The column-cum-report
of Declan Walsh published in the NewYork Times left the impression as if it was
not written by a journalist belonged to an internationally recognized magazine,
but by an ethnic or political rival of Altaf Hussain. Allegations and criticism
on Altaf Hussain and on his party MQM are not new at all. Ever since Mr. Husain
formed his party in Pakistan, all these evils acts have become a customary.
Currently,
Altaf Hussain`s traditional rivals are using one point to criticize him and his
party, i.e., the murder investigation of the MQM`s Convener Dr. Imran
Farooq.
Like other
ordinary minded people, Declan Walsh has also
claimed that on the basis of the investigation, Scot Land Yard is approaching
very close to Altaf Hussain. The question is, has SLY ever officially issued a
statement that the investigation is about to be finalized and leading to Altaf
Hussain? If Mr.Walsh is not spreading disinformation against MQM`s leader, can he
produce any evidence in this context?
Respecting the
aspirations of the Altaf Hussain`s deadly enemies, for the still on-going murder
investigation to target Altaf Hussain, the following stages are essentially
required by the Scot Land Yard to complete:
1-The murderer
must be identified
2-The murderer
needs to be arrested
3-It is legally
indispensable that the killer must claim that he did not kill Dr. Imran Farooq
because of his personal, political, ethnic, sectarian, religious rivalry, but
purely on the order of someone else.
4-Moreover, that
“someone”, must be Altaf Hussain, and
5- Finally, the
SLY must have sufficient and concrete evidences to fix the charge on Altaf
Hussain.
But, to tell
the truth, not speaking of arriving at the last stage of the investigation to
book Mr. Hussain, even the SLY`s investigation has not completed the first
stage, i.e., indentifying the murderer. The sketch of the alleged murderer of
Dr. Imran Farooq issued three years ago by the SLY has not been converted into
a real photo of the killer. That obviously indicates the SLY`s progress in the
murder investigation. Consequently, how can Walsh deserve to make such a claim?
Does this not indicate that he is trying to malign MQM and their leaderbvg? If the
writer still stands by his claim, can he produce the real photo of the alleged killer
that must have been officially issued by the SLY so that the whole world can
come to know who killed Dr. Imran Farooq? But, if he fails to do that, has he
not told a lie?
Regarding the
alleged involvement of MQM in the violence in Karachi, the history of Pakistan
is full of the oppressions that various politicians and the parties had to face
through the state machineries especially including the Police, ISI, IB, MI, FIA
and the NAB. In fact, there would hardly be a single politician or a religious
leader in the Pakistani politics who had not become the victim of the political
victimization just because of having a difference of opinion with the people in
power.
At the time of
signing the Charter Of Democracy (COD) in the All Parties Conference held in
2007 in Dubai, all the political and religious parties including specially
PML-N and PPP (the former rulers of Pakistan) not only accepted what had done
against each other, but also mutually agreed not to repeat their “mistakes” of
the 90`s. The COD was truly representative of what the rulers had been doing
against their political rivals in the past. In a talk show, the PML-N`s very
prominent leader and recently elected MNA Khwaja Saad Rafique clarified his
party`s position in respect of past`s political victimization saying, “PML-N
has now come out of the politics of (the
dark age) of the 90`s”.
In such a
situation, how can an impartial analyst consider the cases registered against
the political rivals who had been on the hit list of these rulers during the
“dark age” of 90`s as genuine??
However, the
“dark age” of the Pakistani politics was not confined only to the 90`s. In
2007, not only the media, but also the Pakistani judiciary revealed that they
had been enslaved by the political as well the military rulers for the last 60
years (i.e., since 1947). The in-service judges including the Chief Justice of
the Supreme Court of Pakistan himself announced not to repeat their mistakes
saying, “Now, the judiciary will never co-operate with the military dictators
in their illegal and unconstitutional acts”. After this publicly announced
confession, a movement for independence of Judiciary was launched headed by the
CJP Iftekhar Choudhry.
Perhaps,
Pakistan would be the only country of the world in the 20th century whose
almost all state pillars were claiming to have been enslaved not by the outside
forces, but through the internal forces.
It was the
same “dark age” of the 90`s in which a military operation was launched against
MQM in the name of operation clean up by the same political as well as military
rulers. It should also be kept in mind that all of the cases against the MQM`s
Quaid were registered when he was in London, i.e., in his absence. When he went
for London for his medical treatment, there was not a single case against him. According
to the most interesting case against him, in 1995, he, along with his some
workers, opened fired at the police, burnt a vehicle at Jamshed Quarter, an
area of Karachi, and ran away into the narrow streets of the area. The question
is, how did Mr. Hussain commit a crime in Karachi, when he was in UK? Does this
not reveal the absurdity present in the cases against him?
Truly speaking, the sources of all the
allegations and the resulted cases registered against MQM and its leader Mr. Altaf
Hussain are the investigation reports prepared by the Pakistani law-enforcement
agencies. The credibility of all these so called “investigation reports” can
easily be assessed by one most important and detailed report submitted to the
Supreme Court of Pakistan by the head of the paramilitary force targeting MQM.
The DG Rangers, Major General Rizwan
Akhtar submitted a report to the Supreme Court on the law & order of
Karachi in which he claimed that about 19,000 containers had gone missing a few
years ago and that a shipload of arms and ammunition of NATO had been brought
to Karachi and their whereabouts was never ascertained. He also informed the
Supreme Court headed by the CJP himself that around 19,000 shipping containers
containing weapons and vehicles had gone missing during the tenure of the
former minister for ports and shipping (Babar Khan Ghouri belonging to MQM).
(For reference, http://dawn.com/news/1039406/dg-rangers-reveals-facts-behind-karachi-weapons-smuggling
)
However, the United States Embassy
refuted the reports of Sindh Rangers and declared it false. The statement
released from the Embassy of United States said that neither the United States
nor ISAF has ever shipped weapons or ammunition via Karachi ports. ( http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172:pakistan/1228503:missing-containers-us-embassy-refutes-dg-rangers-claim/ )
This makes it
very obvious that even the head of the paramilitary force (Dg Rangers) does not
hesitate to prepare and submit an altogether fabricated report to the Supreme Court
against MQM. Now, the question is, will the court`s judgment given against MQM
and Altaf Hussain on the basis of such maliciously prepared reports even by the
heads of the Pakistani agencies, not be the violation of true justice? Can any
value ever be given to the allegations and the court`s judgments arising from
such biased and baseless reports?
The most
unfortunate aspect of this biased act is that no action has yet been taken even
by the Supreme Court on the DG Rangers` blatant lie. Not speaking of taking a
stern action, he has recently been given the charge of the new operation in
Karachi. Considering these bitter facts, can it be expected the head of the
operation, i.e., DG Rangers would conduct its operation impartially?
Would Declan Walsh still tends
to believe in the reports and the claims being made by the Pakistani
authorities against MQM and its leadership? If yes, does he similarly honor the
decision of the Pakistani government of being expelled as persona non grata? When yes,
can any importance ever be given to the report of a person about a leader of
the country that has already declared him as persona non grata?
Just like the
BBC2`s investigative reporter, Declan Walsh also used the Altaf Hussain`s mischievously
misquoted sentence to malign him. The question is, did he ever try to know why
his Pakistani friends translated only a specific sentence spoken in a lighter
mood regarding the body bag (Bori) that made the audience laugh? Why did his
”friends” not translate many of Altaf Hussain`s statements for which not only
he has devoted his whole life, but also to achieve them, thousands of his followers have already sacrificed
their lives including his own elder brother and nephew??
“MQM believes in the principle of “live and let live”
and considers all the people living in Pakistan belonging to various religions
as equal citizens of Pakistan.”
“MQM does not want the term ‘minority’ to be used for
non-Muslims, rather they should be considered as equal Pakistanis and given the
same opportunities.”
“MQM is not against any ethnicity, sec or religion. Rather,
it is against the corrupt feudal system in the country”
“MQM wants to remove the long prevailing corrupt and
biased system and has been struggling for bringing the revolution in Pakistan
so that all the people irrespective of their gender, race, sect, religion or
region can have equal rights”
Did any of the
Altaf Hussain`s above-stated policy statements never appear before any of the
critics? Did the critics including Walsh ever try to know what a serious
commitment the Altaf Hussain`s followers have been expressing in response to
these statements for the sake of achieving them?
Regarding the amount of money allegedly recovered
from Mr. Hussain`s house, what is his objection to it? Can he quote even a
single relevant law or its any clause that forbids Mr. Hussain from keeping
that money with him? Mr. Wash should keep this in his mind that the money that
the followers of Altaf Hussain have been donating to MQM only on his appeal is
thousands of times bigger than the one Walsh is quoting. Why have the SLY, Walsh
and BBC2 remained completely blind of that most priceless asset of Altaf
Hussain that cannot be found in the house of any other Pakistan leaders? Why
did they altogether ignore it?
In addition to
all these, taking into account the state oppressions on his followers in
Pakistan, yet getting enormous eventual victories with the grace of God, his
followers are fully aware of why Altaf Hussain has floods of tears in eyes and
when he shares his happiness with them. But, by the way, what compelled Walsh
to violate the ethics and code of conducts of journalism by using extremely
abusive language for Altaf Hussain?
In Pakistan,
the suicide attacks have been a customary. The Taliban and Al-Quaida extremists
first target their rivals and hit them through explosive materials. In this
respect, they do not hesitate to sacrifice their lives. In the same way, Declan Walsh tried to hit MQM`s founder Altaf Hussain
by committing a suicide attack. Unfortunately, he not only missed his target,
but also very badly damaged his credibility that has put the positive image of
the New York Times at his stake.
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