The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has accused the Awami National Party (ANP) of being more dangerous than al Qaeda and the Taliban with over 100 torture cells operating in the city. On the other hand, the ANP has blamed the MQM for killing thousands of Pashtuns, Sindhis, Punjabis, Baloch and Saraikis since 2007.
The MQM expressed concern over the current situation in Karachi, saying that the ANP is destroying peace in the city on the orders of the party’s foreign masters and in connivance with notorious terrorists of Lyari. The MQM accused the ANP of extortion, murder and kidnapping for ransom. However, the ANP claimed that the number of Pakistanis murdered by the MQM was higher than those killed in the wars of 1965 and 1971 combined.
A joint meeting of the MQM Coordination Committee was simultaneously held in London and Karachi to discuss the situation of the city with regard to the “violent strike” called by the ANP on Thursday. The MQM condemned the killing of five people, including police and Rangers personnel, under blanket firing by “armed terrorists of the ANP.”
The Coordination Committee deplored the acts of violence, arson, injuring a large number of people in firing and holding several areas – including the Mai Kolachi Road, Kati Pahari, Banaras, Metroville, Landhi and Sohrab Goth – hostage on gunpoint. The members of the meeting said that the ANP had established over 100 torture cells across the city, where political opponents and those who raise voice against “the party’s terrorist activities” are subjected to inhumane torture.
They said that the strike had been apparently called to protest load shedding being carried out by the Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC), but the protesters attacked and damaged the Clifton grid station, leading to a power outage across a large area. The KESC staff called in to rectify the faults was also manhandled by “miscreants of the ANP” and such wanton acts of sabotage and vandalism revealed the party’s real motives, they added.
The MQM noted with concern that no action has been taken against the “armed terrorists of the ANP” and the entire city is suffering due of lack of timely action by the law enforcement agencies. The committee members asked the citizens of Karachi to see through the conspiracy and said that it has become imperative to form peace committees to protect the lives and properties of the people when the state organs fail to do so.
They appealed to the citizens to unite for protecting the people in their respective areas by setting prejudices of language, religion, caste, colour and creed aside. They also appealed to the Sindh chief minister, the Sindh governor, the Karachi corps commander, the Pakistan Rangers-Sindh director general, the Sindh inspector general of police and high-ups of other law enforcement agencies to discharge their duties to protect the people against the “terrorist activities of the ANP.”
The committee also asked the media to unearth “ANP’s conspiracy to destroy peace in Karachi.” On the other hand, addressing a press conference at the Mardan House, ANP-Sindh President Shahi Syed said that over 70 target-killers affiliated with the MQM have been arrested by the law enforcement agencies, adding that the party had failed to “remove the stains of May 12 and April 9 from its face.” Syed said that 294 activists of the ANP have been killed across the city.
He also said that the strike was being observed peacefully, but “the MQM attempted to make it violent.” He accused the MQM of killing ANP activist Syed Ali Shah to unleash violence in the city. He said that 60 percent of the city had been turned into a no-go area by the MQM and even the personnel of the law enforcement agencies dare not enter those areas. He added that the ANP has always cooperated with the law enforcement agencies to maintain law and order in the city.
