London: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has announced a conditional boycott of the forthcoming general elections in Pakistan and forwarded the consensus decision of the Coordination Committee to MQM founding leader Altaf Hussain.
The announcement of conditional boycotting the country’s general elections was made public by the Coordination Committee Convener Dr. Nadeem Ehsan in a video briefing held at the party’s International Secretariat here on Monday evening.
Dr. Ehsan was flanked by Coordination Committee Deputy Convener Qasim Ali Raza, members Manzoor Ahmed, Syed Mustafa Azizabadi and Sufyan Yousuf.
Dr. Ehsan in his video briefing included variety of topics including All Pakistan Muttahidda Students Organisation (APMSO), MQM’s creation and reasons behind, the injustices done to Mohajirs, their deprivation, state-sponsored atrocities and repression on Mohajirs, their massacre and military crackdowns for their genocide, grudge and bias of the media, and negligence of the judiciary in the dispensation of justice to Mohajirs.
He further said that since Jun 19, 1992, at least 22,000 MQM workers have been extrajudicially executed by the military establishment and its paramilitary forces. He claimed that even today, 500 workers are missing as they have been enforced to disappear after their abductions from their homes and workplaces, while a thousand others are in jail without any lawful charge.
Dr. Ehsan added that due to the failure to crush the MQM, the ISI created factions in MQM and raised the “packs of traitors and time-servants” to defeat and eliminate the party.
He claimed that the “traitors” were prior to their shift to ISI trained and raised by Altaf Husain but at the behest of ISI, they demanded the execution of him under Article 6 of the constitution for treason.
Dr. Ehsan further said that they also betrayed Altaf Hussain and removed him from the party’s constitution. However, he added that as per the constitution of the MQM, not a single letter could be changed, altered or removed from it sans prior approval of Altaf Hussain.
“Despite all plots and conspiracies, all atrocities and injustices, the ISI could not eliminate the Movement (MQM) and the Movement gained more strength and unity instead”, Dr. Ehsan said.
He added, “MQM and Mr. Hussain are one and correlative to each other. Mr. Hussain is the founder of the MQM and would always remain the same.”
Dr. Ehsan said, “Those who have betrayed the founder of the Movement (Altaf Hussain) and are playing a nasty game against the MQM would fall head down and would find no place to hide and that they have earned shame and disrespect, which they would carry along till their last breath.”
He said that the Mohajirs and MQM workers have known only one as their leader, who is Altaf Hussain.
“It was not new that Mr. Hussain had criticised the corrupt military junta of Pakistan, as almost all politicians and clerics in Pakistan have also slammed them for their wrongdoing. But the military establishment only dared to lock Mr. Hussain’s residence and bulldozed party offices. The military establishment had only chased MQM workers, but kidnapped them, jailed them sans and lawful charge, executed them in custody and crossed all limits of human rights violations.”
Dr. Ehsan said that even ex-ISI Director General Asad Durrani sought help from India’s spy agency RAW chief, but he still remained a “patriot Pakistani.”
“The corrupt military establishment has imposed an embargo on speech of Mr. Hussain, and Pakistani media is restricted to carry or telecast any of his words or statement or picture. The corrupt military junta has shut his residence, the Nine Zero and locked down party’s Khursheed Begum Secretariat at Karachi adjacent to his residence. MQM offices have been destroyed and those left have been allowed to be occupied by the traitors,” he said.
“The repression has reached a limit where the military establishment does not allow Mohajir men and women to recite the holy Quran for the prayers to the departed souls of MQM’s martyrs. The unlawfully detained or jailed workers are not produced in any court of law and they have been denied of right to fair trial,” he added.
Keeping in view the long chain of injustices and atrocities, the MQM decided that it would not fight general elections until all restrictions are relaxed and embargos are lifted.
Dr. Ehsan said that the proposal of conditional boycott of Pakistan’s general elections would be laid before the founder of the MQM for his due endorsement, after which the Coordination Committee of the MQM would give its full and final line of action.
He added that a gigantic campaign would be kicked off in Pakistan and across the world.
Dr. Ehsan appealed to the Commonwealth Elections Observer, EU Elections Observer Mission, UN Election Commission, UN Census Mission and UNDP to take notice of pre-poll rigging in Pakistan by the military establishment of the country and their plans for keeping MQM deprived of their rights.
(ANI)