The politics unravelling
The PPP leadership has deprived Zulfiqar Mirza of the basic membership of the party on the ground of “unacceptable violation of the party discipline’’ without controverting the extremely serious charges he had levelled against Altaf Hussain, MQM and Rehman Malik. The ambivalence would be highly damaging in the presence of these charges.
The prime minister has meanwhile said that the dialogue is the only solution to Karachi’s problems. While few would deny the need for dialogue to resolve political disputes, this must not be used to justify the colossal failure to maintain peace in the most crucial city of the country. For more than three years, targeted killings have continued to take place unabated with the casualties mounting every year. Whenever there was hue and cry over the tragic incidents, the interior minister, prime minister and president have rushed to Karachi for holding talks with the MQM. The talks failed to put an end to the killings.
The PPP has decided to go ahead with the power-sharing deal with the MQM despite the charges levelled by Mirza who continues to stand by what he had said at his press conference. A TV channel has displayed the letter avowedly written and signed by Altaf Hussain to Tony Blair in 2001 seeking the British Prime Minister’s support to dismantle the ISI. During the National Assembly session on September 12, the issue of Mirza’s revelations is bound to lead to a heated debate. While the MQM will be required to defend itself, the PPP would be in quandary over how to explain its desire to take the MQM along in the presence of the highly damaging evidence.
Meanwhile, the SC has rejected the report submitted by the Attorney General as it failed to unveil the patron of killers. He was told to submit a fresh one after getting inputs from intelligence agencies. A number of political figures have called upon the apex court to summon Mirza along with the evidence at his disposal regarding the masterminds of the killings. Many think the proposal is worth examining.