Murder attempt on Rashid Godil: MQM reacts but with restraint

ISLAMABAD: The reaction of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to the terrible assassination attempt on its senior leader Rashid Godil was a clear departure from its previous responses to the alarming incidents affecting it.
It was balanced and positive that did not dissuade it from the bigger national issue of resignations of the MQM lawmakers from the National and Provincial Assemblies as well as the Senate. The attack on Godil occurred near his residence precisely when the first round of important talks was being held at Nine Zero between the top MQM leaders and Jamiat Ulemae Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) Maulana Fazlur Rehman for withdrawal of resignations.
The changed MQM response came because of the pragmatism forced on it by the pressure it is facing for different reasons. It has the history of abruptly abandoning negotiations quickly after such a high-profile incident.
The MQM did not deem it proper to sacrifice the dialogue process to the assault on Godil. It is all set to take back its resignations if the optimism expressed by Fazlur Rehman is to be believed. However, it will do so only when some of its conditions will be met or at least a commitment will be meet that thy will be taken care of.
The MQM doesn’t appear to be in a commanding position where it can dictate its terms. It may have to live with whatever it can squeeze during its negotiations with the JUI-F chief.
Godil is known for aggressively defending the policies of the MQM and responding to the criticism on it in a belligerent tone. He was one of the main MQM men who had been assigned this job for a long time. Before the recent change, he was the parliamentary leader of the party in the National Assembly. There are innumerable instances when the MQM has been giving calls for shutting down of the Karachi city over the assaults like the one to which Godil was subjected. However, it changed this policy specifically after the March 11 raid on its headquarters by the Sindh Rangers. It is yet to come out of the deep trouble it was pushed in by this single episode.
The Rangers has not only severely condemned the assassination attempt but has resolved to track down the assailants and invited the people at large to give information or clue about the culprits. However, it is not only the responsibility of Rangers but also all the law enforcement agencies, working in Karachi, to trace the accused and bring them to justice.
Whoever sponsored and carried out the attack on Godil, it is clear that he is enemy of peace in Karachi, which is experiencing remarkable calm as far as the heinous crimes are concerned.As stated by Fazlur Rehman he as the representative of the Parliament is holding talks with the MQM to bring it back to the assemblies. Immediately after the MQM handed over resignations to the speakers and chairman, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif decided that the party would be persuaded to change its mind.
Simultaneously, the MQM was also not very forceful and rigid in sticking to its move. It showed flexibility since words go, which encouraged the government to make efforts to prevail upon it to come back. However, the parliamentary parties were going to work hard to convince the MQM into retracting its resignations even if it had not demonstrated a lenient stand.
At the same time NA Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq also took decision not to accept resignations straightaway but hold them to proceed in the light of some judgments of the Islamabad and Sindh high courts.
In April this year, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) ruled that neither can it usurp the powers vested in the Speaker by the Constitution, nor make him go through the rigours of adducing evidence in the court, inevitably expressing its lack of respect for the office of the Speaker and the representative forum of the people of Pakistan ie the National Assembly.
The two-member bench said it has no doubt in mind that the Speaker had the right and duty under the Constitution to satisfy himself as to the genuineness and the validity of the resignation by a member, before it is allowed to take effect.