Govt endorses Rangers Nine Zero raid but tells MQM it wasn’t personal

• Interior Minister Nisar says Rangers ‘did nothing wrong and unlawful’ at MQM Headquarters, says it is a step in right direction
• Senators debate Rangers raid, demand investigation into alleged highhandedness but support action against all terrorists, extremists
• Raja Zafarul Haq defends govt on raid-related allegations as MQM senators stage walkout from House

While Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has hailed the early Wednesday morning raid by Rangers on Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) headquarters in Karachi as a step in the right direction, his party fellow and Leader of the House in Senate Raja Zafarul Haq rejected MQM senators’ allegations that the government was behind the crackdown on the party.

Talking to a news channel, Nisar said that Rangers personnel did “nothing wrong and unlawful” at MQM headquarters Nine Zero.

The interior minister said that MQM had itself demanded a military operation in Karachi but now when action was taken against its elements, the party was trying to politicise the issue and prove itself as innocent.

On the other hand, Raja Zafarul Haq told agitating MQM senators in the Upper House that the assertion that the action was carried out because the MQM did not support the ruling party in the election of top Senate slots was totally baseless.

Haq said if Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif could visit the residence of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari to support Raza Rabbani as a consensus candidate for the Senate chairmanship, then there was no question of him working against the MQM.

He said under the laid down procedure, the chief ministers concerned were acting as captains in the fight against terrorism and extremism. Any information received by the departments regarding terrorists or extremists was passed on to security agencies for an action, he added.

He assured that he would contact Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and present the details in the House.

MQM WALKOUT:

Meanwhile, the MQM senators staged a walkout from the House to protest the early morning raid at the party’s head office.

Speaking on a point of order, they called for constitution of a monitoring committee to oversee the actions being taken by law enforcement agencies.

Col (r) Tahir Hussain Mashhadi alleged that over 100 MQM workers had been arrested and the Karachi operation should not be politicized. “The law enforcers should concentrate on apprehending target killers, extortionists and members of proscribed organizations,” he added.

Speaking on the occasion, MQM’s Nasreen Jalil said transparency should be ensured in the ongoing operation in Karachi while Awami National Party (ANP)’s Shahi Sayed said that a political party should not “dump weapons” in its offices.

“Irrespective of their political affiliations, terrorists must be nabbed and punished. Political parties should purge themselves of criminal elements,” Sayed added.

MQM’s Baber Ghouri said terrorists belonging to any political party must be nabbed. He urged the government to probe alleged excesses being committed against MQM while Sherala Malik also criticised the raid at MQM’s headquarters.

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)’s Dr Qayyum Soomro said the criminal elements should be apprehended in collaboration with political parties while Farhatullah Babar said that a human rights committee or special sub-committee should be constituted to probe allegations against LEAs.