KARACHI: A joint press conference by Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) central leader Dr Farooq Sattar at MQM headquarters on Monday hinted that much remains to be resolved between the two coalition partners.
Sources said an intense meeting was held, in which the MQM leaders bluntly put forward their reservations and demands to the interior minister. Addressing the joint press conference, Malik said all those arrested in connection with targeted killings in Karachi would be brought before the public after the completion of the judicial process.
“No criminal will be spared no matter what party he is affiliated with,” he said, adding that MQM chief Altaf Hussain was right about the presence of Taliban in Karachi. However, the strained ties between the two parties became evident when Sattar pointed out that it was not clear who was behind the mushrooming units of the PPP’s Aman Committee across the city and the conspiracy to spread the Lyari gang war to other parts of the provincial capital.
Without naming the Awami National Party (ANP), the MQM leader also mentioned that people had been told to stay home on the day of PS-94 by-elections. Meanwhile, addressing another press conference, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said the government was serious in making Karachi “weapon-free” and ending all no-go areas in the city, adding that the city’s security would be enhanced to match that of the federal capital’s.
