Govt in a quandary after 'disclosures': Muttahida

The News International

04 January 2000
By our correspondent

KARACHI: The coordination committee of Muttahida Qaumi Movement has said that the government is in a fix following recent disclosures of "facts" by MQM chief Altaf Hussain and the open letter from him to the Chief Executive of the country, General Pervez Musharraf.

In a statement faxed to The News late night on Monday, the coordination committee also condemned the reported interview of ISPR Chief Brigadier Rashid Qureshi broadcast by Radio Tehran.

Instead of giving serious consideration to the disclosures and other facts about the state of affairs, the government spokesman was issuing statement and contesting the statements of Muttahida chief, which generated the impression that the government was unnerved after the public disclosures, it added.

Referring to the ISPR chief's statement, the committee said that the official spokesman's stance that 'Altaf Hussain had been differing from the integrity of the country' had exposed the policy of the establishment that Altaf should be considered 'anti-Pakistan' under any circumstances. The incident of air crash of C-130 and killing of President of Pakistan, army chief General Zia-ul-Haq and other top generals was not an ordinary event and demanding an inquiry into that was not a crime and it could never be termed anti-state activity, it added.

Justifying Altaf's demand for instituting of inquiry into the C-130 crash in 1988, the committee said that the demand was made in view of the chief executive's ongoing accountability campaign so that the real culprits behind the incident could be brought to book and nation could be informed about the heavy loss caused to the country.

The committee said that Altaf was unanimously accepted leader of the Mohajirs and suppressed people of the country and making false allegations, as cited by the government spokesman, was tantamount to hurting millions of people, and demanded an apology in this regard.