MQM - A bunch of thugs/black mailers

[Lahori paa jee]

Muttahida to quit govt if operation launched, says Altaf

Muttahida Qaumi Movement's founder Altaf Hussain has stated that the MQM will quit the government if an army operation is launched in Balochistan.

He said in an interview with a private TV channel that any extreme step taken in this regard would not be beneficial for the country and the nation.

When his attention was drawn to Balochistan government's reported request to the centre, inviting the army to intervene, Mr Hussain said that was an internal matter of the government of Balochistan.

Mr Hussain said that when an army operation was launched against the MQM in 1992 all the nationalities kept silent but the MQM would not do the same. "We can sacrifice ministries and government but will never sacrifice our principles. We are not interested in being part of a government responsible for bloodshed of innocent Baloch," he said.

Mr Hussain said the Muttahida Qaumi Movement coordination committee was in session and had recommended that the party should quit the government if an army operation was launched in Balochistan.

Replying to a question, he said: "Although we are a coalition partner and it is the responsibility of the government to consult the Muttahida Qaumi Movement on all important issues, including that of Balochistan, it has not been consulted on any such issue".

Mr Hussain said that similar justifications were used for the action in 1970 but that had resulted in the break-up of the country. He said a roundtable conference of all Baloch nationalist parties must be called to resolve the issues through sincere, peaceful and meaningful dialogue.

He declared that an army operation was not a solution to the issues. He condemned the attacks on gas fields. Addressing the Baloch protesters, he said: "We all are saddened on the oppression and cruelty that happened to our Baloch daughter".

He requested them to remain peaceful and said he had demanded that the government should hold talks with Baloch nationalist leaders and resolve the issue with mutual understanding.

Meanwhile, MQM Coordination Committee Deputy Convener Dr Farooq Sattar told Dawn that the committee was monitoring the Balochistan situation and if it realized that things were heading towards a military action, it might consider opting out of the government.

When asked if the committee had taken a definite position on the issue, he said: "We are examining the situation and as soon as we are convinced that it is heading towards a military action, we could step out of the government".

Source

Wanted to start this thread for a long time but feel this is the right time.

From Muhajir Qaumi Movement to Motahida Qaumi Movement. One cannot stop to ask after 59 years are they still muhajirs.

 

[Lahori paa jee]

MQM flip-flops on quit-govt ultimatum

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has withdrawn its decision to quit after the government showed its readiness to take it into confidence over Balochistan and other major issues.

On Sunday afternoon, the MQM had issued a warning to the government to quit Sindh as well as federal government if the ongoing military operation in Balochistan is not halted by January 13th.

It withdrew the ultimatum, however, after few hours of back-channel negotiations with the government.

It could not be confirmed what made MQM to turn back on its announcement that had sent ripples throughout the political circles of the country as such a decision would have endangered the survival of Arbab government in Sindh.
The collapse of Sindh government would have been a major blow to the stability of the government as Islamabad had no other option but to impose governor’s rule in Sindh to avoid the formation of government by the opposition parties with the support of MQM.

The decision was reversed after President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz talked to MQM chief Altaf Hussain by phone and assured him “That only those dams would be constructed that have won the consensus of all the provinces, no army operation will be conducted in Balochistan and no action against the Balochi people taken.”

Our Karachi correspondent adds: Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) withdrew its ultimatum of quitting the government shortly after a 45-minute telephonic conversation between President General Pervez Musharraf and MQM Founder and Leader Altaf Hussain, an MQM spokesman said.

The President assured Mr Hussain that controversial dams will not be constructed and only those dams will be constructed which have the consensus of all the provinces. President Musharraf assured Mr Hussain that no action will be taken against the people of Balochistan, the army will not be deployed and most certainly there will be no army action in Balochistan.
Earlier, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz too had a 55-minute telephone conversation with Altaf Hussain.

According to the MQM spokesman, an ‘emergency marathon’ meeting of the MQM Central Coordination committee was held simultaneously in London and Karachi, headed by its Convenor Dr. Imran Farooq, to discuss the details of the telephonic conversation of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minster Shaukat Aziz.

The members took notice of the assurance provided by the President and the Prime Minister that only those dams would be constructed which will have the consensus of all the provinces, no army operation will be conducted in Balochistan and no action against the Baloch people would be taken.
The members having carefully considered the assurances unanimously decided to withdraw the ultimatum of quitting the government, the spokesman said.
Altaf Hussain has approved the decision, he added.

The MQM spokesman said that earlier, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf and Altaf Hussain held talks over the phone, which continued for 45 minutes.
During the discussion, both the leaders discussed the construction of large dams, the Balochistan issue, provincial autonomy and other important matters. While speaking to President Musharraf, Mr Hussain presented his point of view in detail with regards to the construction of large dams in the country, present scenario in Balochistan and provincial autonomy.

The President assured Mr Hussain that controversial dams will not be constructed and only those dams will be constructed which will have the consensus of all the provinces. President Musharraf assured Mr Hussain that no action will be taken against the people of Balochistan, the army will not be deployed and most certainly no army action will be conducted in Balochistan.
He also assured that any injustice against even a single innocent Baloch, committed in the past or in future, will be investigated and action will be taken against those responsible. He also emphasised that a political solution to the Balochistan issue will be sought. The President further stated that he has always been in favour of provincial autonomy and constituted a parliamentary committee, however, he admitted that the progress was slow.

Mr Hussain requested the President to issue instructions to expedite the efforts of this committee.

The President, while agreeing, assured Mr Hussain that the Parliamentary Committee would be instructed to expedite efforts to ensure the devolution of powers from the Federation to the Provinces. President Musharraf emphasised that the Government has allocated two billion rupees for development projects in Balochistan.

Meanwhile, Salahuddin Haider, the provincial advisor told The Nation here that the President has assured the MQM leader that the KBD would not be constructed.

The MQM has the strength of around 17 lawmakers in the 342-member National Assembly.

DILSHAD AZEEM adds from Islamabad: Earlier, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz held a lengthy telephonic conversation with MQM chief Altaf Hussain following the Muttahida’s threat to quit the government.
The prime minister discussed with Altaf Hussain the current political situation in reference with the MQM’s threat to part ways with the government, water issue, Balochistan operation and Muttahida’s demands to remain within the ruling alliance in Centre.

“Though the MQM has been demanding stoppage of the action in Balochistan, there are several other demands that were discussed during the prime minister’s talk with Altaf Hussain,” the sources further said.
The share in Senate seats in upcoming elections is one of the issues related to the MQM’s threat of parting ways with the government.

“At this stage, the government may accept most of the demands of the MQM, including giving one more seat to it in the Senate,” said the sources.
“The prime minister contended that the government was not carrying out any military operation in Balochistan but it was the action on part of the local agencies against few miscreants,” the sources said.
The MQM enjoys a key position as far as the government of Arbab Ghulam Rahim in Sindh is concerned whereas its position in Centre is also strong as the government can face trouble in proving majority without its support.
According to another report from Karachi, MQM chief Altaf, in his telephonic conversation, urged Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to stop ongoing military operation in Balochistan and to resolve the issue through dialogue because the ongoing operation was not a solution to the problem.

He asked the prime minister as to why the government had not implemented the recommendations of the Balochistan committees and as to why the dialogue had been suspended.

The Prime Minister told MQM leader Altaf that President General Pervez Musharraf and the government wanted to see the country make development in every sector. Altaf Hussain responded that the country would move forward on the road to progress only if it was ‘saved’ and added that he (Altaf) wanted to save Pakistan.
According to MQM sources, the MQM leadership had asked its coalition partners in the Federal government to take practical steps on Balochistan and Kalabagh Dam issue.
Sources maintained that the MQM ministers, legislators, office-bearers and workers were of the view that in the past the MQM was subjected to state terrorism, how could it support President General Musharraf’s step regarding the launching of military operation in Balochistan.
ONLINE adds: Meanwhile, Information and Broadcasting Minister Sh Rashid Ahmed has made it clear that no military operation was being conducted in Balochistan.
He said that ‘action was being taken only against the miscreants who were firing rockets on the government installations and security forces.
NAVEED SIDDIQUI adds from Islamabad: In case of MQM’s withdrawal of its support, the government would have been in trouble in the National Assembly. Shaukat Aziz had secured 192 votes from the House at the time of his election as prime minister with the support of 18 MQM MNAs.
The MQM’s withdrawal, however, would not have brought down the government directly but the formation of a forward bloc within the PML would have created problem for the government.
Talking to The Nation, the forward bloc’s key decision-maker MNA Riaz Hussain Pirzada said: “We have the unflinching backing of more than 25 MNAs in the House, who may use their vote against the government through a secret ballot if the situation goes to ‘the point of no return’-to topple the PML-led government.”
According to party position in the Lower House, PML’s coalition government has been enjoying the support of 192 members, including 18 of the MQM, and 17 of PPP-Patriots.
Contrary to that, the component parties of Alliance for Restoration of Democracy (ARD), including PPP-Parliamentarians and PML-N, along with nationalist parties have the strength of 66 MNAs.

Besides that the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal has 69 members in the House. Opposition’ strength, including MMA, in the House is 149 MNAs.
Earlier, the government and opposition sources said that the MQM threat would not largely affect the Senate elections, and the government was likely to retain its position after the retirement of its 26 senators.
They said the situation would only change the categories of the senators and nothing else.

Sources also said that the MQM had been facing tough time from Sindhi and Baloch nationalists over the controversial issues of military operation in Balochistan and proposed Kalabagh Dam project.
In case if the MQM had quit, according to analysts, the ‘political situation had been terrible’ in which the government would have also faced tough time from the opposition, leading to a big alliance to press the present regime for interim government and early elections (in 2006).

During last week, the MQM had contacted many nationalist parties in Balochistan and NWFP to kick off anti-government agitation for halting the military operation.

Source

 

[Lahori paa jee]

MQM threatened to quit government if the operation is not stopped.

Now Nawab Akbar Bugti has been killed and yet MQM is a part of the coalition

 

[EagleEyes]

MQM is only trying to get attention.

Its trying to get its hands longer and longer into the national politics.

It has and had been dominating Karachi for a long time, but now it is trying to spread itself, into Balochistan, Punjab.

Its all politics!

Have you guys seen Altaf Hussain wearing some kind of Sindhi clothes whenever the elections are near?

He is only trying to get some influence.

No wonder why thousands of rupees MQM spends on flags, logos, and watermarks on th walls.

 

[araz]

Salam Guys.
I am afraid, this is a tender topic for a lot of Karachiites.I will start off by saying that I am not agreat fan of Altaf Hussain now for reasons I will mention later,and this is my account of how the MQM gained and subsequently lost its popularity in Urban Sindh. I may have been a supporter of MQM at one time but now can see the situation from the outside as well. The account spans over 25 yrs atleast therefore please excuse me for talking at length. you may however see the reason why MQM still retains its majority in Urban Sindh
I have seen MQM from its origin. Both Farooq Sattar and Imran Farooq are my classmates from SMC.When Farooq used to roam aroundSMC asking people like me to support APMSO. My main concern at that time was that it is another measure to create a rift amongst the people. When we graduated, and started looking around for jobs, it was a totally different story, In those days you could not venture into interior Sindh, as Karachi students who had gone there had been beaten up and were not allowed to sit in the class rooms. Mohajirs were abducted and persecuted just for being Mohajirs. People like Prof. Azhar Hussain, Prof. of SurgeryLMC was abducted. Prof Ali Nawaz Chaudhry was shot and barely survived. As against that there was a Sindhi Medicos Association and a Punjabi medicos Asssociation who safeguarded the interests at all costs of their respective communities. There was even a Baluch Students Party at Karachi Uni, and in the Engineering Colllege.
As a young Doctor, there was a clear case of partisan ship in the allocation of jobs. All city jobs went to the Sindhis and the Mohajirs were allocated jobs in the interior, where they could not work. Three of the people that I know of used to carry medicines over from karachi to treat the sick people, were threatened by local vested interests and pleaded to by the local population to run away from tyheir dispensaries, for fear that they might be killed. I am sure there are plenty more of these stories that I can find out if I tried. Even people like me who had pst graduate qualifications could not get training slots as these were given to certain favourites of the then Health Secretary. In this back ground, The MQM first came into power in Karachi and Hyderabad. Farooq Sattar was the first mayor of Karachi. Saeed Siddiqui became the Health Secretary, and decided that training slots in teaching Hospitals should be given to the people who have FCPS/FRCS/MRCP part 1(Poatgraduate medical Diplomas).He also decided that people would be given postings according to their domiciles.
Also for that term there was a lot of constructive work done in Karachi and Hyderabad( Iam not in a position to say what happened to the rest of Sindh, as I can not varify it personally) Sorry chaps more of this saga later. got to go now.
WaSalam
Araz

 

[Lahori paa jee]

Araz

Thats a very nice and detailed reply. Thanks