ANP lends support to MQM’s call for army deployment in Karachi
The Awami National Party (ANP)’s reiteration of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)’s demand to hand over Karachi to the armed forces due to the increasing incidents of extortion, kidnapping and killing of traders is likely to generate trouble for the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led Sindh government.
Five more killings in the city’s violence-stricken Lyari area during pitched battles overnight prompted the ANP Pakhtun Action Committee (PAC) Chairman Senator Shahi Syed to second MQM’s demand of deploying troops in Karachi, saying there was a need for conducting a Swat or Malakand-like army operation in the metropolis to get rid of terrorist hideouts and to make Karachi a city of trade and education.
“We do not indulge in number scoring games and we have previously passed a resolution in the Sindh Assembly to make Karachi arms-free,” Syed said.
He said instead of criticising the demand for army intervention, the federal and provincial government should take practical steps to improve law and order in the country’s financial hub.
Justifying the demand for army takeover, the MQM said on Tuesday that the party’s chairman demanded army deployment to protect the life and property of the city’s ‘katchi abadis’ in light of the law and order situation in certain areas of Karachi and said that Article 149(4) and 245(1) of the Constitution of Pakistan and Article 9 and 14 of the 1994 Supreme Court judgment in the Shehla Zia case should be referred to.
SINDH TRADERS THREATEN TO GO ON STRIKE:
Traders in Sindh have also threatened to go on strike for an indefinite time due to the increasing incidents of extortion, targeted killings, and kidnapping for ransom, saying it is due to the failure of the Sindh government in eliminating criminals.
The Sindh Tajir Ittehad (STI) staged a protest demonstration outside the Karachi Press Club.
Speaking on the occasion, STI Chairman Jameel Paracha said that the traders had decided to question the Sindh Assembly in its coming session over its failure to restore of peace in the city.
He said the STI had started a movement for protection of the city’s traders, which would continue till the traders were provided security.
He said that STI was contacting traders all over the country for a one-day complete shutter-down from Karachi to Khyber.
“The federal government should not stay aloof from the matter of law and order in Karachi by terming it a provincial subject post the 18th Amendment,” he said, adding that if the center did not intervene then Karachi, which generates 70 percent of the country’s revenue, would be paralysed.