Opinion

Who Is Responsible for the Tragedy of 12th May?
By Altaf Hussain
London

Patriotic Pakistanis!

Today all the opposition political and religious parties, as usual are unanimously holding the MQM responsible for the 12th May tragedy. Now I would like to ask all knowledgeable Pakistanis that if you decide to carry out mayhem and murder under the cover of a rally or a procession then would you take your family members including your mother, father, sister and sons along with you? Or would you care to take them with you? Certainly, you all will reply, “No, Never, under no circumstance”. Have you not seen the participants of the MQM rally through the electronic media that included women, elders and children?
If MQM had planned to create unrest or disorder then why would hundreds and thousands of MQM workers and supporters have participated in the rally along with their mothers, sisters, sons, daughters and other family members?

12TH MAY – MURDER OF INNOCENT PEOPLE
Patriotic Pakistanis!
I would like to apprise you of more facts: on 12th May at around 12 noon as soon as the information was broadcast on the electronic media channels that the plane carrying the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had landed at the Karachi Airport, the conspiring elements with the help of secretly hidden terrorists in the Pakhtoon community areas came on to the streets and started indiscriminate firing on the MQM rallies. As a result the MQM rallies/processions instead of moving forward started retreating back towards their respective areas. At the Sharah-e-Faisal on Natha Khan Goth the terrorists of ANP and PPP appeared on the streets and opened indiscriminate firing on the oncoming rallies – then the MQM workers immediately formed a long queue of male workers and asked the women, elders and children to run away from there to wherever they could. Several workers in the queue received bullet injuries, some died on the spot and some were injured who, after the women and children had reached safety, were picked up by the MQM workers and rushed to different hospitals. Because of not receiving the medical treatment on time and as a result of excessive loss of blood, several injured workers passed away.
When the armed terrorists of ANP and PPP saw that the MQM people are disappearing they started moving forward until they reached the Star Gate near the Airport. Another armed group of terrorists appeared from the Natha Khan Goth and came on the main road and started setting the vehicles alight. These vehicles were abandoned by the MQM people who had left the spot taking the murdered and the injured with them.
The second armed group of terrorists moved further forward and continued with their firing because they could see the MQM flags on vacant buses parked at a distance from them. As a result of the indiscriminate firing of this second armed terrorists group the members of the first armed group of terrorists were shot at – some of them died and others were injured. Similarly, as a result of indiscriminate firing from the second armed terrorists group armed terrorists of the first group belonging to the PPP and ANP were murdered and injured; while all the opposition parties are blaming the MQM for this.
Such baseless allegations have been leveled against the MQM in the past so as to prevent the righteous message of the MQM from reaching all the poor and middleclass people of Pakistan. And those to whom this message has reached could be made to dislike the MQM, or under the pressure of the propaganda quit the MQM, thus obstructing the MQM to become a national political party so as to keep the poor and middleclass people subservient to a few of the hereditary families for decades to come.

WHERE WERE POLICE AND RANGERS DURING THE BLOODBATH?
It is very difficult and hard to find the answer to this question in the tragedy of 12th May. Because the country’s first Prime Minister Khan Liaquat Ali Khan’s brutal murder investigation is still awaited by the Pakistani nation! Similarly, why had the car transporting the Founder of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah on arrival from Quetta to Karachi break down? Why had the petrol in his car run out? Why were the guards responsible for his security and who used to be around him not accompanying him? Why was it that timely medical treatment could not reach him? Those who are saying today that the Government is responsible to provide security to life of the public – indeed the responsibility to provide security to the public lies with the Government. But those who are criticizing the Government today would they like to tell the nation that during the rule of Benazir Bhutto when her Government was at the federal and provincial level; who murdered Murtaza Bhutto, the only surviving male son of Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto? Why the PPP Government and its ministers on this irresponsible act did not resign from the federal and provincial governments?
Similarly, Nawaz Sharif was the ruler and it was his responsibility to run the affairs of the Government but on 12th October 1999 when he reached the television station, why was he not able to address the nation and secure himself from dismissal as Prime Minister? The nation and the new generation are waiting for the answers to these questions for a long time and God knows how long they have to wait.
Why did Quaid-i-Azam’s car break down while coming to Karachi? How and why was Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah murdered? By whom and where was the conspiracy to murder Khan Liaquat Ali Khan hatched? Why and how was Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto hanged on a disputed decision? Why have the culprits responsible for the disintegration of the country not been punished to date? The General and other officials who abrogate the Constitution – why were the PPP, despite coming twice to power, not able to bring them to book under Article 6 of the Constitution?
To search for the answers to these questions is the responsibility of every enlightened and patriotic Pakistani. One must look upon oneself before criticizing others. We too are waiting for answers to such questions as to why the Police and Rangers did not arrive on time at the murder of innocent people on 12May 2007? As on 14 December 1986 during the tragedy of Qasbah and Aligarh when the bloodbath was carried on for 6 hours but neither the administration, nor the police, rangers or other law enforcement personnel reached the scene. On 30th September 1988 at the time of the tragedy of Hyderabad – for half an hour armed terrorists continued to murder innocent people but the administration was not to be seen, police disappeared and other law enforcement agencies were also not present.

Patriotic Pakistanis!
If Altaf Hussain is wrong then you can chose another true leader who can attain the rights of the 98 percent poor and middleclass, womenfolk and minorities irrespective of their cast, color or creed and even religion. Another purpose of my struggle apart from attaining the rights of the poor and middleclass is to do whatever I can for the solidarity and sovereignty of Pakistan and to make Pakistan a strong and prosperous Country.
I have to my fullest ability spent thirty years of life in this struggle. I sacrificed my happiness and wishes; even the sacrifice of my brother and nephew, sacrifice of thousands of my beloved companions – but Allah Almighty knows that let alone murdering someone I have never even preached to hurt anyone. My only crime is that I am not a feudal lord, nor a capitalist nor a Sardar – I am from the 98 percent public. I have narrated the facts and I leave it to your conscience to decide what is true or what is false?

Wassalam

Your exiled Pakistani brother,
Altaf Hussain

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