LOOK WHO IS SAYING IT ALL?

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE ARTICLE BY MUNIR BALOCH PUBLISHED IN DAILY JANG ON 3^RD SEPTEMBER 2011

It would be pertinent to discuss in reference to the recent statements and sayings of Zulfiqar Mirza if one has to discuss the situation in Pakistan particularly Sindh – what he has been saying in the past and what he is saying now. Why do the people quoting the letter written to Tony Blair about the ISI forget that they have themselves hauled the ISI over the coals in the charter of democracy? Now that it is being discussed the Supreme Court will also have to see who ordered for large plastic banners, calling for the removal of the MQM from the government, to be put up in the busy centres of Lahore at the same time while Zulfiqar Mirza was addressing the press conference in Karachi? The words of Zulfiqar Mirza are still resonating in the expanse of the country that, “I had decided to break Pakistan apart after the murder of Benazir Bhutto but Zardari sahib stopped me.” “If the comrades of People’s Amn Committee, who are my children, are criminal, then I am the biggest criminal of them all.” “If any action is taken against the PPP in the Punjab, I will burn every single office of Muslim League Nawaz across the length and breadth of Sindh.” One who used extremely foul language against the most respectable media persons on the floor of Sindh Assembly. One who manhandled media reporters and camera men on the streets of Karachi.

On the evening of 28^th August, this man suddenly became the most sought-after man of the media after he recounted the wrangles of the last 10 years in the form of a pamphlet. Someone who blares out before the media that he wanted to break Pakistan but Zardari sahib stopped. Someone who boasts before the entire world that he gave 10000 jobs to the people, but he did not give a single job to the MQM people. Will the Supreme Court now ask him as to who were the people that were given these ten thousand jobs and under what law? Why were the MQM supporters not given any job? Are they not the citizens of this country?  

Now that the Supreme Court has taken notice, it should also consider the statement that he had decided to break Pakistan but Zardari sahib stopped him.  The statement of Mirza sahib must not be brushed aside as an old tale because if a ten years-old  story can be believed and taken notice of although  there is no witness besides Mirza himself, then why a matter that is only one-year-old  cannot be taken into account.  

The alleged conversation of Altaf Hussain ten years ago in which he talked about breaking Pakistan is being repeated everywhere and given publicity but only a year ago millions of Pakistanis heard Mirza loudly saying, “I had decided to break Pakistan." I am at loss to understand why everyone is silent about this unequivocal statement. Will the ISI and other institutions of national defence care to investigate as to which countries were contacted after Zulfiqar Mirza had decided to break Pakistan?

Now that the Supreme Court has taken notice, it must also inquire into the tragedy of Qasba Colony and Aligarh Colony in 1986. The Supreme Court must also probe into the Pukka Qila Operation in Hyderabad in 1988 and 1990. The Supreme Court should not only take notice of 12^th May incident but also about the incidents occurring from 27^th December to 29^th December after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. The court must also take notice of the incidents of 9^th April 2008 and July 2011. The Supreme Court must also inquire into the releasing of the killers of thirteen innocent people in Sher Shah because the notice of the Karachi situation will not be complete unless all these issues are raised.

No government agencies have troubled itself inquire as to who were the elements that hijacked buses of private companies and who were the people that made venomous announcements from the mosques. If the imam and the caretaker of the mosque are in custody of the rangers, then the public should be informed as to who were the people behind these announcements. I am confident that if a suo motu notice had been taken of the drama of the self-acquittal from the charge of the blood 13 people of Sher Shah tragedy like the notice of Zafar Qureshi investigating the charge of National Insurance Corporation Ltd, everything would have become crystal clear and the situation in Karachi would have been different.  

I think that there is no law in Karachi and while “cowboys” of the western films are attacking localities with arms and ammunition, and the “sheriff” is resting in a far-off land. People are not blind. The procession of Kutchi community is attacked in broad daylight, and people are injured. The eye of the camera records everything. It is an irony that the very next day the “honourable men” responsible for the firing on Kutchi procession were enjoying the hospitality of the Supreme Commander at Bilal House sitting next to the senior Minister Zulfiqar Mirza.