MQM-P concerned at evacuation orders for residents of Martin, Clayton Qurarters

Criticising a court order for the evacuation of government residential units in some of Karachi’s neighbourhoods, Muttahida Qaumi Movement- Pakistan convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has asked why this is being done just in the time of elections.

“So swiftly it is being done only in Karachi,” he told a news conference at the MQM-P office on Wednesday. “How will people be able to vote when they are displaced from their homes? Why is it necessary to do it before the polls?”

He said the residents of Karachi had already had enough of it after their population was shown half than the actual in the controversial census 2017 and when delimitations were done. “Due to these injustices, the representation of urban populace has reduced to a mere 25 per cent in the assemblies,” he said, adding that now in the general election 2018 the people who had been living in these residences since the creation of Pakistan were being rendered homeless.

The SC had ordered on June 9 that the illegal residents of Martin Quarters, Pakistan Quarters, Clayton Quarters and Jahangir Road be evacuated. According to federal house and works ministry, more than 50 percent of these residences were unlawfully occupied.

Only July 17, the Sindh High Court dismissed petitions of retired federal government employees and their legal heirs seeking the retention of federal government accommodations situated in Jehangir Road and Clayton Road areas.

Mohammad Tariq Qasmi and other petitioners, who are retired government employees or legal heirs of retirees, had contended that although they had retired from service, they were entitled to retaining the residential accommodations.

On Monday, MQM-P leader Farooq Sattar had also announced support for the affected residents, demanding ownership rights for them. He said that PPP founder Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had pledged to get them this right in 1972 but nothing had happened even a year after he had become the prime minister.

‘Not a level playing field’

Siddiqui said that the MQM-P was not being given a level playing field in the election process as he claimed that his party workers were being arrested on false charges and candidates were being barred from running their campaigns independently.

“The MQM is the only political party in history whose all offices are sealed,” he said. “[Due to this] we are running our campaign from rented election offices.” He said that some political parties were given a free hand and they were creating problems for the MQM-P.

He asked the caretaker government if they had decided not to let the Mohajirs vote. He said that party workers were being targeted in a way as if they were some enemy agents. He remarked that these arrests would not be good in any way for the country’s integrity.

Reclaiming mandate

The MQM-P convener hoped that his party would win the mandate of urban populace again, despite his complaints of hindrances in campaigning.

He commented that rigging had crossed all limits in the city, yet the voters would put their stamps on the kite – the electoral symbol of the party.

He said that his party had sought permission to hold a public gathering ahead of the polls in Liaquatabad or at Bagh-e-Jinnah, but to no avail. He lamented that everyone but the MQM-P was allowed to hold events anywhere they wanted.