Karachi
Hundreds of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activists and supporters paid their final respects to party leader and member of the Sindh Assembly, Syed Raza Haider, who was laid to rest on Tuesday at the Martyrs’ Graveyard in Azizabad.
Funeral prayers for Haider and his guard, Khalid Khan, were held earlier at the Jinnah Ground in Azizabad, from where their bodies were taken to different graveyards; Khan was buried at the Jannat-ul-Baqi Graveyard in Tauhid Colony, Orangi Town.
Both bodies were wrapped in MQM flags, and were brought to the ground amid tight security. The MQM had assumed control of security arrangements for the funeral, with emotionally charged activists and supporters of the party raising slogans against the wave of targeted violence that has gripped the city.
Later, members of the MQM Rabita Committee appeared at a press conference at the Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall, and called for a high-level inquiry and immediate arrest of culprits involved in the assassination of Haider and other party activists.
“We want the government to take some practical steps instead of merely issuing statements, and arrest the culprits involved in the killing of MQM activists,” said Rabita Committee Deputy Convener Anees Qaimkhani.
Flanked by Rabita Committee members and leaders, including Mustafa Kamal, Raza Haroon, Kanwar Khalid Younus, Waseem Aftab, Nasreen Jalil and others, Qaimkhani asked the federal government why terrorists were not being apprehended despite the Interior Ministry having information about plots to target MQM leaders and activists.
Qaimkhani asked the Awami National Party (ANP) to review its policy in Sindh, alleging that the land and drug mafias, as well as the Taliban — who he said were involved in sabotaging the peace of the city — had found sanctuaries in ANP-dominated areas in the city.
The Rabita Committee deputy convenor said that the MQM is a coalition partner in the government for the sake of Karachi, and urged the government to take appropriate steps to save the city from destruction. “We demand of the government to initiate an operation against the Taliban, as well as against the land and drug mafias in the city. We don’t want to go into a debate over whether peace is established in the city through the deployment of Rangers,” he said.
Qaimkhani also accused the ANP of patronising the Taliban in Karachi, claiming that it was an open secret that various Taliban leaders were arrested from the areas of the city where the land and drug mafias have established their hideouts.
To a question, Qaimkhani said that the MQM will lodge an FIR against the killing of Haider, alleging that elements who wanted to sabotage the peace of the city are involved in the murder of the MPA. He said that Haider’s assassination was not the first terror incident against the MQM, with the most recent attack before the assassination being on a MQM unit office in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.
Qaimkhani said that MQM chief Altaf Hussain has appealed to the people and the party activists to remain calm and maintain peace in the city despite these killings, adding that the MQM has announced observing a three-day peaceful mourning over the killing of MPA Haider.
Hundreds of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activists and supporters paid their final respects to party leader and member of the Sindh Assembly, Syed Raza Haider, who was laid to rest on Tuesday at the Martyrs’ Graveyard in Azizabad.
Funeral prayers for Haider and his guard, Khalid Khan, were held earlier at the Jinnah Ground in Azizabad, from where their bodies were taken to different graveyards; Khan was buried at the Jannat-ul-Baqi Graveyard in Tauhid Colony, Orangi Town.
Both bodies were wrapped in MQM flags, and were brought to the ground amid tight security. The MQM had assumed control of security arrangements for the funeral, with emotionally charged activists and supporters of the party raising slogans against the wave of targeted violence that has gripped the city.
Later, members of the MQM Rabita Committee appeared at a press conference at the Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall, and called for a high-level inquiry and immediate arrest of culprits involved in the assassination of Haider and other party activists.
“We want the government to take some practical steps instead of merely issuing statements, and arrest the culprits involved in the killing of MQM activists,” said Rabita Committee Deputy Convener Anees Qaimkhani.
Flanked by Rabita Committee members and leaders, including Mustafa Kamal, Raza Haroon, Kanwar Khalid Younus, Waseem Aftab, Nasreen Jalil and others, Qaimkhani asked the federal government why terrorists were not being apprehended despite the Interior Ministry having information about plots to target MQM leaders and activists.
Qaimkhani asked the Awami National Party (ANP) to review its policy in Sindh, alleging that the land and drug mafias, as well as the Taliban — who he said were involved in sabotaging the peace of the city — had found sanctuaries in ANP-dominated areas in the city.
The Rabita Committee deputy convenor said that the MQM is a coalition partner in the government for the sake of Karachi, and urged the government to take appropriate steps to save the city from destruction. “We demand of the government to initiate an operation against the Taliban, as well as against the land and drug mafias in the city. We don’t want to go into a debate over whether peace is established in the city through the deployment of Rangers,” he said.
Qaimkhani also accused the ANP of patronising the Taliban in Karachi, claiming that it was an open secret that various Taliban leaders were arrested from the areas of the city where the land and drug mafias have established their hideouts.
To a question, Qaimkhani said that the MQM will lodge an FIR against the killing of Haider, alleging that elements who wanted to sabotage the peace of the city are involved in the murder of the MPA. He said that Haider’s assassination was not the first terror incident against the MQM, with the most recent attack before the assassination being on a MQM unit office in Gulistan-e-Jauhar.
Qaimkhani said that MQM chief Altaf Hussain has appealed to the people and the party activists to remain calm and maintain peace in the city despite these killings, adding that the MQM has announced observing a three-day peaceful mourning over the killing of MPA Haider.