Action against MQM must be stopped, demands Farooq Sattar in NA

ISLAMABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MNA Farooq Sattar on Friday, along with other MQM members expressed their fury against the government in the National Assembly and demanded that the current action being taken against the MQM must be immediately stopped.

At the very outset of the proceedings of the House, the members of MQM stood up from their seats and demanded permission to speak regarding the video statement of Saulat Mirza.

Speaker NA Ayaz Sadiq permitted Farooq Sattar to speak on a Point of Order.

The MQM MNAs chanted slogans in favour of MQM chief Altaf Hussain and demanded permission to speak further.

However Minister of State and Frontier Regions (Safron) Lt General (r) Abdul Qadir Baloch, State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed and other treasury members persuaded MQM members to calm down.

Sheikh Aftab Ahmed moved the motion for suspension of question hour and other business of the House to enable Farooq Sattar to make a speech.

Sattar said that his party was being unfairly cornered and that the government currently had an inappropriate attitude towards MQM.

He went on to say that everyone had a Mirza adding that, if MQM had a Saulat Mirza then Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) had a Zulfiqar Mirza.

He also questioned how Saulat was able to record the video from his death cell.

Sattar said his party was ready to cooperate with the government for purging the criminal elements from its ranks if any.

He asked the law enforcement agencies to share the list of criminal elements of MQM with the party to enable it to sift criminals from its ranks.

He went on to say that daily over 3 000 people visit the party’s head office 90 and that the party does not have a proper mechanism to scan the criminals.

He further said that MQM respects the institutions including Pakistan Army, Sindh Rangers and Sindh Police adding that MQM would continue its cooperation with the state institutions.

Sattar added that there would be no resistance from the ranks of MQM and that murderers if present in the ranks should be apprehended.

The MQM MNA said the party has a role in achieving lasting peace in Karachi.

He went on to say that a Truth and Reconciliation Commission should be constituted to enable each political party to admit mistakes of the past.

He further said a vacuum was being created in Karachi inadvertently by side lining a peace loving party, adding that MQM has a role in the restoration and strengthening of democracy.