Govt against political victimisation, Qaim assures Muttahida

Karachi

Promised a meeting with the provincial chief minister, a day earlier, a delegation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) met with Syed Qaim Ali Shah on Monday to discuss the alleged political victimisation of its workers by law enforcement agencies.

The delegation was headed MQM MPAs Syed Sardar Ahmed and Khwaja Izharul Hasan – also the leader opposition in Sindh Assembly; other members included Mohammad Hussain, Ameenul Haq, Waseem Qureshi, Jamal Ahmed and Ali Raza Abidi.

The CM was accompanied by senior education minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, senior finance minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, special assistant to the CM to Rashid Rabbani and Waqar Mehdi.

The MQM officials maintained the LEAs were arresting party workers and not disclosing their whereabouts while their families ran from pillar to post have them located. They further claimed that the party’s senior officials were also being harassed. Qaim assured redressing the party’s grievances in accordance with the law.

"We are all political workers and respect workers of other political parties," he said, adding, that he would never permit anybody to harass jail inmates.

He further claimed that the LEAs had managed to restore semblance of order in the city and in doing so had given a lot of sacrifices.

The meeting was arranged by Khuhro following a two-day sit in staged by the MQM, outside the local press club, this past weekend. The party on the second day of the protest announced to march towards the CM House, however, the protestors were stopped from entering the ‘red zone’ at the PIDC intersection.

The sit-in was called off after the senior education minister assured MQM of arranging a meeting with Qaim.