IN PAKISTAN THE JUSTICE SYSTEM FOR THE POOR IS DIFFERENT TO THAT FOR THE RICH, INUNDATED WITH WEALTH – ALTAF HUSSAIN

DEMANDS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF MQM DETAINEES

Karachi – 13 December 2000

Mr Altaf Hussain, Founder and Leader of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), has stated that we have witnessed the consequences of discrimination, injustices and double standards in the 1971 fiasco of East Pakistan.  Sadly, the Establishment is continuing with the same policy and I can only pray to Almighty Allah to have mercy upon the people of Pakistan.  He said this while addressing a gathering of the workers of MQM’s Elder Wing from London over the telephone.  He said that when the military commanders dismissed the Nawaz Sharif Government and took over the control on 12 October 1999, the military generals and corps commanders through the Chief Executive General Parvez Musharraf presented a seven-point agenda to the public over the television, when he promised that all those responsible for not returning the bank loans and taking kickbacks will be subjected to accountability without distinction.  A promise was made that all the major culprits will be apprehended and brought to justice, none of this happened.  Whereas the majority of those arrested in the name of accountability belong to the province of Sindh.  They even arrested an honest person like Dr Farooq Sattar, who is being tortured while in custody.  The 60-years-old Shoaib Bukhari Advocate is also languishing in jail for the past two years for the crimes he has not committed.  Kanwar Khalid Younus, Member of National Assembly and Mohammad Hussain, Member of Provincial Assembly Sindh are languishing in prison on fabricated charges.  Mohammad Hussain’s brother was murdered mercilessly and before he was detained he was the only breadwinner of the family.  Kanwar Khalid Younus’s father is seriously ill but despite appeal they have not been released even on bail.  Thousands of MQM workers are languishing in jails in Sindh and hundreds have been sentenced to death on fabricated charges.  Several representations have been made to the president and the chief executive on the plight of these innocent workers but to no avail.  The president did not exercise his prerogative under the constitution to release them.  On the other hand, Nawaz Sharif was arrested on the charge of hijacking the aircraft, carrying several hundred people and charges of corruption and abuse of power.  He also plundered the national exchequer and transferred billions of rupees overseas.  On all these charges he was tried in the courts and was sentenced to life imprisonment in one case and fourteen years in another case, whereas other cases are pending.  That all of a sudden, people of Pakistan learned that Nawaz Sharif along with his family members have been allowed to leave the country.  The President of Pakistan under Article 45 of the Constitution has pardoned his sentence and stated that this decision has been made in the larger interest of the country.  Mr Altaf Hussain said that the people of Pakistan, particularly the workers of Muslim League, along with the followers of feudal politician should consider whether the law is applicable equitably on all the people or only ninety-eight percent poor and lower middle class people are subjected to these laws, whereas two percent privileged class go scot-free.  Are they above all the laws and the Constitution, he asked?  Only two percent privileged class is beneficial under Article 45 of the Constitution.  Whereas the poor and people from smaller provinces get no benefit from Article 45.  Even the heinous crimes of these privileged people are pardoned on the request of foreign princes and princesses, whereas those with no connection, poor and helpless people are severely punished in the name of law.  Does this reflect the Nazaria-e-Pakistan (Ideology of Pakistan)?  Is it not naked oppression?  Mr Hussain said that when the people of the smaller provinces raise their voice against such unjust steps of the Punjabi Establishment and the privileged class, then the same Establishment misguide the people of the Punjab by declaring those who raise their voice as anti-State and the enemy of the Punjabi people.  Mr Hussain said, “I ask the people of the Punjab to swear upon God and say is it justice that the Prime Minister belonging to Sindh is hanged and Dr Farooq Sattar along with dozens of MQM leaders and workers are in prison for no crime whereas the person responsible for hijacking the aircraft and putting the lives of 200 people in danger has been pardoned and sent abroad.”  Is it because he belonged to the two-percent privileged class of Punjab, he asked?  He said that when we point out such blatant injustices, we are misinterpreted and branded as foes of Punjabis.  He stated that we are not enemies of the Punjab.  Even in Punjab, people from poor and lower middle classes are incarcerated in jails for years on minor or trumped up charges.  Similarly, poor people of Sindh, Balochistan and NWFP provinces are incarcerated in prison for years on fabricated charges or minor offences where they should not be in prison for more than a few months.  Nobody is there to have mercy on them.  Nobody is there to listen to their mercy appeals.  What kind of a country Pakistan is – where the justice system for the poor is different to the justice system for the rich, inundated with wealth.  Why the Article 45 not applicable to ordinary people, he asked?  Are the privileges of the Constitution of Pakistan framed for the benefit of mere two-percent of the population?  The public generally have to endure the sharp end of the law and they are even forced to pay most unjust taxes.  This is not justice but downright oppression.  And where there is oppression, the wrath of God descends upon them. The saying of Hazrat Ali, “the rule of infidels can last but not the rule of oppression”.  During the Second World War when German forces were closing in on Britain and it seemed that German would occupy Great Britain, Prime Minister Winston Churchill asked the key personnel in the Government whether they consider that they were providing justice to our people?  They all replied that overall it was a just society.  To this Winston Churchill said that if they were providing justice and equal treatment to all the people then no power can overrun Britain.  Mr Altaf Hussain stated that perpetual miscarriage of justice and double standards have resulted in the 1971 debacle in East Pakistan.  When the military operation commenced against the Bengali Muslims in East Pakistan it was suggested that all this was being done in the larger interest of the country.  Was it really in the national interest that we lost half the country?  We are repeating the same mistakes -- injustice is rife, unfair and double standards are termed in the interest of the country.  In such situation, we can only pray to Allah to have mercy on Pakistan.  He reminded that the military operation that commenced on 19 June 1992 on Mohajir people is still continuing, thousands of MQM workers have been extra-judicially executed, thousands of sisters and daughters have turned widows and children have become orphans.  Twelve thousand families are displaced and twenty-eight MQM workers are even disappeared today. However, despite all atrocities, no steps are taken to provide justice to these oppressed people, no clause of the Constitution is applied while Article 45 was misused in haste to execute the political deal to exit Nawaz Sharif from the country. He said that a furore was created over a few questions of his on the ideology of the “Two Nation” theory. He enquired, is this the ideology of the “Two Nation” theory or the ideology of  “Pakistan” that the two per cent of the privileged classes are not only protected and free from any indictment or punishment despite committing abhorrent crimes but also exited from the country respectfully while the strangulation of law, jails, courts, blatant injustices and application of all the laws are consigned to the fate of the ninety-eight per cent of the Middle class and down trodden people of Pakistan while the two per cent privileged class is above the law and accountability free and even excused from prosecution for murder and mayhem? 

He said that when he states the facts, he is termed a traitor, his only crime is that he belongs to the middle class and not the feudal or landed aristocracy and that is why when he speaks facts, he speaks eloquently and without mincing his words. He said that the MQM is the only party in the country that hails from the middle class and down trodden segments of Pakistan and the problems faced by the people can only be resolve by the people and not the feudal oligarchy. He said that the characters of the ruling oligarchy and the privileged class is not only before the people in the country but also the world that these segments betray the people and cut deals with the Military to flee the country, abandon their people and leave the country with all their ill-gotten wealth and possessions to lead a licentious life abroad while the people and their workers, those who chant slogans for them continue to grind in the rolling-stone of crisis and atrocities.

Mr Altaf Hussain demanded of the Government that the details of the secret package cut with Nawaz Sharif be made public for the national awareness for the people to establish for themselves as to what deal has been cut with Nawaz Sharif in the larger national interests? If the Government fails to make the details public then Nawaz Sharif is morally obliged to provide all the details of the deal to the people. He said that the Government has not only rescinded its moral right of Accountability as a result of this deal cut with Nawaz Sharif and demanded that it should release Dr Farooq Sattar, Shoaib Bukhari Advocate, Kanwar Khalid Younus, Mohammad Hussain and thousands of other MQM workers because there is no reason to keep them in detention.