright conspiratorial. What does he mean by the warning that after six months or a year Karachi’s geography or even that of the region, may change? Is any plan being prepared somewhere that he knows of but would not rather share with the public other than warning his moneyed supporters not to take the risk of taking their money away? It may be noted that the city nazim was recently invited for an extended visit to the United States where he was received by officials in a manner that no one as low in the political hierarchy as a city nazim had ever been. It would be in the fitness of things if Mr Kamal clarifies his remarks, explains the context and informs the people of Pakistan if he really means what he said publicly with TV cameras rolling and the entire country watching. An explanation of these remarks from MQM headquarters in London would also help in understanding what lies in store for Karachi, the region and the country, as the nazim has clearly indicated.

As per Daily Times Friday June 06, 2008

Pashtuns are plotting to take over Karachi, Kamal tells NPR

Daily Times Monitor Friday, June 06, 2008

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2008%5C06%5C06%5Cstory_6-6-2008_pg12_1

KARACHI: Syed Mustafa Kamal, considers these ethnic Pashtuns a threat. In his eyes, they are plotting to take over the city. These Pashtuns means like fundamentalist religiously fundamentalist, religiously extremist,Kamal says. They are coming in. When it comes to ethnicity, when it comes to Islam they all are ... the same.The mayor says he is convinced that Pashtuns are planning the locations of the illegal housing settlements. He says they are choosing strategic spots that block his own plans for the city.

Are you Mayor of the City or the head of the Ku Klux Klan [Racist Bigot in the USA]. Your party MQM claims to represent the 98% of the downtrodden of Pakistan whereas you interview above telling very disturbing things to those very downtrodden whom your party MQM claims to represent, by the way where was your above wisdom when your party shared power [from 2002-2007] with Irfan Khan Marwat {involved in Veena Hayat (d/o Freedom Fighter Sardar Shaukat Hayat)/ Rape Case in 1991-1992 and ethnic clashes of 80s the son-in-law of Late Ghulam Ishaq Khan (Former President of Pakistan)}.

In the end one could say that after all these years [MQM 1986 - 2008] you and other members of your party could not free themsleves from the shackles of mental and ideological slavery courtesy Herr Fuhrer Altaf Hussain. Blaming Pashtun community for Religious Fundamentalism is just not justified when MQM itself entered in several National and Provinvial seat adjustments in Karachi before Election 2008 with Deviantly Extremists Jamia Binnoria Karachi and JUI faction of MMA for the sake of Electoral Politics.

No matter what MQM [Muttahida Quami Movement] claim it will remain a political party whose basic prinicples are based upon the cardinal rules of Fascism or Neo-Fascism or you may call it pure Nazi Party and its Central Coordination Committee [The Rabita Committee] The Famous Nazi Shutzstaffel of Adolf Hitler. MQM claim that the party represent 98 % population of the country that is the Middle Class and Poor people but srangely the MQM itself has become a feudal party in nature and mentality. The worst hit section of the population affected byu the MQM is the very class MQM claim to represent. When MQM leadership asked as to why they are sitting with the present regime since it also represent the Feudals and Tribal Chiefs who are in majority in PML-Q and PML-F, the simple reply ones get is this "that MQM want to bring change by remaining in the system".

MQM claims that Altaf Husaain and MQM believe in the indeology of Bacha Khan i.e. Late Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan [a great leader of Indian National Congress and Leading Freedom Fighter before partition] whereas the MQM doesn't even ready to give minute political space to the Awami National Party and by the way the workers of MQM has no competition with the Pashtuns living in Karachi whatsoever as the occupations of both the communities i.e. Pashtuns and Urdu Speaking are pole apart. They have no clash of interests except that Mr. Altaf Hussain false ego which has been given a boast by the Military Regime of Musharraf since 1999. Mr. Altaf Hussain nowadays has adopted a new slogan of Anti-Americanism to exploit the so-called literate party base [the literate voters of MQM in Sindh] whereas the maxim which is being followed by Mr Altaf Hussain and MQM is of George W Bush [i.e. Either you are with us or against us] meaning only those citizens of Karachi will be allowed politics who are either members of MQM or Musharraf's Military regime. This can also be interpreted that MQM only accept those Middle Class and Poor People living in Sindh who are in MQM all the others can take a hike. Since MQM from 2002 enjoyed immense clout within the Pakistani Establishment courtesy Musharraf's Military Regime therefore it is requestd that MQM should do away with the exploitative slogans like "there is an establishment conspiracy to malign MQM."

On 17 Dec 2007 [as per Daily Dawn Local News] a clash took place between Awami National Party and MQM on election campaign resulted in an innocent loss of life [the person died had nothing to do with MQM or ANP]. On 18 Dec 2007 [as per Daily Dawn Local News] the MQM Rabita Committee DEMANDED;

“We demand that the Sindh governor and the caretaker chief minister take notice of this act of terrorism and order arrest of those behind the incident.”

One wonders from whom MQM is demanding the justice because Governor Sindh is MQM's member and MQM is part and parcel of General [Now Retired] Musharraf Regime since 2002 to be precise since 12 Oct 1999 and the Caretaker Regime placed by Musharraf after the impostion of emergency i.e. [martial Law and still in force] in Islamabad and in Sindh is well represented by MQM.

Who should the below mentioned go for justice? Read and lament.

"QUOTE"

“Mr Hussain has lived in Britain since arriving in 1992 for a ‘kidney operation’. He has since become a British citizen, while his party governs five cities and the populous Sindh province. “Mr Hussain, who spent part of Sunday speaking on the telephone to Gen Musharraf, warned Pakistan’s leader not to make any deals with exiled leaders, such as his rival Ms. Bhutto, that would see the military ruler resign from the army,” it added “The situation in South Asia does not allow (General) Musharraf to take off his uniform, for without it he will have no power at all. Because of activities ... in Afghanistan as well as our own country, the Taliban (influence) is growing very strong,” Mr Hussain told the Daily Telegraph. “He is doing his level best to fight these groups. (General) Musharraf is a very brave man. Only he can prevent the Talibanisation of Pakistan,” asserted Altaf in the interview.

“Unlike former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Miss Bhutto, Mr Hussain is an exile whose party has consolidated its grip. But Karachi remains tense. “His political addresses by telephone have been known to last up to four hours, while a Western diplomat in Pakistan described the MQM as ‘something out of Chicago – nobody leaves the party’. “While Mr Hussain promotes the party as a ‘secular’ cause and courts the middle-class vote, his supporters are known to extort a goonda tax from Karachi businesses. “Mr Hussain, who once drove a taxi in Chicago for a living,
micro-manages the MQM with acute attention to detail.

UK media raises question about Altaf running Karachi affairs By M. Ziauddin

http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/15/nat3.htm

Gen Musharraf used similar words to describe the MQM rally in Karachi. Was it really a manifestation of the people’s power on Saturday that bodies were lying on Karachi’s roads with no one to pick them up? What was the president thinking? Or was he at all?

After the bloodbath

http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/15/ed.htm

Blair might be dragged into controversy over Altaf's role By Rauf Klasra

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=7919

His recommendations were in clear contradiction to the Sindh Home Department, headed by former sector commander of Military Intelligence, Brig (retd) Ghulam Muhtaram. While the home department, fearing a serious law and order situation, insisted the CJ should not take the flight to Karachi, the chief secretary opposed the plan that was aimed to flop the CJ’s show, warning it would deteriorate the situation.

Who is to blame for Karachi mayhem? By Umar Cheema

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=7933

UK students’ move against ‘hate preachers’ By M. Ziauddin

May 20, 2007 Sunday Jamadi-ul-Awwal 03, 1428

LONDON, May 19: About 25 Pakistani students studying at top UK institutions and a couple of finance and media professionals have said they plan to lobby the UK government to dissuade British citizens from fomenting and inciting trouble back home by making hate speeches over the telephone.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/20/top12.htm

Amnesty demands inquiry into May 12 killings By Our Special Correspondent

LONDON, May 23: Amnesty International (AI) has sent letters to the federal and the Sindh governments asking them to institute an independent inquiry into the May 12 killings in Karachi and mete out exemplary punishment to the perpetrators of the crime.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/24/top3.htm

South Asia has produced quite a few ethno-nationalist leaders in the last few decades. Bal Thackeray of the Shiv Sena, Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindrawale of the Khalistan movement, Prabhakkar of the Tamil Tigers and Altaf Hussain of MQM have certain things in common. All of them made their way into politics when their ethnic group felt threatened by competitors and challengers from other groups. They resorted to questionable methods to crush perceived threats and thus gained a reputation of being men of steel. In the process a cult of adulation grew around them and they began to be surrounded by fanatical devotees but themselves became victims of megalomania.

The MQM phenomenon By Ishtiaq Ahmed

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=57629

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement seems to have messed up in a big way this time. If the issue wasn’t so grim, the incoherent statements made by its “leaders” would have made a comic story. Post May 12, there has been a constant trickle of discordant statements issued from Karachi and London, each setting off a fresh controversy. A better example of the expression –- “shooting yourself in the foot” -– will be difficult to find. As government functionaries responsible for law and order, both the ‘honourable’ gents declared on record that if the ‘measures’ they
had taken had not been in place that day, “thousands would have died”. By the word “measures” it was further explained that it was these representatives of the MQM in the government who had decided to block the city and disarm the police and Rangers.

But, soon after these statements were splashed far and wide came the startling question from MQM chief Mr Altaf Hussain in his open letter addressed to “Patriotic Pakistanis” from London: “Where were the police and Rangers on May 12 during the bloodbath?”

The options are: the MQM members in the federal ministries might resign; the MQM members in both the federal and provincial ministries might resign; and the MQM members in the assemblies might join the opposition. Political analysts can’t wait to see which way the party’s pendulum will eventually swing. But then there is the ever-present hand of the party’s guardian angel in the form of the president who has continually been asking the coalition partners to support the MQM. You can’t clap with one hand, after all.

http://www.dawn.com/2007/05/27/fea.htm#1


Muttahida’s swinging pendulum By Maheen A. Rashdi METRO VOICE

From the roadblocks, it was clear that the MQM was not as interested in holding its own rally as it was in preventing the Chief Justice from leaving the Karachi airport. Huge container trucks, buses, tankers and other heavy vehicles were packed tightly across every few 100 metres of every important road in the city.

This correspondent managed to leave the airport in the pre-dawn hours of May 12 only with the assistance of an MQM office-bearer, who introduced himself at every blockade, and managed to get a bus moved here and a truck moved there to squeeze his car through. Where that was impossible, those manning the blockades gave directions to alternative routes into town. Elsewhere in the city, the building of Aaj, a private television station whose licence the government threatened to cancel in April for its coverage of the political crisis, came under gunfire for close to six hours. Viewers saw its star anchor, Talat Hussain, pleading live from inside the building for law-enforcers to come to the rescue of the station, but to no avail.

The MQM showed it was the "boss" in Karachi. At the end of the day, the city was reeling with 33 dead and over 150 injured. More would succumb to their injuries, and when the violence continued for a second day, the death toll went up to 41. Soon afterward, the Sindh Interior Secretary (a portfolio held by the MQM) reached the airport and delivered an ultimatum: either the Chief Justice take the waiting helicopter to keep his engagement at the Sindh High Court or he returned to Islamabad. Chaudhary refused to do either and said he would leave the airport only by road to Karachi.

While the MQM has no image to lose, the violence in Karachi has damaged Musharraf the most.

http://www.frontlineonnet.com/stories/20070601005312900.htm

Troubled polity NIRUPAMA SUBRAMANIAN

The Karachi ruling party 'run like the mafia' from an office block in London

• MQM accused of planning carnage which left 42 dead

• Khan calls for leader in UK to face anti-terror charges

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2093822,00.html

Declan Walsh in Karachi and Matthew Taylor Saturday June 2, 2007

Running Karachi from London like Salvatore Luciano used to run Mafia in New York and Cuba from Rome. The Governor Sindh belongs to MQM and read what he has to say:

Time ripe to mount check on media freedom: Ebad By our correspondent

Karachi

Sindh Governor Dr. Ishratul Ebad has said that it is high time to mount check on the freedom of media that was extended by the government itself.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=58728

Testing times for media Comment By Ansar Abbasi

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=8258

President General Pervez Musharraf seems to be running out of patience against the media — thanks to his courtiers. With a veiled package of curbs being introduced against the independent media particularly the private television channels, he is all set to lose his “pride”.

London seminar slams MQM By Rauf Klasra

LONDON: Top British journalist Victoria Schofield and other speakers at a seminar on the May 12 violence in Karachi have said that the British government should take people’s concerns into account about MQM chief Altaf Hussain.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=8289

UK paper blames MQM for May 12 carnage By Rauf Klasra

LONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain is facing the danger of being tried in the UK courts over terrorism charges after the British media declared on Saturday that the MQM is run like the mafia from an office block in London amid accusations that the party had planned (the May 12) carnage which left 42 dead.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=8280

New UK laws might affect Altaf’s telephonic addresses By Rauf Klasra

LONDON: The new proposed powers to British police to use telephonic conversations as evidence in a court of law might land Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain in hot waters, or at least greatly affect his regular telephonic addresses to his followers in Pakistan. The British government has been bringing sweeping anti-terrorism laws to use telephonic addresses, secret conversations and email messages of individuals as strong evidence in the courts on the pattern of American and European laws.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=8317

CPNE slates adviser’s remarks

It says no CPNE delegation will meet the adviser and will, instead, directly meet the chief executive of the province. “The CPNE wishes to formally lodge a complaint against the reprehensible behaviour, words and actions of the adviser to the Sindh chief minister on information and archives, Salahuddin Haider, who is a Muttahida Quami Movement appointee in the coalition government of Sindh.” His behaviour, the statement says, exceeds all acceptable norms of decency and what is expected from an official of a government that purports to believe in the freedom of press as contained in Article 19 of the Constition. The statement says Mr Haider has attempted to force the Dawn Group to change its reasonable and varied reporting of activities of the Sindh government and his party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, by resorting to restrict and ban government advertisement. It also notes that at various points he has threatened journalists, employees and functionaries at the Dawn Group of Newspapers. “Firstly, the information adviser must be asked to publicly apologize for his remarks with respect to the chief executive of Dawn which were unprovoked and reprehensible in the extreme. The fact that he has failed to do so up to this point and has continued to make noisy threats behind the scenes is further proof of the fact that he needs to be reined in.” The CPNE has also asked “the Sindh chief minister, the federal minister and the prime minister” to reprimand the adviser about his “unacceptable behaviour”. It has also urged the MQM leadership to reprimand the adviser.

http://www.dawn.com/2006/05/24/nat9.htm

"UNQUOTE"

References:

KARACHI: CM sees anti-govt plot behind ethnic tensionBy Habib Khan Ghori [1]

http://www.dawn.com/2008/11/28/local1.htm

KARACHI: ‘Ethnic tension’ grips Karachi By Our Staff Reporter [2]

http://www.dawn.com/2008/11/29/local1.htm

KARACHI: MPAs raise alarm over breakdown of law & order By Habib Khan Ghori [2]

http://www.dawn.com/2008/11/29/local2.htm

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