Adil Najam
Pictures on the television show Karachi burning. The city is at war. Morchas everywhere. Clashes, violence, firing, deaths.
The Chief Justice is holed up at the airport and the streets are ruled by mobs. Aaj TV is being fired at and Talat Hussain reports that the police and rangers are unable to get their to help because the roads are blocked (to stop the Chief Justice). Of course, these road blocks have not stopped the killers who are firing at the TV station. As of now 15 are reported dead. Over 100 seriously injured. Hospitals in Karachi have declared an emergency. The Prime Minister has called an emergency meeting of his own to respond to what the government is calling a ’security situation’ but which sounds, smells, looks and feels like the beginning of a war on the streets of Karachi. Flights in and out of the city are stalled. Train traffic is stopped. The city seems to have descended back to its darkest days of street violence.
Meanwhile, the petty blame game continues. But things are changing too fast for one to analyze them. But one thing is certain. Things have gone out of control. Totally out of control. Totally out of everyone’s control. It is a sad sad day for all of us.
I wish I had something more profound to say. All I can hink of right now is what someone wrote on our comments section recently: Khuda Khair Karray!
(Picture credits BBC and The News and pictorial story at Bilal Zuberi’s blog; great blog coverage at Karachi Metroblog).
Canada has officially declared MQM as a terrorist party.
Imran Khan is already making headways in bringing this mad man to justice and now Asma Jahangir’s official statement from HRCP platform will explode this on international arena..
You can hide but not forever..sooner or later the law will get you for your misdeeds!! Looks like that both the persons (Mush & Altaf Bhai) responsible for May 12th mayhem in Karachi are finally trapped in their own web of deceit…
I have seen only one sided picture all pointing to MQM, but I failed to understand who was on the other side of exchange of bullets. What was their objective with fully armed? For sure they did not come fully armed with any good intentions. They also knew very well what they were going to do. On the other hand if Mr Iftekhar Chowdry was concerned about the ordinary people, why did not he backed off. He is not stupid to not to understand the situation was extremely tense and the outcome, but he was adamant to show his strength. One should blame MQM and the Militants of ANP who chose the Newtown mosque’s militants dominanted by people from NWFP. It is surpising that Native Sindhi, Kachhi and Baloch did not paly any role. It was between MQM and people from NWFP, switching between ANP and Extremists of Madarasa
Banuri Mosque and other outsider.
Another strange fact is that, most of Mosques contolled by Wahabis are managed by Mullahs from NWFP and Punjab and so are the pupils.
Role of MQM is not hidden, but what is the agenda of other people to use SIND and Karachi.
Mirza; you summarized ..
“Putting blame of every thing on MQM is not fare, believe me, not fare.”
We promise to be “Fair” next time!
I am totally agreed with “”HAQ PARAST”" and “”NASIR”".
Karachi is a part of Pakistan and the opinion of people by vote must be accepted and regarded rather than to repeat the same foolish story of getting vote on gun point. Niether gans are made in Karachi nor people of Karachi are involve in smuggling of these items. The people who are involve in these activities are belongs to the same chips of blocks consist of traffic, relegious, narcotics, drug and kachi abadi mafafia.
Putting blame of every thing on MQM is not fare, believe me, not fare. Just OWN THE KARACHI and things will be seen easier and smooth.
Again intrigue by Panjab,Chowdries are playing game like Kulsoom Nawaz Sharif was playing against Musharraf.
Q-league trying to keep away PPP/Musharraf deal.
MQM targeted to directly target Musharraf.
MQM and Altaf are nobles than many leaders and never have done things which opponent are being fabricated. After 1992 operation, MQM boycotted the election and people did not come out and JA won the election by very minor votes. Then when MQM took part in election, the guns were in hand of Army, not in hands of MQM, even then people voted for MQM. So stop alleged propaganda against MQM.
Since 1986, world is being watched the voting opinion of this region, every body is not a fool. Can it be possible that every time since 1986, MQM getting votes on gun points???
Its not a matter of what MQM is doing and what others are doing, it’s a matter of accepting vote bank of some parts of Pakistan and not acknowledging vote bank of other parts of the country.
Imran has said nothing but the truth regarding MQM. MQM Mafia responds by alleging that Imran fornicated in his youth. Well, let’s suppose that is true, is a man you committed zina in the folly of his youth and is now repentant the moral equivalent of murderous gangsters who have terrorised a city for two whole decades?
Didn’t Altaf sound like hysterical Mulla in Muharram?
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article= 97029&d=4&m=6&y=2007
Altaf Is a Mafia Don, Says Ahsan Rashid
By Siraj Wahab
sirajwahab@arabnews.com
Published in Arab News on June 4, 2007.
JEDDAH, 4 June 2007 � A key political aide to cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has described the current situation in Pakistan as a defining moment in the country’s checkered history. Ahsan Rashid, who heads Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf party in the politically crucial state of Punjab, said people were fed up with the army’s repeated interventions in civilian affairs.
Talking to Arab News yesterday during a short visit to the Kingdom, Rashid said people were clamoring for change and an end to army rule. “The people of Pakistan have given their verdict. They have decided that they want the rule of law and not the rule of the army,� said Rashid, who left Saudi Arabia last July to join active politics in Pakistan. While in the Kingdom, he was president of Al-Hamrani Fuchs Petroleum Saudi Arabia Ltd.
The people’s verdict that Rashid was referring to was the massive show of support for Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry who was suspended two months ago by Gen. Pervez Musharraf on what the legal community describes as flimsy charges.
“The struggle for the reinstatement of the chief justice is the biggest people’s movement since the creation of Pakistan,� said Rashid. “Having given their verdict in favor of the rule of law, the people of Pakistan are optimistic that they will succeed in the coming months,� he said, crediting the movement’s success to the courage of the lawyers and the media.
Rashid said the only way to get the country out of the current mess was to reinstate the chief justice. “That is No. 1. No. 2: Gen. Musharraf should find a safe exit. No. 3: The chairman of the Senate should take over as the interim president. No. 4: There should be an interim government of impartial persons. No. 5: In consultation with the opposition, a very strong and independent election commissioner should be appointed to hold free and fair elections.�
The Tehreek leader said the role of the army must be eliminated from civilian affairs and reiterated that it has no business in politics. Gen. Musharraf, he said, has damaged the prestige of the armed forces. “He has brought the institution into disrepute. The army is not as professional as it once was. It is bogged down in developing land. It is into the business of real estate. This is not the job of the army.�
Rashid admitted that there was an element of fear in Pakistan today. “Our intelligence agencies and this Muttaheda Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Karachi, which is allied with the ruling regime, believe in third-degree methods to bring politicians into line. Everyone saw what happened on May 12 in Karachi. MQM goons were let loose on opposition party members who were going to Karachi airport to receive the suspended chief justice.�
Rashid alleged that the violence against the regime’s political opponents had the blessings of Gen. Musharraf. “Gen. Musharraf played the MQM card to browbeat the opposition. Thanks to the media, the private television channels, especially Aaj TV, people saw what happened. Everyone in Pakistan knows who the culprit was. It was clearly the MQM.� In the violence in Karachi on May 12, MQM goons were seen killing their opponents on live television. Forty were killed, including 12 activists belonging to Imran Khan’s party.
Rashid heaped fulsome praise on his party chief for taking the fight into the MQM camp. “Imran Khan is riding a wave of popularity with his no-nonsense plain talk against these criminals whose boss is based in London,� he said. (Imran Khan arrived in London on Saturday to launch legal proceedings in British courts against MQM chief Altaf Hussain.)
“I am glad there is somebody in the country to speak the truth,� said Rashid. “Imran Khan has been a very upright man. He has always spoken the truth even if it was not in his interest. He is the first politician to stand up to the atrocities of the MQM.�
Rashid echoed what Imran Khan said about MQM. “It is a fascist party. The MQM has been holding Karachi hostage for the last 20 years. They have been extorting money from people; they have been eliminating people who do not agree with them, and basically it is more like the Nazi party in Germany when Hitler was winning elections at gunpoint.�
Likening the MQM chief to a mafia don, Rashid said: “Here is a man who ran away from the army and who sought political refuge in the UK. Now he is Gen. Musharraf’s partner. He refuses to come back to Pakistan. That is not understandable.�
Rashid said that as with the mafia, once you join MQM, you cannot leave. “Where is he getting the money to live in London? What income does he have? What factories is he running in Pakistan and in the UK? It is all extortion money being supplied to him from Karachi by his army of goons.�
The Lahore-based politician said he did not regret leaving the cushy job in Jeddah for the rough and tumble of Pakistani politics. “Not for a moment do I regret the job I am doing now. It is very challenging. I have never worked harder in my life than I am now. I find it rewarding in the sense that I am making a very positive contribution which hopefully will one day lead to a change in Pakistan.�
and now the media is going to suffer the consequences of all happenings in Karachi and Pakistan,,,,God bless us all !