Hours after the National Assembly passed a resolution tabled by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Farooq Sattar to deweaponise the entire country, the Sindh government on Tuesday gave a nod of approval to an operation in Karachi in order to deweaponise the city, which has seen violence claim over 1,000 lives in the current year alone. The would-be operation could encompass the city’s greatest political party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), Sindh Prisons Minister Manzoor Wassan said.
Talking to reporters, Wassan said the provincial government had voiced support for an operation in the provincial capital. He said the operation was likely to be directed against the armed activists of various political parties, including the MQM and PPP. Underscoring that the operation in Karachi was the need of the hour, Wassan noted that reservations expressed by MQM chief Altaf Hussain regarding the operation were not correct. He said the operation would not target Altaf’s party.
Addressing party workers of Lahore and Rawalpindi zones via telephone yesterday, Altaf had said that relying on false allegations, certain elements were trying to suppress the MQM in Karachi. “Ninety-eight percent deprived people of the nation would protest against any attempt to suppress the MQM,” he said. Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khurshid Shah also stressed on the need for launching an operation in Karachi while speaking in a Senate meeting.
Shah said all political parties, including the MQM and ANP, supported Karachi operation and the government had to decide the method of action.
Sindh government gives nod to Karachi operation
