The Coordination Committee of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP) swapped accusations on each other again on Saturday, with the MQM accusing the ANP of being “more powerful than al Qaeda and the Taliban with over 100 torture cells operating in the city.” On the other hand, the ANP Sindh said the MQM had been involved in the killing of thousand of Pashtuns, Sindhis, Punjabis, Balochi and Seraiki people in Karachi from 2007 to date.
It said the number “murdered by the MQM was high than those killed in the wars of 1971 and 1965 combined”.
The MQM expressed concern over the current situation in the city, saying the ANP was destroying peace in Karachi at the beckoning of their foreign masters and in connivance with notorious terrorists of Lyari, accusing the party of extortion, murder and abduction for ransom.
A joint meeting of the MQM was held in London and Karachi simultaneously to discuss the situation in Karachi during the violent strike called by the ANP on Thursday. The committee deplored the acts of violence, arson, injuring of a large number of people in firing and the of holding of several areas –Mai Kulachi Road, Kati Pahari, Banaras, Metroville, Landhi and Sohrab Goth – hostage at the gunpoint by the ANP.
The meeting said the ANP had established more than a hundred torture cells across Karachi, where political opponents and those who raised voice against its terrorist activities were subjected to inhumane torture. The MQM Coordination Committee said the strike had been called to apparently protest load shedding by the KESC, but the protesters attacked and damaged the Clifton grid station, leading to power outage across a large area.
It said 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. The MQM committee noted with concern that no action was taken against the armed terrorists of the ANP and the entire city was allowed to suffer due of lack of timely action by the law enforcement authority.
It asked the citizens of Karachi to see through the conspiracy and said it had become imperative to form “peace committees” to protect the life and property of the people when state organs failed to do so. The Coordination Committee appealed to the citizens of Karachi to get united for protecting the people in their respective areas by setting prejudices of language, religion, caste, colour and creed. It also appealed to the Sindh chief minister, governor, Karachi corps commander, the Rangers director general, Sindh IGP and other law enforcement authorities to protect the people against the terrorist activities of the ANP.
However, ANP Sindh President Shahi Syed told a press conference at Mardan House that the MQM had failed to “remove the stains of May 12 and April 9 from its face.” He said 294 workers of the ANP had been killed across the city. Syed said the strike call had been peaceful, but the MQM tried to make it violent.
