PTI enters MQM’s redoubt again with Altaf’s ‘permission’

Karachi
A day after Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) supporters clashed in the former’s stronghold, Azizabad, MQM chief Altaf Hussain on Wednesday offered PTI to hold a rally in the Jinnah Ground, provided the sanctity of the ‘Martyrs Memorial’ was maintained.
Following Hussain’s statement, the PTI set up its election office at Meena Bazar, Karimabad located at some distance from Azizabad, without any confrontation with MQM supporters. A rally led by the party’s candidate for NA-246 by-polls, Imran Ismail, along with other leaders including MNA Arif Alvi and Khurram Sher Zaman reached the office to further the election campaign.
Senior leaders of the PTI including Ismail had visited Azizabad on Tuesday to look over the preparations for the election rally, scheduled to be held on April 19 at the Jinnah Ground, when a crowd baton charged their vehicles accusing the delegation of disrespecting a monument built in memory of MQM’s slain workers.
According to sources the PTI had faced resistance at the hands of the area shopkeepers against setting up an election office; chanted slogans in protest to what they believed was an attempt by PTI to grab the stronghold of MQM at the establishment’s behest.
Expressing disappointment over the incident, MQM chief Altaf Hussain reiterated the party’s stance maintaining that the MQM believed in democracy and wished for free, fair and peaceful elections for all parties.
Hussain in his statement added that verbal confrontation, criticism and divided support between two parties was a part and parcel of democracy, however, he appealed to political parties to refrain from portraying it as a war.
He said the MQM would provide assistance to PTI if it plans to hold the rally elsewhere but would need time to make proper arrangements for the protection of the monument; requesting PTI to ensure its sanctity.
Instructing officials and workers of the party to act as hosts, Hussain asked them to demonstrate the same patience and restraint they exercised on Tuesday and refrain from a confrontation at all cost.
He also requested Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad to hold an urgent meeting between both the parties to devise a code of conduct for the election and constitute a committee comprising three members of the election commission responsible to report any violation to the ECP, copies which should also be with them.