ISLAMABAD – PPPÂ’s senior leadership has opposed military operation in violence-hit Karachi and suggested full-fledged action by Rangers to normalise the situation in the city, it has been learnt reliably.
A meeting of the Core Committee of PPP was held Friday night at the Aiwan-e-Sadr took serious note of the situation in the city. The meeting was presided over by PPP Co-Chairman President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani.
According to sources, it was also noted in the meeting that there was a lack of liaison between Interior Minister Rehman and Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza which is badly affecting performance of the government.
The government has decided to launch full-fledged operation against criminals in order to bring situation to normal in Karachi. In the meeting, sources said, some PPP leaders strongly criticised the 10-point agenda, which has been presented by PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif so as to improve countryÂ’s economic situation and said Prime Minister Gilani should not blindly accept everything presented by the Opposition.
According to sources, three federal ministers also blasted Punjab Governor Latif Khosa for visiting the grave of Mian Sharif and said the governor, instead of visiting graves, should apprise the masses of corruption and inefficiency of the Punjab government. The meeting noted that the PPP is pursuing policy of reconciliation while the PML-N was doing everything to thwart this policy of the government.
A PPP leader told the meeting that the MQM were mounting their pressure for holding local bodies polls in Sindh, and the ongoing bloodbath in Karachi would end if holding of elections was announced.
A senior PPP leader was of the view that the government should not adopt policy of confrontation and JUI-F Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman should be contacted to rejoin the government.
According to Waqt News TV channel, the MQM would also be invited to rejoin the Federal Cabinet.
Abrar Saeed adds: Reiterating to push forward the policy of reconciliation, it was the unanimous view of the central leadership of PPP to take along all the political forces in steering the country out of the prevailing political and economic crises.
The Core Committee of the party took serious notice of the sacking of over 4,000 employees by Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) and constituted a three-member committee comprising Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Syed Khurshid Shah and Advisor to Prime Minister Senator Mian Raza Rabbani to take up the issue with the Government of Sindh.
The party reiterated its commitment to standby the working classes. It recalled the reinstatement of sacked employees in the recent past and said that it would not abandon the labour and the working classes.
The central leaders of the party came up with open debate on host of issues including the response to the 10-point formula given by the PML- N for sprucing up the governance and economic management, relations with the coalition partners, current spate of target killings and the ways and means to bring the port city of Karachi under the rule of law, and a number of matters of national importance.
It was also the consensus view of the party leadership that all the stakeholders should be taken into confidence while taking any crucial decision on Karachi unrest and it was further decided that all the options including deployment of Armed Forces in the port city would be placed before the All Parties Conference on Karachi peace due in Federal Capital on 26th of this month.
It was the unflinching stance of President Zardari that all the stakeholders including MQM and ANP would be taken on board while taking any policy decision regarding Karachi and he was optimistic that peace in the port city would be brought without taking any extreme administrative step.
Both the President and Prime Minister appreciated the 10-point demands put forth for steering the country out of prevailing economic mess and said that they had asked the other political parties in the Parliament to give their suggestions as well, so that a comprehensive national agenda for economic and administrative reformation could be evolved.
It was further decided in the meeting that the government should go about swiftly the revamping process of the state-owned corporations and also take other corrective measures for bringing overall improvement in the national economy.
It was further decided with voice vote that PPP would continue to stay part of the Government of Punjab in pursuance of its policy of reconciliation and would not let the Mian Shahbaz Sharif government destabilised.
The matters relating to the partyÂ’s reorganisation also came under discussion and in this connection party leaders were asked to reinvigorate the party set-up at grassroots level so that the party could show better results in the upcoming local bodies elections across the country.
At the outset of the meeting President Zardari, who is also Co-Chairman of Pakistan PeopleÂ’s Party, also briefed the members about his recent visit to UAE and America. He also shared the details of his meeting with President Obama with the participants of the meeting.
Besides President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani, the Core Committee meeting of the party was attended by Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, leader of the House in Senate, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Minister for Commerce, Chaudhary Ahmad Mukhtar, Minister for Defence, Nazar Mohammed Gondal, Minister for Food & Agriculture, Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Rehman Malik, Interior Minister, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah, Minister for Labour & Manpower, Syed Naveed Qamar, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Dr Babar Awan, Minister for Law & Justice, Raja Pervaz Ashraf, Minister for Water & Power, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani, Advisor to PM, Senator Jahangir Badar, Senator Faisal Raza Abidi, Rukhsana Bangash, MNA, Fauzia Wahab, MNA, Fauzia Habib, MNA, and Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar.
Staff Reporter from Karachi adds: Two activists of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) were gunned down in yet another incident of target killing in Joria Bazaar, Risala police said on Friday.
The incident took place near a shop situated in Joria Bazaar, when the victims, 50-year-old Haji Fareed, son of Abdul Hafeez; and Saeed, alias Gullo, were sitting there. Suddenly two armed men reached there on motorcycle and opened indiscriminate firing on them; resultantly both sustained to injuries.
Police shifted them to Civil Hospital Karachi (CHK) for medical treatment where they breathed their last. With the news of killings spread, scores of MQM workers, leaders and sympathisers gathered in CHK. Tension engulfed the surrounding areas and all shops and market were closed.
SHO Faryad Bhatti said it was the incident of target killing. Haji Fareed was the father of five children and also used to run a grocery shop in the same vicinity and was also a very prominent social worker of the area. Victim Abdul Hafeez was an employee of City District Government (CDGK) and he was unmarried. Both victims were the activists of MQM.
Later, their funeral prayers were offered in Denso Hall. No case was registered till the filing of this report. It is pertinent to mention here that two activists of MQM had been gunned down in the same area four days ago.