MQM Blasted in Court Bench Hearing

KARACHI: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJ) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Thursday said it was situations like the one in Karachi that lead to military takeovers. The chief justice was speaking during the suo motu hearing on violence in the city.
The five-member bench, which is headed by Justice Chaudhry, said it was not happy with the “one-sided” arguments being presented by Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) counsel Farogh A Naseem.
The chief justice asked why the MQM had not presented a list of other innocent people killed in Karachi and why only a list of party workers and supporters had been presented.
During the hearing, the MQM counsel also accused the Awami National Party (ANP) and Lyari gang members of involvement in incidents of kidnappings and killings. The chief justice asked where the names of ANP members accused of target killings were in the First Information Reports (FIR) filed.

The MQM counsel said more than 36 people had been killed and their homes torched in Pashtun-dominated areas on August 13. He argued that the MQM had pointed out 26 points in the city where there was a dire need of setting up checkposts.
The MQM counsel also requested the court to review Zulfiqar Mirza’s statement in which he claimed to have issued 300,000 thousand arms licences.
Advocate General (AG) of Sindh Abdul Fatah Malik had earlier presented a report on the 1992 Army Operation in Karachi to the bench as the suo motu hearing on violence in the city resumed.
Meanwhile, Baloch Ittehad counsel Jameel Ahmed has requested the court to call in the army to control the law and order situation in Karachi.
Officials of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) have arrived in court and will be appearing before the bench.
On Tuesday, Chief of the paramilitary Pakistan Rangers Sindh had called Karachi’s situation graver than that of terrorism-hit South Waziristan but solvable once the state decides to act against criminals.
“Karachi, unfortunately, has political, ethnic and religious polarisation. The problem begins as an ethnic one but once that is quelled, religious violence erupts,” Maj-Gen Ijaz Chaudhry told the five-member bench of the Supreme Court.


PKKH