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Thursday May 02, 2024

Altaf wants UN or Scotland Yard to probe

Baldia Town tragedy

By our correspondents
February 09, 2015
HYDERABAD: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief, Altaf Hussain, has raised the question of why the JIT report on Ziaul Haq’s plane crash and the incident of Ojhri Camp had never surfaced.
He demanded that an investigation into the Baldia Town factory fire be conducted by Scotland Yard or the United Nations. He added that the Legal Aid Committee should file a case against the Joint Investigation Team (JIT).
He said this while addressing a ceremony to celebrate the establishment of Altaf Hussain University here on Sunday.He stated that in North Waziristan, the armed forces were fighting against terrorists, the Taliban, Daish and al-Qaeda, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, Rangers and police were safeguarding the citizens by rendering sacrifices. He regretted that unfortunately there were some black sheep in the institutions. He said that these black sheep gave the criminals involved in heinous crimes an opportunity to escape and even the immigration staff did not take them into account.
He stated that the dream of the establishment of a university in Hyderabad was about to be realised, but when the day of the inauguration of the varsity came, bodies of political workers were thrown on the roads.
Afterwards, the Shikarpur tragedy took place, and now the JIT report of criminals involved in the Baldia Town incident showed when they were arrested, who released them and when they were again arrested. He queried why the statements of the factory owners were not mentioned in the report.
He further said that there were some black sheep who did not reveal the JIT on incidents with regard to Quaid-e-Azam, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed, the tragedy of Aligarh-Qasba Colony, the martyrs of September 30, the murder of innocent women in Pucca Qila, and other such incidents.
He said that the Baldia Town incident must be condemned in the strongest terms. He prayed whoever was involved in the incident should be punished not only in this world but also in the hereafter.
He stated that if any of the workers of MQM were involved in the incident, then instead of a single minute, he should be hanged for three minutes.He said that these were the activities which had destroyed half of the country. If the situation continues to prevail, the rest of the country will be at stake.
He said that not hundreds but thousands of people were members of the party and if someone murdered anyone, it would be his individual act and blaming the whole party for his act was unconstitutional, immoral and un-Islamic.
He said if this impression was given intentionally, he had instructed the party lawyers to file a writ against it. He said that Benazir Bhutto murder could not be solved yet. He said that the Ojhri Camp tragedy report was not brought forward and the same was the situation of the C-130 incident in which General Ziaul Haq, along with senior generals, was killed. He said that Imran Khan, while standing atop a container, claimed that the women present were his sisters while all ills were happening at the sit-in, and all these things were beyond his understanding.
He said that Altaf Hussain is a humble person and he should be persecuted and this was done, no one would face the consequences. He said that the MQM was the party of Altaf Hussain and the party could have its head cut but it could not bow down.
He called upon the law enforcement and intelligence agencies to allow them to stage a sit-in for 365 days or 1,000 days. He alleged that terrorists were found from the houses of the Jamaat-e-Islami leaders.
He said that it was the fault of Altaf Hussain that he gave a big hospital to Hyderabad, ambulance service, a university on 80 acres of land, a medical college and did a number of welfare projects.
He said that he had requested the army chief to conduct an inquiry into the Baldia Town incident through an international agency and if any MQM worker was found involved in it, he must be kept hanging for 40 days.
He called upon the journalists not to blame the party for the act of an individual and not to involve the party in such incidents. He said if they reported incidences on the basis of allegations and bogus proof, they would be responsible for their own doings.
He said that on May 12, ANP’s Asfandyar Wali was tasked to unleash street firing as soon as the processions were taken out in the morning while in the meeting of JI’s Muhammad Hussain Mehnti, workers of Haqiqi were also invited. It was said that a hundred lawyers were burnt. He said not to say about burning the lawyers, not a single lawyer was even slapped. He said that he had been advising his workers to exercise patience till now and would have been doing so. He said that General Raheel Sharif should not trust the Jamaat-e-Islami and Tehreek-e-Insaf because they were the supporters of al-Qaeda and anti-state elements. He said the proof was that both the parties had not issued any statement against the anti-state elements and al-Qaeda.
Altaf Hussain urged his workers to pay attention on get education, respect teachers and devote themselves to studies whatever time they get. He said that it was better to face failure instead of getting passed through unfair means. He said that they should also concentrate on religion.
Our correspondent adds from Karachi: The MQM Coordination Committee on Sunday condemned what it called an attempt to involve the MQM in the Baldia Town tragedy and conduct its media trial on the basis of a baseless statement of an allegedly detained criminal.
Talking to the media at the Khursheed Begum Secretariat here, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Haider Abbas Rizvi and Dr Farooq Sattar said the JIT report was nothing but a pile of junk and the MQM would challenge it.
They said some elements in the Establishment were involved in spreading false allegations against their party.Haider Abbas Rizvi said the MQM was once again targeted and some malicious elements tried to tie it to the Baldia tragedy in order to isolate it from the national scenario.
He said the people knew the history of such biased JITs and the MQM’s acquittals in cases filed on baseless allegations.He said the malicious designers of the Establishment blamed the MQM discriminately within 17 minutes and unfortunately it needed them 17 years to remove the allegation of Jinnahpur. He said thousands of MQM workers had to sacrifice and live miserable lives because of that allegation.
Rizvi said the JIT report on Baldia Town incident had already been presented to the court in which there was no evidence of extortion or terrorism in the incident.
He said some parties were connected with Al-Qaeda and Taliban and were blaming the MQM for no fault of it.
Dr Farooq Sattar said the JIT had no legal worth and the MQM lawyers would soon go to the court against it.
He said it was just an allegation on the basis of a statement of an allegedly detained criminal, who stated that he had heard the story.He said the dumped JIT was used against the MQM to create an issue and carry out a media trial of the party.
He said they were pleased that the JIT was treated on merit in the media and some unfolded questions were raised against it. He demanded a judicial commission to probe the entire issue independently and also question the people involved in the submission of a fake JIT report to the court with the intention to defaming the MQM.
Meanwhile, addressing a press conference here, MQM leader Amir Khan said their party worker Muhammad Rafique Rajput had been arrested to dent the image of the MQM in the public eyes. He said innocent MQM workers were being arrested on the basis of baseless allegations and urged the quarters concerned to stop this game of accusations. He said the May 12 tragedy was in fact an attempt to clip the wings of the MQM.