‘Terrorists now have a licence to kill Muttahida workers’

Karachi
Vehemently condemning the increasingly frequent incidents of target killing in the city, senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Haider Abbas Rizvi on Monday demanded immediate government action against elements behind these targeted hits.
Speaking at a press conference, he said that killing MQM workers had become a routine matter in the city. “It seems that terrorists now have a licence to kill MQM workers; just last night our activist, Imran Rizvi, was shot dead in Malir’s Shadman Town. His murder was not an isolated incident as doctors, engineers and other professionals are being murdered in Karachi on a daily basis,” he said.
Rizvi maintained that terrorists associated with banned militant outfits were involved in these target killings but, unfortunately, no action was being taken against them. “Four elected representatives of the MQM have been killed by militant groups but LEAs have made no headway in the cases,” he claimed.
“The people of Karachi are waiting for a real crackdown on terrorists. The government and army chief must take notice of the city’s deteriorating law and order situation,” said Rizvi, adding that people were now forced to defend themselves as the government had totally failed to protect them.
Alluding to Karachi, Rizvi urged Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif to expand the scope of the ongoing military operation, Zarb-e-Azb, and also demanded that authorities form a judicial commission to investigate the extrajudicial killings of his party’s activists.
He said that despite MQM being a major target for militants right now, it was strange to see that law enforcers were focused on raiding residences and offices of the party and its workers.
Apart from Rizvi, members of the MQM Coordination Committee also condemned what they termed as ‘illegal raids’ on their supporters’ houses. They demanded an immediate stop to these violations of “fundamental and constitutional rights of MQM workers”.