OPINION:
Karachi residents have long suspected that hard-line political parties in Pakistan are encouraging entities to take over the country.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is center-left, liberal and the largest party in the largest city in Pakistan. This party, which represents the oppressed middle and lower-middle classes, is currently suffering police extortion, brutality and extrajudicial killings.
Traditionally, Pakistan’s rigid political parties have suffered embarrassing defeats at the ballot box in Karachi. Many speculate the only way they have a chance to takeover Karachi is by committing a massacre of the Mohajir nation.
I would like to remind those who say this of the consequences of Operation Blue Fox in 1992, the bloodiest period in Karachi’s history. Hundreds of thousands of dedicated workers of the MQM were killed or went missing during this period.
Recent extortion against the MQM made news when one of its workers, Fahad Aziz, was arrested at his wedding and brutally beaten by the police. Moreover, the MQM says 45 of its party workers are still missing.
This is a matter of grave concern for the stability of Pakistan. Where the MQM is the only political party fighting against religious terrorism in Pakistan and struggling for the stability of a beloved country, such inhuman actions against it are self-explanatory.
FURQAN SAMI
Washington
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