Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) lawmakers on Wednesday tendered their resignations in the National Assembly, Senate and the Sindh Assembly, the party has reservations over the operation in Karachi which the party believe is against it. In the Senate, Senator Raza Rabbani refused to accept the resignations and asked the MQM lawmakers to submit the resignations in Senate Secretariat which the party did. In the Sindh Assembly the party’s MPAs submitted their resignations to Sindh Assembly Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani.
MQM has been voicing concerns over the operating in Karachi for quite a while now. MQM lawmaker Farooq Sattar said that hundreds of party workers arrested have been arrested by the law enforcement agencies and have not been sent on judicial remand, a practice which is against the Article 10 of the constitution. He further added that the government has failed to set up a monitoring committee to check the performance of Rangers. He warned that if state aggression is used to build a new political empire by suppressing public mandate, it will create a violent backlash. He also complained that Altaf Hussain has been singled out for his criticism of certain state institutions but no one takes notice when leaders of other political parties speak against the same institutions.
MQM has some legitimate grievances which should be addressed but the party must realize that such matters should be resolved on the dialogue table and not by resigning. Further, it is a hard fact that the law and order situation in Karachi has tremendously improved since the start of the Rangers led operation. If anything the responsibility falls on the party to distance itself from criminal elements in Karachi who had hijacked the city of lights for many years.
MQM has some valid concerns but the fact remains that the Rangers operation has brought peace back to Karachi.
