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MQM wants IDPs restricted to special camps
By Azfar-ul-Ashfaque Taliban are also coming to Karachi in the cover of IDPs and they can launch suicide attacks at any time: Farooq Sattar.—APP KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement has demanded that the government make the registration of all displaced families arriving in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan mandatory and that it restrict the movements of the internally displaced persons to their special makeshift camps. The demand was made by the deputy convenor of the MQM’s coordination committee, Dr Farooq Sattar, at a press conference held at the party’s headquarters on Friday. He said that a meeting of the party’s coordination committee, which was held simultaneously in Karachi and London, reviewed at length the country’s overall political situation, the military operation against terrorists in Swat, the migration of hundreds of thousands of families from the affected areas and the ‘subsequent arrival of the Taliban in the disguise of migrating families’ in different areas of Sindh. He said that hundreds of thousands of migrating families were coming to the cities of Sindh, particularly Karachi, but the government has no record of them. ‘A large number of the Taliban are also coming to Karachi and other areas in the cover of this migration and they can at any time launch suicide attacks or other acts of terrorism,’ he added. Referring to the recent arrests of Taliban operatives and the recovery of suicide jackets, explosive material, arms and ammunition from their possession, he said that the arrests vindicated the MQM’s stance about Talibanisation and ‘proved that such elements have formed a network in Karachi’. He said that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and senior military officers have disclosed that the Taliban were ‘fleeing in the guise of internally displaced people’ and the Punjab government has also taken measures to curb the influx of terrorists in the province. ‘Therefore, we demanded that the president, the prime minister, the interior minister and high-ups of the security agencies declare mandatory the registration of all migrating families arriving in Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan and lodge them at special makeshift camps so that the Taliban cannot enter the cities in disguise,’ he added. Dr Sattar said that the MQM assured all parties of Sindh of its support in their protest against the arrival of what he called ‘strangers in Sindh’. He was asked whether his party would support the strike call of the Jiye Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, upon which he said the MQM would support all peaceful protests. In reply to another question, he said that the MQM would convey its apprehension to President Asif Ali Zardari, who is due to visit the provincial metropolis next week. Dr Sattar also said that as per the disclosures of arrested Taliban and al Qaeda linked suspects, terrorists were planning to target the Central Police Office and the MQM headquarters (known as ‘Nine-zero’) Dawn:Saturday,May 23,
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