| DAWN/The News International, KARACHI | 28 January 2000, Friday, 20 Shawwal 1420 |
LONDON: Chief of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Altaf Hussain warned Pakistani authorities on Thursday not to push him like Sheikh Mujeebur Rehman or he would cost them much more than Mujeebur Rehman did in 1971.
Talking to a few Pakistani journalists after the opening of the new MQM Secretariat here, Altaf said the ruling establishment in Pakistan had been persecuting the Muttahida far too long, but his party avoided violent response. "But I want to tell them now that the MQM is not like the Pakistan People's Party or Pakistan Muslim League. If tomorrow they (MQM) decide to take revenge of over 15,000 innocent Mohajirs killed in state operations since 1992, then what would the establishment do?"
The Muttahida leader said he and his partymen were hated by the "Army, the Inter-Services Intelligence and the Punjabi establishment because we represent the educated middle class in the country with the courage to challenge the so-called leaders with feudal background and mindset by looking into their eyes."
Altaf swore upon the Holy Qur'an (he made one of his partymen bring a copy of the Qur'an and placed his hand on it) to say that he had not met any Indian leader or an agent of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the notorious Indian intelligence agency, which is blamed too often by the Pakistan authorities for terrorist activities in Pakistan like bomb blasts, mass murders, train accidents etc. "I can say this by placing my hand on the Holy Qur'an today, but I cannot give a guarantee about what I will do tomorrow," Altaf warned.
He termed as "baseless" and "mere lies" the claims made by successive Pakistani government that he was an Indian agent. "I am repeating that I am not an Indian agent, I am only a Pakistani who had been raising his voice against the gross injustices done to my people," he said.
Altaf said: "They (the Punjabi establishment) are pushing me where I do not want to go but it seems I am running out of time and choices. What can they do to me if I go and sit in India along with my people. They can't do anything. I am aware of the Army power and their means, but things have gone too far now. They just don't want to listen."
Altaf claimed he was the only honest politician in Pakistan who had the courage to say 'no' to offers of monetary and political gains, made by the Army, the ISI and the establishment. "That is one of the reasons they hate me," he said.
He remained evasive when probed about the details of his future strategy, whose announcement seems imminent, and whether it would entail a unilateral declaration of independence (UDI), but goes on to say: "I request the suppressed people of Punjab, young boys and girls in universities and colleges, lawyers, teachers and intellectuals to come forward to save Pakistan from disintegration. Pakistan's safety lies with the middle classes and not the corrupt leaders like Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto. They are all the same, of feudal mentality. The present rulers and the Punjabi oligarchy are the ones who have betrayed the struggle for Pakistan and now they are trying to become the champions of Pakistan."
The MQM leader asked the people of Pakistan: "Don't take me as anti-Pakistani as I have tried my level best to assure the Punjabi establishment that my organisation, my party and my people are not enemies of Pakistani. But they are persistently pushing us against the wall, going ahead with their persecution policy. Now if I take any other route or take a decision against my wishes, please don't blame me. Blame the ISI, the Army and the Punjabi establishment."
He said while the members and leaders of many other political parties "are allowed foreign travel, MQM members are barred from that facility. How long will they tell us that the Punjabis are the only patriotic people and the rest are the enemies of Pakistan. Let me tell you, there would be an Altaf Hussain from Punjab as well when they understand their enslavement by the establishment and the agencies."
Earlier, Gillan Cheryl, the Tory spokesperson on foreign affairs and MP for Hendon, opened the new offices of the MQM's International Secretariat. She said: "Pakistan and Britain have a long and proud association and it is indeed very sad that the unrest is so great that at the moment there is a continuing security risk following the uncertainty that has been a consequence of the military takeover and other recent events."
Saying that the path for the "MQM has not been easy and no doubt will present many challenges in the future", the spokesperson appreciated the party's quick rise to eminence in Pakistani politics within a short span of time. She condemned atrocities against Mohajirs by saying: "No matter where we see violence against our fellowmen we should not hesitate to condemn it."
Altaf warns of launching armed struggleKARACHI: The Orangi Extension police found the decapitated body of an unidentified young man on Thursday. The police were informed that a corpse of a young man, wrapped in a blanket, was lying near a Nullah, situated near Nishan-e-Haider Chowk in Iqbal Baloch Colony. A police team rushed to the scene and on opening the blanket found the headless and brutally tortured corpse of a man in his late 20s.
They shifted the body to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital. The Medico-Legal Officers (MLOs) said that the victim was beheaded and brutally tortured before being killed. They said that the body carried the marks of a sharp-edged weapon over the abdomen, back, and chest and the killers had also chopped off his genital organ. Police said that his identity could not be established till late in night, however, they registered a case.
COMMITS SUICIDE: Jehangeer, 17, after a quarrel with his parents, locked himself in a room of his residence, D/48 in Korangi No 2-1/2 in Zaman Town, and hanged himself to death with a ceiling fan. His body was shifted to the JPMC.
According to Jehangeer's father, his son was a labourer in a local factory. On Thursday when he returned from his factory, he told him that he was not feeling well and went into his room and committed suicide.
ARRESTED: The Sub-Division Magistrate (SDM), North Nazimabad, Mushtaq Ahmed, removed encroachments and arrested 12 people, allegedly involved in illegal activity near National Identity Card (NIC) office.
The SDM, after receiving a complaint from the area people, conducted a raid outside the NIC office along with the police and removed encroachments and arrested 12 people, including an ex-army man under Section 188 PPC, who used to work as agents, having links in the registration office.
Those who were involved in illegal work and arrested by the police were identified as Mehmood Ahmed, Muhammad Nawaz, Zaheeruddin, Muhammad Eshan, Syed Tahir Ali, Zafar Iqbal, Pervaz Soomro, Muhammad Khursheed, Shahzad, Rustam Ali, Muhammad Tahir, and Azhar Shah.
ROBBERIES: Six armed men barged into the residence of Fayyaz in Baldia Town police limits and locked all the inmates in a room. They collected Rs 30,000, prize bonds worth Rs 10,000, jewellery, a licenced rifle, a licence repeater, one pistol and other valuables and fled.
The bandits looted Rs 11,500 from Muhammad Saleem in Frere, cash, gold ornaments and electrical appliances from the residence of Aftab in Nabi Bukhsh, cash, jewellery and other valuables from the residence of Muhammad Ameen in Al-Falah, Rs 150,000, gold ornaments and electrical appliances from the residence of Khalid in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, cash, jewellery and other valuables from the house of Muhammad Javed in Azizabad and cash, gold ornaments and electrical appliances from the residence of Muhammad Arshed in Taimuria.
Carjackers snatched 15 vehicles - three cars, a yellow cab, a Suzuki pick-up and 10 motorcycles, including a Sindh Police number plate motorcycle - while police claimed that they recovered three cars from the megapolis.
SHC sets free 27 bonded labourersISLAMABAD: Politicians and experts criticised the military regime's attempts to carry out the exercise of devolution, when they themselves have contributed to undoing the process. A call for creating new provinces was also made.
Instead, they advocated reverting to the 1973 Constitution, and strengthening, consolidating and making meaningful the institutions contained in this Constitution and taking off subjects from the concurrent list.
An outstanding presentation was made by Abdul Hafeez Pirzada, a leading constitutional expert with remarks also by Akber Zaidi an expert, ANP's Asfandyar Wali Khan, PPP's Iftikhar Gillani, PONM's Sanaullah Baloch, PML(N)'s Ahsan Iqbal, Jamaat's Prof Khursheed and BNM's Dr Hayee Baloch.
The government was defended by Minister for Local Government Omer Asghar Khan. Pirzada traced the history of the 1973 unanimous Constitution, which was undone by a military government. "If we had been allowed to implement this, the demand for provincial autonomy would have been settled by now. We have reopened a settled issue now. The provisions provided were not allowed to take root like the National Finance Commission and the Council of Common Interest, which by no means is a federal body. Another misuse of power which hampered devolution was the imposition of emergency as Nawaz Sharif did in Sindh". However, he sent a note of warning saying that the regime's attempts to create new local bodies at the cost of the provinces would surely destroy the federation. He also advocated giving the third tier of government legislative protection and the powers to impose taxes.
S Akbar Zaidi clearly told the minister present that it was hypocritical of him to speak about the issue when at the same time he was heading the ministry for Local Government at the center. "Military dictators have needed to legitimise their existence at the national level, and they use local bodies for this purpose. Perhaps the present enthusiasm by the incumbent regime for devolution and local government, is evidence of the same principle."
He felt that probably one of the most important reasons why local government remains so ineffective, is that it has no autonomy and that it is not administered by elected members of the public. "There is a need for a new set of administrative structures of the state, where the old federally administered deputy commissioner model will no longer do. Given different social, economic and political structures across different regions in Pakistan, each with its unique characteristics, it might be more prudent to have a very loose set of general rules to be followed by somewhat differing practices in diverse regions", he explained. Otherwise, he warned unelected district advisory boards would fall the way of the corrupt system of khidmat committees and social action boards.
Asfandyar Wali questioned the wisdom of having dozens of ministries while making attempts towards devolution. Supporting the 1973 Constitution, he called for giving more subjects on the concurrent list to the provinces and also warned of a similar example like that of the breaking of the Soviet Union. "Why should the NWFP not be paid royalties on tobacco and power?" he asked.
Iftikhar Gillani called out for more provinces as one answer to iron out the disparity now present in the four provinces. However he warned of attempts on devolution while bypassing the provinces. He also took exception to boards by the government of Punjab prohibiting carrying of atta to the NWFP province. "The borders do not start at Khushalgargh. In the same spirit why should the NWFP and Balochistan give Punjab electricity and gas?"
In an impressive historical discourse, Sanaullah Baloch said that the regime should allow the people to decide how this new process should be formulated. He said that Pervaiz Musharraf was not accountable to anyone but emphasised the creation of a Constituent Assembly as the 1973 Constitution was not strong enough.
Ahsan Iqbal said that the military regimes talk about devolution to cover up absence of democracy. "Pervaiz Musharraf like Ayub Khan and Ziaul Haq takes cover in the same four points which includes devolution, just to prolong his rule", he said.
Dr Hayee Baloch called first for the recognition of the rights of the people and their recognition before any attempts on devolution could start.
Prof Khursheed Ahmed said that devolution has always come in during a dictatorial rule and said that the very matter was controversial as military governments always try to sustain powerful centers.
Omer Asghar Khan said his government had respect for provincial governments and the demand to make them more powerful needed to be deliberated upon. "However we have to raise our voice for those non-elitist groups whose voice does not reach the decision makers. One of the main issues is that of ownership of land, both in the rural and urban areas which creates a power base. The military and civilian bureaucracy perpetuate this economic system. This structure has to be opened up as it is not people oriented", Omer said. He gave proposals for people to be allowed to participate in the democratic system so that their voice is included in decision making. Also a vibrant and robust civil society is important besides a strong local level system he proposed. The minister also called for restructuring the civil bureaucracy and giving people access to information on all government projects.
"I also call to newspaper owners that their correspondents at the district level should be paid better so that they do not resort to yellow journalism and blackmailing", Omer concluded adding a fresh dimension to devolution.
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