MQM protests in parliament against ‘extra judicial killings’

ISLAMABAD: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement protested in the National Assembly and Senate on Monday against the alleged extrajudicial killings and persecution of its workers and Urdu-speaking people by Rangers during the ongoing operation in Karachi.

The MQM members staged a token walkout from the National Assembly when the speaker did not allow them to move an adjournment motion on the Karachi situation, terming it a provincial subject.

On the other hand, Senate witnessed some emotional scenes when two women lawmakers of MQM burst into tears during their speeches while speaking on the recovery of the body of party activist Hashim, who had allegedly been arrested by Rangers two months ago.

MQM’s Senator Nighat Mirza had to take her seat without uttering a word when she could not control her emotions and started weeping.

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Interior minister rejects Muttahida’s claim

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The MQM MNAs wearing black armbands walked out of the house when PPP and PTI members were already out of the house in protest against the speaker’s ruling that he would not allow a debate on the Kasur children abuse case.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan rejected the MQM’s claim that the party was being victimised and asked the Muttahida members to give some advice to their party chief Altaf Hussain who, according to him, was the root cause of the problem.

The minister said the MQM leaders in Pakistan were powerless and were unable even to control the damage caused by remarks of the MQM chief against the Rangers and army. He rejected figures presented by the MQM about the arrested and missing party workers.

Claiming improvement in the law and order situation in Karachi, Chaudhry Nisar said that he had directed Rangers not to arrest any parliamentarian without his permission. He said that Rangers had also been directed to take notice of complaints about the missing people since it was not the government’s policy.

MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar later said that members of his party were talking about a real issue. “Where are our 150 workers?” he asked the minister.

In the adjacent Senate, the issue was raised by MQM’s Nasreen Jalil, who is also the head of the house committee on human rights. She alleged that 41 workers of the party had so far been killed extra-judicially during the Karachi operation. She claimed that some 150 MQM workers had been missing for the past three months.

The MQM senator said Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar had told them that he had been facing “resistance” on the issue of the formation of a monitoring committee to oversee the Rangers’ actions in Karachi.

Ms Jalil alleged that the body of party activist Hashim, who had been arrested by Rangers on May 6, had been found in Jamshoro. She claimed that Hashim was a photographer and his only crime was that he had put on the social media photographs of the Rangers’ raid on the MQM’s headquarters Nine Zero.

“Be cruel to the extent, you yourself can bear,” a sobbing Ms Jalil said, while narrating how MQM workers were allegedly being tortured and victimised.

MQM Senator Tanvirul Haq Thanvi said that they had great respect for the armed forces of Pakistan, but it should not be “prejudiced” against any community. He said the MQM chief Altaf Hussain had raised voice against the action of law-enforcement personnel in plainclothes.

The MQM senators urged Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani either to form a special committee or refer the issue of the “extrajudicial killings of the MQM workers” to the committee on human rights.

But Mr Rabbani termed the issue a provincial subject and said he would inform the house about his decision or a ruling on the matter after taking it up with the interior minister.

Mr Rabbani was confronted by none other than his party colleague Farhatullah Babar who also urged the chairman to respond to the requests made by the MQM. He said it was true that there had been considerable decrease in incidents of target killings and extortions after the launching of the operation in Karachi, but it was also a fact that there had been a rise in cases of “killing and dumping and enforced disappearances”.

He said that all institutions were respectable but those people in the same institutions who did not abide by the laws were not respectable at all.

Sassi Palejo of the PPP criticised the MQM for putting the blame of extrajudicial killings on the Sindh government. She said the body of Raja Dahir, the son of eminent Sindhi writer Ata Muhammad Bhambro, who had been kidnapped a few months back had been recovered recently from Kotri. She said the PPP condemned such incidents against Sindhis, Baloch nationalists or against any community.

Published in Dawn, August 11th, 2015

Category: Killing out of police custody