Govt doesn’t believe in confrontation, says Nawaz

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said that the Karachi operation against the criminal elements will continue as the PML-N government did not believe in confrontation with anyone.
He expressed these views while talking to a Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) delegation which called on him at the PM House on Friday.He vowed that Karachi would be made a crime-free city at all costs and there was no question of any let-up in the ongoing operation to eliminate the terrorists, criminals, target-killers, extortionists and other anti-social elements in that city.
He made it clear to the MQM delegation that the operation was initiated with the consent of all the political parties including the MQM and it wouldn’t be used for arm-twisting of the MQM or any other political party. “I was dismayed to learn about nabbing of notorious criminals and recovery of heaps of illegal weapons from Nine-Zero. The MQM should throw away such people from its rank and file as they were bringing notoriety to the party and its politics,” the prime minister said.
The delegation comprised MNAs Dr Farooq Sattar, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Abdul Rashid Godail while federal ministers Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Khawaja Saad Rafique and Political Secretary to the PM Dr Asif Saeed Kirmani attended the meeting.
The sources privy to the meeting told ‘The News’ that the MQM delegation presented its contention on political grounds but the prime minister was reluctant to buy its theory. He made it clear to the MQM leaders that the operation had no political motives whatsoever and the policy of confrontation of 80s and 90s had been consigned to the dustbin of the history by him as he had also faced enormous ordeals on account of it, including the worst sort of confinement in prison.
“We have learnt a lot out of it and the government isn’t pushing any political party to the wall but the operation will achieve its ultimate objectives since Karachi’s peace and normalcy is intermingled with the well-being of Pakistan.
“There shall be no compromise on it,” the prime minister said. The sources said that the MQM delegation pleaded innocence and claimed that the criminals weren’t arrested from Nine-Zero but from its vicinity. The weapons recovered were licenced. The purpose of the operation was to marginalise the MQM and induct the PTI in Karachi politics. The MQM delegation requested the prime minister to assert and get the MQM off the hook. The prime minister repeatedly said that the operation wouldn’t deviate from the aims determined for it and law-enforcing agencies were fully aware of its parameters.
The prime minister said that he would look into the grievances of the MQM but he constantly asked the delegation that political parties must get rid the criminals at the earliest who had penetrated in their ranks and were source of embarrassment for them.
It is understood that the MQM delegation couldn’t get what it desired from the prime minister. The reference of the PTI also couldn’t work as Nawaz Sharif simply ignored it. The MQM leaders also quoted their leader Altaf Hussain as saying that MQM had ‘zero-tolerance’ for the criminals in the party.
It has been officially stated in 222-words release of the PM House issued after the meeting that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that the people of Karachi had already suffered a lot and it was moral obligation of all the political parties to make sincere efforts to restore peace and stability in the metropolitan city. He said that operation in Karachi was started with the consensus of all the political parties and would continue till the elimination of all the criminal elements in the city. He said the operation was not against any particular party or group and the law enforcement agencies had been directed to target terrorists and criminals across the board to rid the people of this menace.
The prime minister said PML-N did not believe in the policy of confrontation. “We have struggled for the restoration of democracy and for upholding the rule of law having learnt a lot from the past. We have faced extremely difficult times but did not compromise on our principles,” he said.
The sources said that the question of change of Sindh governor didn’t figure in the discussions. The MQM delegation did agitate the issue of video message recoding of Saulat Mirza while he was in condemned cell of the prison.
The MQM delegation enumerated the history of actions against the MQM and sought Nawaz Sharif’s help for redeeming it from the present turmoil. The prime minister repeatedly impressed upon the MQM leaders to cleanse their party of the rogue elements. He assured them that the impression had got nothing to do with the fact that it was set out to target any political entity but it was against terrorism and criminal activities alone. The prime minister made it clear that the operation would continue till attainment of its logic conclusion.