MQM demands suo motu over Punjab by-polls violence

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) deputy convener Farooq Sattar criticized display of weapons and use of force during the recent by-polls in Punjab on Saturday. Addressing a public gathering in Karachi, Sattar said that “religious and political leaders have been crying hoarse over the prevalence of weapons in Karachi, calling for door-to-door deweaponising and army operations in Karachi, but, what about the display of weapons in the Punjab by-polls just before the general elections.” The senator said that the religious and political leaders were preaching double standards by advocating a deweaponising drive in Karachi alone and by not criticizing show of force in Punjab by-elections. Farooq Sattar said that “in Punjab, there are preparations underfoot to make Punjab a battlefield to save them by putting Pakistan on the line. The authorities and the incumbent government must take notice of show and use of weapons.” He added that before anyone condemns him of criticizing the recent Punjab by polls for political manipulations, he deemed it fit to mention that Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q), the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf had come out in the media pronouncing the Punjab by-elections to be “hijacked”. He said that “I ask when this has happened in by-polls, what will happen in the general elections? How state machinery was utilized, how voters were harassed and how force and power was used.”