May 12, 2013 - Updated 01 Altaf greets ‘Punjabi representative party’ on its big win: LONDON: Congratulating Pakistan Muslim League-N on its big win, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain called the Nawaz Shairf-led party which has so far bagged maximum number of seats in the center as ‘Punjabis representative party’. “Muslilm League-N has emerged victorious in elections 2013 and Nawaz Sharif as a representative of leader of the Punjabis,” Altaf Hussain said in his derogatory statement following PML-N’s winning big in the Punjab in today’s general elections. He did not stop there, saying Nawaz Sharif appears to have stood by his philosophy and slogan he chanted twenty years back ‘Jaag Punjabi Jaag, Teri Pag Noon Lag Gaya Dagh’. “Today he got the fruit of this slogan,” he added. Altaf Hussain said he extends hearty congratulations to the people of Punjab and hoped ‘as the leader of the biggest province of the country Nawaz Sharif will also treat the non-Punjabi people of the remaining three provinces with equality, justice and honesty’ with a view to promote brotherhood among people. REFERENCE: Altaf greets ‘Punjabi representative party’ on its big win May 12, 2013 - Updated 01 PKT http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-100566-Altaf-greets-Punjabi-representative-party-on-its-big-win GEO TV Altaf Hussain greets ‘Punjabi representative party’ on its big win http://www.geo.tv/article-100566-Altaf-Hussain-greets-Punjabi-representative-party-on-its-big-win GEO TV Urdu پنجابیوں کی نمائندہ جماعت کوکامیابی پرمبارکباد پیش کرتا ہوں،الطاف حسین http://urdu.geo.tv/UrduDetail.aspx?ID=100566
Nawaz Sharif on MQM and MQM on Nawaz Sharif by SalimJanMazari
2009 PML-N rejects MQM criticism -- ISLAMABAD The Pakistan Muslim League-N has rejected the criticism by Muttahida Qaumi Movement`s chief Altaf Hussain against Nawaz Sharif, saying it is an attempt to deflect people`s attention from investigations into the happenings of May 12, 2007, in Karachi. In a rejoinder issued on Monday, PML-N`s Secretary Information Ahsan Iqbal said that the army had launched an unauthorised crackdown against the MQM in 1992, without taking the government into confidence. “General Asif Nawaz gave the go-ahead for the military operation without any political consultation.” Mr Iqbal said the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif had no role in the military operation because he was out of the country. He said Gen Asif Nawaz had not been given mandate to launch the operation. He asked the MQM leadership to explain why it allied itself with the PML-N government in 1997 if it believed that Mr Sharif was responsible for the crackdown. Refering to the re-launching of the operation in 1994, Mr Iqbal urged MQM to ask the then interior minister Naseerullah Babar of the Pakistan People`s Party about it. He said the MQM should tell the nation why it had allied itself with the PPP government if it considered the operation in 1994 was unjustified. He said despite consistently criticising the army in the past, Mr Hussain and his party collaborated with Gen Pervez Musharraf for the sake of power. Commenting on Altaf Hussains request to the Army for destroying the record against MQM, he said why had MQM not done so when his party (the MQM) was a partner in power during the Musharraf regime. Mr Iqbal said the focus of PML-N`s politics was the nation`s demand for Gen (retd) Musharraf`s trial and scrapping the 17th Amendment. He criticised the PPP for deviating from the Charter of Democracy after Ms Bhutto`s assassination and continuing the policies pursued by the Musharraf regime. REFERENCE: PML-N rejects MQM criticism By Iftikhar A. Khan August 25th, 2009 http://archives.dawn.com/archives/36312
MQM vs PML-N - 1 by SalimJanMazari
2007: MQM murdered Hakim Said, claims Nawaz LONDON: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Friday claimed that as the prime minister he knew that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had murdered Hakim Muhammad Said in Karachi on October 17, 1998. Talking to newspersons at the PML-N office here, he also alleged that Federal Minister Babur Ghauri was now secretly playing the role of a "messenger" between President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Altaf Hussain. He also claimed that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz would soon ditch President Musharraf and join the opposition parties.Nawaz alleged that Musharraf and Altaf were busy hatching a conspiracy against Pakistan and their collaboration might harm the country. He said that he had made it clear to the MQM leaders, who were part of the coalition government then, either to surrender those who had murdered Hakim Said or quit the Sindh government. "After the refusal of the MQM to surrender the killers, I preferred to sacrifice the provincial government of Liaqat Jatoi instead of making compromises with those who had killed an honourable man like Hakim Said," he said. Nawaz said the MQM leaders were playing a dangerous game by collaborating with Gen Musharraf. "Being the twice elected prime minister of Pakistan, I have some understanding of politics, and my political intuition tells me that Altaf and Musharraf are working to harm the country's interests," he said. Nawaz said, on May 10, while addressing a press conference, he had warned that if the MQM was not stopped from holding a rally in Karachi on the arrival of the chief justice, many innocent people might be killed. He regretted that his timely warning was not heeded to. Nawaz disclosed that even certain elements had tried to warn Gen Musharraf about the likely bloodshed in Karachi if the MQM was not stopped from holding the rally. But, he claimed that instead of giving a serious thought to that logical advice from the intelligence quarters, Musharraf got furious and told them to leave the room. Nawaz said that these words gave a clear idea that Musharraf and Altaf had planned the massacre in Karachi. Nawaz also backed the movement of Imran Khan against Altaf and said his own hard-hitting stance on the MQM was known to everybody. He said that he was against the MQM since it murdered Hakim Said. REFERENCE: MQM murdered Hakim Said, claims Nawaz BY Rauf Klasra Saturday, June 09, 2007 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=8391&Cat=13&dt=6/9/2007
MQM vs PML-N - 2
MQM vs PML-N - 2 by SalimJanMazari
2009 MQM shifts blame for 1992 operation from military to Nawaz . LAHORE: The much trumpeted 1992 operation clean-up in Sindh had actually been launched against the backdrop of the infamous ‘Major Kaleem kidnapping case’, when a serving Army major was abducted and tortured, allegedly by a group of activists belonging to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (which was then known as the Muhajir Qaumi Movement).
While the MQM leadership has recently blamed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for the 1992 operation and asked him to apologise for the atrocities committed during his tenure, it remains a fact that the MQM high command had held at that time the military leadership responsible for the action, saying it actually wanted to avenge the honour of Major Kaleemuddin.
As a matter of fact, Major Kaleemuddin of the Field Investigation Unit (FIU) of the Army had been tasked to restore peace in the trouble-stricken Landhi area of Karachi. He was abducted on June 20, 1991, along with a few subordinates, while in civvies ñ the night when the MQM-Haqiqi led by Afaq Ahmed made an abortive attempt to take over Landhi offices of the Altaf-led MQM, called Muhajir Khel. This led to a bloody gun battle between the two MQM factions, killing many from both sides.
However, the Haqiqi group was forced to flee after the Altaf group unleashed all its fire power in the gun battle. A few hours after the abortive attempt by the Haqiqi group, Major Kaleemuddin was abducted from the Landhi area by armed activists of the MQM, who allegedly took him to a torture cell and subjected him to ‘mistreatment’. The Major Kaleemuddin kidnapping case is still described by many in the establishment as the bedrock of the subsequent military operations carried out against the MQM under the Sharif and the Bhutto governments. Altaf Hussain and several other MQM leaders and workers were subsequently accused of being involved in the kidnapping episode and named in the FIR registered on June 24, 1991. Altaf left Pakistan in December 1992.
But there are different versions of what exactly happened to Major Kaleemuddin. Some of the MQM leaders had claimed after the incident that the abductors were under the impression that MQM-Haqiqi leaders ñ Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan - had returned to the port city at the behest of the agencies and that the major was present in Landhi to supervise the establishment-sponsored operation against them. During the court trial, many of the accused had claimed that since the major was in plain clothes, he was mistaken by them for a Haqiqi activist and subsequently roughed up. But as soon he had revealed his identity, the major was allowed to go.
However, according to the prosecution, Major Kaleemuddin, along with three other Army officers, was patrolling the Landhi area in an Army jeep when 20 armed youths took them hostage after seizing their weapons. The Army men were taken to a place called Muhajir Khel in Landhi where they were allegedly tortured and kept for seven hours and rescued when the police reached the place. The accused charged with kidnapping the Army officers and torturing them included Altaf Hussain, Saleem Shahzad, Dr Imran Farooq, Safdar Baqri, Nadeem Ayubi, Ayub Shah, Aftab Ahmed, Ismail alias Sitara, Ashraf Zaidi, Sajid Azad, Ashfaq Chief, Javed Kazmi, Haji Jalal Asghar Chacha, Rehan Zaidi and Mohammad Yousuf.
Whatever the truth might be, the then-Army high command’s keen interest in the prosecution of the accused gave an impression as if the traditional martial pride of the Khakis - that nobody gets away with bashing up an Army officer ñ was at work. Gen Asif Nawaz had been the Corps Commander Karachi at that time who got promoted as the Army Chief in August 1991, right before the start of the military operation.
A special court for suppression of terrorist activities (STA), led by Justice Rafiq Awan, began hearing of the Kaleemuddin kidnapping case in March 1993 and delivered judgment on June 9, 1994. The court had convicted Ashfaq Chief, Javed Kazmi and Haji Jalal and sentenced them to 30 years of rigorous imprisonment, besides imposing a fine of Rs 20,000 each under the Pakistan Penal Code, the Hudood Ordinance. All other accused, including Altaf Hussain, were declared absconders and sentenced to 27 years jail and a fine of Rs 30,000 each in absentia.
Almost three years later, following the 1997 general elections and the subsequent decision by Altaf Hussain to join hands with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, all the convicted MQM leaders and activists challenged afresh their conviction and sentences before the Sindh High Court. Their appeal was heard by a division bench, which found the case as one ‘of almost no legal evidence’. Relying on the provisions of the Suppression of Terrorist Activities Act, 1976, the bench upheld on trial in absentia as well as the right of the absentee accused to file an appeal. Dealing with evidence, the bench observed that the eyewitnesses’ account did not inspire confidence and the evidence of the complainant was, in particular, full of contradictions.
The bench, comprising Justice Nizam Hussain Siddiqui and Justice Abdul Hameed, noted that it is difficult to believe, a group of 15 or 20 boys could disarm four trained soldiers. Therefore, all the accused were acquitted and three convicts serving their term were ordered to be released immediately. But it is interesting to point out that after AQ Halepota, one of the counsels for the MQM leaders, concluded his arguments before the court, the then-advocate-general Sindh Shaukat Zuberi submitted that numerous omissions and contradictions had been made during the trial of Major Kaleemuddin’s kidnapping and torture case and that he would not support the convictions of the accused by the STA court. The verdict came hardly a week after the then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif had travelled to London to meet Altaf Hussain.
To recall, the MQM and the PML-N had been coalition partners at that time, before finally falling apart following the assassination of Hakim Mohammad Saeed in Karachi. Major Kaleemuddin had subsequently challenged the acquittal of the MQM leaders and activists by the Sindh High Court. But the petition was dismissed as withdrawn by the apex court on August 13, 2007, mainly due to non-prosecution, as neither the petitioner nor his counsel had turned up. REFERENCE: MQM shifts blame for 1992 operation from military to Nawaz Amir Mir Wednesday, September 02, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=24255&Cat=13&dt=9/2/2009
MQM vs PML-N - 3
MQM vs PML-N - 3 by SalimJanMazari
2007 Text of London APC declaration : On May 12, 2007, at Karachi, an engineered massacre of opposition workers was orchestrated, unarmed political workers were at the mercy of gun-toting Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers while the police and rangers watched. The Sindh High Court was laid siege and judges had to run to save themselves. The district courts were surrounded by MQM activists and lawyers including women were beaten. While the federal and provincial regimes watched 48 innocent people lost their lives and over 200 were injured; yet General Musharraf says there is no need for an inquiry.
13) The APC holds General Musharraf, the Sindh governor and the provincial government, and the MQM responsible for the carnage carried out in Karachi on May 12, 2007, and demands an independent judicial enquiry by a judge of the Supreme Court to ascertain and identify the persons involved.
14) The APC condemns recent acts of terrorism in UK. It further resolves to write a joint memorandum to the UK government for initiating necessary legal proceedings against MQM chief Altaf Hussain for his alleged role in incidents of terrorism in Pakistan.
MQM Leader Altaf Hussain with Mubasher Lucman - 1 (Point Blank Express News 2009)
MQM Leader Altaf Hussain with Mubasher Lucman... by SalimJanMazari
LONDON: All the heads of political parties, which took part in the all parties conference in London, would jointly write a letter to the UK government to take legal action against the MQM chief Altaf Hussain for his alleged involvement in terrorism in Pakistan. The APC also resolved that no party would enter into any political alliance with the MQM in future at Islamabad or in Sindh to form the government. Calling the MQM a terrorist party, they said that the MQM should be “barred” from the political system of the country. The APC participants also condemned all kinds of terrorism on the UK soil and also demanded of the British government to take legal action against its citizen (Altaf) who, they said, was involved in violence and terrorism in Pakistan. Earlier, Imran Khan, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Asfandyar Wali and others leaders made hard-hitting speeches against the MQM. UK action against Altaf demanded by Rauf Klasra Monday, July 09, 2007 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=8912&Cat=13&dt=7/9/2007
MQM Leader Altaf Hussain with Mubasher Lucman - 2 (Point Blank Express News 2009)
MQM Leader Altaf Hussain with Mubasher Lucman... by SalimJanMazari
LONDON: The all parties conference (APC) here on Sunday decided to resist “through all means”, including resignations from the assemblies, the re-election of Gen Pervez Musharraf from the current parliament. However, the Pakistan People’s Party delegation led by Makhdoom Amin Fahim said that their party would decide about the resignations when the time for it approached. The APC, attended by 37 opposition parties, also decided that in future no political party in Pakistan would enter into any political alliance with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to form government, as it was “a terrorist party that believes in violence”. The APC pledged to ensure return of Nawaz Sharif, Benazir Bhutto and other exiled leaders, except Altaf Hussain, to Pakistan and resist any attempt on the part of the regime to prevent or arrest the leaders on their return. It also demanded that Gen Musharraf should resign and pave way for free and fair elections under a neutral government. It also demanded restoration of chief justice of Pakistan. The APC held Gen Pervez Musharraf, Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad, Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim, and the MQM responsible for the killings in Karachi on May 12 and resolved to move the Supreme Court of Pakistan against the massacre. The APC also demanded release of Javed Hashmi, Akhtar Mengal, Afaq Khan, Amir Khan of Mohajir Qaumi Movement and others. Opposition leader in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman announced amid deafening slogans and desk thumping that the MMA would resign from the National Assembly and provincial assemblies of the NWFP and Balochistan to block the re-election of Musharraf from the current parliament. REFERENCE: APC agrees to resist Musharraf’s re-election BY Rauf Klasra
Monday, July 09, 2007 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=8911&Cat=13&dt=7/9/2007
