MQM, PSP defend arrested leaders

Karachi :The Muttahida Qaumi Movement described on Tuesday the arrest of its leaders, Waseem Akhtar - the party’s nominated candidate for the slot of Karachi mayor – and Rauf Siddiqui, as an illegal and unconstitutional step.

Similarly, the Pak Sarzameen Party voiced its concerns over the arrest of its leader, Anis Qaimkhani, who too was arrested along with Akhtar and Siddiqui when the bail pleas of the three men in a case involving former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain allegedly facilitating terrorists were rejected by an anti-terrorism court earlier in the day.

MQM coordination committee members Kunwar Naveed Jameel, Amir Khan, and Shahid Pasha while addressing a press conference at the Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall in Azizabad, said their leaders were arrested over the findings of a fake joint interrogation team report.

They said only Mohajir leaders were being targeted in the Karachi crackdown no matter which party they belonged to and the arrest of Akhtar and Siddiqui was part of this campaign.

They maintained that the cancellation of bails by the judge appeared to be the result of some external pressure.

They appealed to the rulers and other stakeholders stop the operation against the Mohajir community.

Amir Khan pointed out that Awais Shah, the Sindh High Court chief justice’s son who was kidnapped in Karachi, was rescued thousands of miles away from the city.

“There were hundreds of check-posts of the law enforcement agencies. How did the kidnappers manage to take him there? Were the law-enforcement agencies involved in the kidnapping?”

He said the federal and provincial governments were totally helpless as far as the Karachi operation was concerned.  He added that MQM activists being forced to quit the party which was condemnable.

Referring to the murder of Aftab Ahmed Khan, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar’s coordinator, Khan said more than two months had passed but the inquiry report of the case had not been made public yet and extrajudicial killings in the city were still under way.

Qaimkhani’s arrest

Pak Sarzameen Party chief Mustafa Kamal said Qaimkhani had never spoken with Dr Asim on the phone.

Addressing a press conference at his office, Kamal said Qaimkhani’s name was included in the Dr Asim case when the former was out of the country.

He said Dr Asim’s statement wherein he had said Qaimkhani had sought his help for the treatment of two young men was totally baseless.

Kamal said since March 3, MQM chief Altaf Hussain was using the Mohajir card falsely claiming that the community was being targeted.

He added that the arrest Akhtar and Siddiqui had given another opportunity to Altaf to make the same false claims.

The PSP chief said Qaimkhani was a son of the soil who had returned to the country for its solidarity and integrity. 

“We believe in the supremacy of the law and judiciary and would comply with the orders of court in full letter and spirit,” he added.