Terming the Muttahida Quami Movement’s chief Altaf Hussain’s demand of calling army in Karachi `constitutional’, `lawful’ and `democratic’, the party’s Coordination Committee Member, Qasim Ali Raza, said that when the army could be called for ensuring free and transparent by-elections then it was also justified to call army for the protection of lives and property of the citizens.
Commenting on the statement of Pakistan People’s party leader, Syed Khursheed Shah that the demand of calling army in Karachi was like a slap on the face of democracy, the MQM leader inquired from the former whether the act of leaving the citizens’ lives and property at the mercy of terrorists and professional killers could be described as democracy.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the MQM leader deplored that although the outlawed People’s Amn Committee’s terrorists were playing havoc with the lives of unarmed members of Kutchhi community, attacking their houses with hand-grenades, ejecting them forcibly from their homes, issuing extortion slips to traders and kidnapping businessmen and citizens for ransom, no action was being taken against them.
Mr Raza asked the PPP leader “whether the act of patronizing and nurturing professional criminals, extortionists and leaving unarmed innocent citizens at the mercy of terrorists cannot be described as `a slap on democracy and humanity.”
Justifying Altaf Hussain’s demand of calling army, the Coordination Committee Member said that the MQM leader’s demand which is aimed at protection lives and properties of the citizens was in accordance with Clause 4 of Article 149 and hence it was constitutional, lawful and democratic. “When the army can be called for conducting by-elections in a free and transparent manner, then how can Mr Hussain’s demand of calling army for the protection of citizens’ lives and property be describes as unjustified,” he queried.
At the outset, the Coordination Committee Member advised Syed Khursheed Shah and other so-called champions of democracy to tell their constituents that what services they had rendered for their progress and prosperity.
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