Rejecting the press conference from Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)’s Coordination Committee Deputy Convener Dr Farooq Sattar, the Awami National Party (ANP) Sindh said on Thursday that it is beyond reality that the MQM considers itself the most-affected party of the May 12, 2007 violence and demanded an independent judicial commission to investigate the incident.
In a statement issued after Sattar’s press conference, ANP Sindh President Shahi Syed stated that the main roads in the city were blocked with containers and armed persons opened fire from overhead bridges. “They killed 21 and injured 111 ANP activists only, excluding the number of workers from other parties who were murdered.”
Syed added that Iqbal Kazmi had filed a case in the Sindh High Court (SHC) but he was harassed and the case was not allowed to proceed in the SHC. “The video titled ‘Bitter Truth’, which was released by the MQM, was rejected by people from all walks of life as it was one-sided. But independent media reports that were telecasted live and the report of print media the next day are the best evidence.” The MQM should accept the ‘bitter truth’ that the worst incident of combined targeted killings happened during their government, Syed stated. Terming the May 12 mayhem the cause of ongoing lawlessness in Karachi, the ANP Sindh president was of the view that if the judiciary would have taken notice at that time, many other lives could have been saved.
