Palejo at Meet-the-Press

MQM assumes role of ‘Terrorist Mafia’

LAHORE, May 28: Sindh Awami Tehrik (SAT) chairman Rasool Bakhsh Palejo said on Monday that the situation in Pakistan was not dissimilar to ‘banana republics’ of Latin America where the US ruled through terrorist mafias raised by it to frighten the people and state institutions.

Mr Palejo asserted at the “Meet-the-Press” programme of the Lahore Press Club that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had assumed such a role in Pakistan and the establishment had thrown its entire weight behind the elements which turned Karachi into a ‘no-go area’ for the Chief Justice of Pakistan and his entourage by demonstration of their fascist tendencies on May 12.

The MQM activities had so far been confined to Karachi and other urban centres of Sindh. The May 12 events served the first opportunity for Altaf Husain’s party to extend its awesome threat to the entire country, he added.

He claimed that the establishment had now decided to hand over the entire country to the MQM and the May 12 event was ‘a high drama’ as part of the conspiracy to impose the fascist body to take political and administrative control of the country.

Explaining his assertion, he said arrangements were being made to broker peace between the MQM and the PPP and also involve the Awami National Party in the ‘game’. The parties would come to terms with the MQM in ruling the country with an iron hand. The MQM would ultimately hold the key with complete administrative control over the country and the ‘allies’ would also get due share in the bargain in the shape of ministries and other facilities, he continued.

Mr Palejo said police in Sindh were barred from registering cases involving the MQM activists and leaders.

He said such a concession was being given to the MQM by the establishment ‘by design’ because it alone had shown unqualified support to the ‘country’s real power’. The very fact that the MQM had been part of every government, whether military or civil, since its inception in 1985, was an evidence of the importance the GHQ attached to the party which was a replica of Hitler’s Nazi Party and the Gestapo in the present times.

Mr Palejo, however, saw a ‘silver lining’ on the political horizon in the lawyers’ democratic struggle which had, for the first time in six decades, thrown a serious challenge to the establishment. The campaign was a movement for a ‘genuine’ freedom of the country which had its state institutions fully functional and rule of law prevailing in all walks of life. The movement was headed by a judge who had shown exemplary courage in refusing to bow before a dictator.

He said political parties were hardly prepared for the movement and had joined the campaign only to safeguard their interests. If the people remained united, the freedom from all pressures was not far away, he added.

At the outset, the nationalist leader from Sindh said Pakistan had never experienced real independence after 1947 as the successive governments accepted foreign domination in all spheres of activity. Pakistan further yielded to the pressure since Washington took over the control from the British and this reduced the people of Pakistan a nation of slaves.

He said Pakistan was conceived as a vibrant federation but no constitution had so far met the autonomy requirements of the federal units and this was creating a critical situation.

He said the current situation warranted that Gen Musharraf should be sent packing and Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry given the charge of conducting the elections to ensure ushering in of a genuine democratic rule in Pakistan.

About Kalabagh dam, Mr Palejo said the dispute should be placed before a non-partisan commission of experts to hear all parties, including the federal government, before a decision.
Source:DAWN: May 29, 2007

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