KARACHI – The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was playing innocent now, said former Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza, but his removal had much to do with the party as MQM chief Altaf Hussain and Coordination Committee Deputy Convener Farooq Sattar had repeatedly demanded that the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leadership remove him.
“Altaf Hussain asked President Asif Ali Zardari six times to remove me,” Mirza told reporters at a reception for the Pakistan Cricket Team at Chief Minister’s House on Friday. “Farooq Sattar also made similar demands on behalf of the MQM, and now he is playing innocent,” he claimed. Mirza claimed that he foresaw a decrease in targeted violence and extortion, alleging that the MQM’s “objective” had now been fulfilled with his resignation.
“I am grateful to them, because I no longer have to adhere to curbs on my speech that were in place when I was a minister,” he said. When asked about similar statements issued by Senior Minister Pir Mazharul Haq, Mirza was dismissive. “Pir Mazhar may not know all details,” he stated. Mirza alleged that all assassins arrested recently belonged to the PPP’s coalition partners, but refrained from naming the “partners”.
“Ajmal Pahari belongs to them; the killers of journalist Wali Babar belong to them,” he alleged, adding that a media house that had challenged him to nab the killers should now run these stories as well. Mirza claimed that traders wanted to fight extortion, but they were scared into silence. “Everyone knows who operates on donations and extortions. These people want to fight, but they are scared of being killed,” he said.
However, he claimed that he would initiate a struggle after his return from the United States to encourage the citizens of Karachi to stand up to “them” and “their tactics.”
