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Sher Muhammad Baloch, another opposition MNA, while taking the floor, said that instead of siding
with the government, the MQM should side with the judiciary and cancel its rally on May 12.
Minister of State for Interior Zafar Iqbal Warrich said that after the attack on Munir A Malik, senior
police officials went to his house and registered the case. However, he said that Malik has not nominated
anybody in the FIR. He said that the police had found six Kalashnikov empties near the gate of Malik’s house.
Manzoor Wassan of the PPP said that by using different tactics, the government wanted to declare
emergency in the country so that the general elections could be postponed. Tehmina Daultana of the PML-N
said that it was the government’s responsibility to maintain law and order. She alleged the government has
allocated Rs 50 crore for the MQM rally in Karachi and presidential rally in Islamabad.
Treasury MNA Farooq Amjad Mir said the opposition wants to use its democratic right but is not ready
to give it to the others. The public wants that nobody should sit with the chief justice in his car. Similarly, he
said, the people want justice but not the chief justice.
Former prime minister Mir Zafrullah Khan Jamali asked the government and the opposition to save the
country from an impending civil war. He said that the government’s move to recommend the presidential
reference against Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and then bringing out rallies was beyond his
comprehension.
The PML leader asked why the government had chosen the same day for holding rallies when the chief
justice was on a tour. “Is the government creating confusion among the public and is it trying to push the
country towards a civil war?” Jamali asked.
“For God sake, save the country and its people and don’t push them into a civil war,” appealed Jamali.
The former prime minister said that when a matter is in a court, it was the jurisdiction of the court and nobody
should have any suspicion over the apex court.
He said that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has not invited anyone to a public rally;
however, if he receives a wide range of public response, nobody should have objection to it. He appealed to the
government and the opposition to maintain tolerance and save Pakistan as “after the fall of Dhaka, Quaid-i-
Azam’s Pakistan remains no more.”
Jamali said that Karachi was the stronghold of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), while the
Punjab was the stronghold of Pakistan Muslim League. Similarly, the MMA has the street power in Balochistan
and was in the government in the NWFP. However, he said, whatever was going on in the country was on the
directives of the leaders of three mainstream political forces, the PPP, PML-N and the MQM. He appealed to
the leaders of these political forces to save the country from further bloodshed and try their utmost to maintain
law and order.
***
The News 11 May (b)
MQM unveils plans for May 12 rally
By Fasahat Mohiuddin
HRCP
KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Thursday announced its plans to take out a
rally as a show of strength in Karachi on May 12.
Dr Farooq Sattar, Deputy Convener and members of the Rabita committee, while addressing a
crowded press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Thursday, said that processions from all over the city,
and from other areas of Sindh, will assemble at the Mazar-e-Quaid and move towards Tibet Centre, MA Jinnah
Road, at 12 noon. There, MQM leader Altaf Hussain will make a telephonic address from the MQM’s
International Secretariat in London, England.
It is worth mentioning that the Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry is
expected to visit Karachi on the same day to attend the Sindh High Court Bar Council’s golden jubilee
celebration. He is expected to be welcomed by a large rally of political parties and lawyers. As a result, there
has been a lot of tension and panic brewing in the city for the last few days.
Sattar said the MQM had sought rally permission for the entire city. To a question who would be
responsible for any clash or mishap on the streets that day, Sattar said the ball is now in the court of the
respectable Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Even if any small mishap occurs, every
party in the rally would be equally responsible for it.
Sattar said that Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry should also take note of this crucial
moment. He stressed that the MQM had no objection to the arrival of the Chief Justice. He said that his party
respected his designation and that he could address any bar of the country.
However, he said, the opposition and religious political parties are taking out a political rally on the
12th in an attempt to show that the masses of Sindh, including Karachi, are not with Muttahida. This proves
that opposition parties’ rally is purely a political show, and the aim is not only to receive Justice Chaudhry but to
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