Why was JSQM chairman arrested…

After the Sarfaraz Shah extrajudicial murder case, the role of Rangers for maintaining peace in the city has again come under a question mark as the chairman of a nationalist party – Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz (JSQM) – was first manhandled and then arrested for allegedly possessing illegal weapons.
The provincial government had given special powers to Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) for arresting criminal elements involved in targeted killings and other terrorist activities in the city. Qureshi was leaving for Thatta on Thursday morning and stopped at the residence of DSP Ghulam Subhani. A patrolling Rangers van arrived at the spot and started thrashing the JSQM leader with clubs on the road.
They also seized the weapons being carried by his personal guards. According to the JSQM general secretary, not a single case of terrorism or targeted killings was discussed in the Supreme Court’s suo motu hearing on violence, during which names of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Awami National Party (ANP) and People’s Amn Committee were often repeated for involvement in killing of innocent people.
Meanwhile, it is true that JSQM’s ideology includes separation of Sindh as a country and it does not believe in federal or parliamentary politics, the party claims that it is striving for their goal through peaceful means as per the teachings of their founder GM Syed, and does not believe in politics of violence.
About a month ago, his party workers had a problem with Punjabi settlers in Khairpur district but Qureshi himself went to the affected area and advised his party activists not to create any problems for Punjabi settlers as they were a part of Sindh before the partition, the observers said.
The JSQM chief also enjoys good relations with the MQM and reportedly has a soft corner for Urdu-speaking people. Independent observers say that JSQM did not create any problems for the MQM when it started working in different districts of Sindh. Qureshi was also widely criticised for helping the MQM to spread throughout the province and considering Urdu-speaking people a part of Sindh. The nationalist party’s relations with Pakhtuns in Sindh are also friendly due to the friendship of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan and GM Syed.
JSQM is neither working against the ANP nor is it opposing the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) or the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). The JSQM chairman lives along the main road in Gulshan-e-Hadeed and is not involved in targeted killings or has his political activities hidden. After surviving an armed attack in Karachi in which a party worker lost his life, Qureshi was allowed by the government by issuing special permits to keep automatic weapons with him.
Then why he was arrested and beaten up by paramilitary soldiers on a road despite showing the weapons’ licences and permits to them? The question is being widely asked in the province as to why the Rangers are provoking a party, which is not part of any conspiracy to disturb peace in Karachi. Political observers are of the view that the behaviour of Rangers and the Sindh government has left a very big question mark.
When the government administration is busy in trying to provide relief to the rain-hit population, the suspicious act of law enforcers has resulted in a province-wide strike. Even if someone is irritated with Qureshi for struggling to create Sindhudesh, then why were only cases of illegal arms registered against him rather than being booked for treason, they asked. The observers said the incident raises many questions that instead of arresting those involved in terrorism in Karachi, why a person who has nothing to do with criminal activities is being targeted?
They pointed out that that many leaders of other partiers move in the city with a number of guards carrying sophisticated weapons but none of them are thrashed or even stopped as was done with the JSQM chief.