Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain on Monday demanded Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani resign from his office for failing to stop the killings of Mohajirs in Karachi, as talks between the two estranged allies broke down again after the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) refused to accept all but one demand of the MQM.
Altaf said that he had repeatedly informed Gilani about the terrorists creating unrest, but the prime minister had failed to take appropriate action to ensure the state’s writ in the troubled city. Following Altaf’s call for the PM’s resignation, President Asif Ali Zardari called an emergency party meeting to discuss the latest development.
Sources told Pakistan Today that all was set for a PPP-MQM reunion during the prime minister’s meeting with MQM leaders at the Sindh Chief Minister’s House but the communion failed to materialise at the very last moment when the PPP refused to release three “hardcore MQM workers” who were arrested for their alleged involvement in the killing of five police commandos in Korangi’s Chakra Goth area late on Saturday.
A group of at least 20 armed men had attacked a private bus taking Sindh Elite Force commandos from Quaidabad to Chakra Goth for participation in a targeted action against criminals in the area.
Five policemen had been killed and several others injured in the attack. Soon after the PPP’s refusal, the MQM arranged a hasty press conference and gave a call for a “day of mourning” for today (Tuesday).
Sources privy to the developments told Pakistan Today that the PPP leadership had accepted almost all of MQM demands and had even assured the former ally of allotting it key ministries in the recently-formed PPP-led government in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). However, the news of the arrest of MQM-backed workers from the scene of the Chakra killings broke down the PPP-MQM negotiations.
Security officials had arrested MQM workers Kamran alias Madhuri, Sohail Commando, Abu Bashar Bengali, Atif, Abdul Hakeem, Mohsin and Subhan and recovered weapons from their custody, the sources said, adding that the arrested criminals had confessed to a joint investigation team about their involvement in heinous crimes, including targeted killings and arson attacks. The JIT consisted of senior officials of the Sindh Police, Special Branch, Intelligence Bureau (IB), Military Intelligence (MI) and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), they said.
Release must: Sources said that after the arrest of the MQM workers – mainly Kamran Madhuri, Sohail Commando and Abu Bashar Bengali who were arrested from the crime scene in an injured condition – the party had made it clear that it would not rejoin the government until the three men were released. Abu Bashar Bengali has now become the bone of contention between the estranged allies, as only he was nominated in the Chakra Goth incident and presented before the anti-terrorism court administrative judge. The other two, Kamran Madhuri and Sohail Commando, remain in police custody but have not been named in any case.
According to sources, the PPP had excused from releasing the MQM workers because they had confessed to their crimes before the joint investigation team.
Altaf asks PM to resign as PPP-MQM talks collapse
