As many as 141 activists of different political parties have been killed in the metropolis in target killings during past 45 days. The majority of activists who lost their lives belonged to ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Sunni Tehrik (ST), Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM-Haqiqi) and the Awami National Party (ANP).
Talking to Business Recorder on Wednesday, central leader Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Haider Abbas Rizvi said that according to a conspiracy, the anti-state elements are trying to tarnish the peace of this mega city. These elements are trying to get involve political parties to fight with each other so as to achieve their targets, he said.
He said that from past five years, Karachi was the most peaceful city of the country but from last few weeks, target killings of some activists of different political parties had destroyed the peace of the city. The peace of the city could be restored through dialogue amongst the central leadership of all major parties, he said.
He said that for the sake of peace of this city MQM chief Altaf Hussain has directed the central leadership of MQM to resolve all the issues with Sunni Tehrik. The party has set a committee to start dialogue with Sunni Tehrik, he said. He said that the leaders of all parties, whom workers have killed during past 45 days, are ready to resolve the disputes. He expressed a hope that all the issues amongst two political parties would be resolved soon.
Central leader of Sunni Tehrik (ST), Shakeel Qadri termed this ongoing target killing as a wave of terrorist activities in the city. Several activists have lost their precious lives during this ongoing wave of terrorists activities but the authorities concerned are yet to take any action against the culprits, he said. He said that the law enforcement agencies are well aware and also know that who was involved in these violent incidents of target killing in the city but they are least concern to take any initiative against them. The law enforcement agencies should play their pivotal role for maintaining peace of metropolis, he said.
He said that for the sake of the city and to maintain the peace of city, the central leadership is ready to hold talks with MQM. He also stressed upon a need to resolve the issues through dialogue.
Ameen Khattak of Awami National Party (ANP) said that ANP condemned the target killing of every political party activist. He said that we should resolve all disputes through dialogue.
He said that in this period of democracy, the target killing of workers is deplorable. The main cause behind these incidents is to achieve the status on the basis of power, he said. He said, "some people are trying to associate the Pukhtoons with Talibans, which is not correct". We want to launch a joint venture with other parties to locate so-called Talibans if they are present in Karachi, he said.
He said that when the government hold talks amongst the central leadership of political parties to discuss disputes, it always neglect the ANP, which is a great injustice. He said that the participation of ANP in peace talks would be helpful to remove misunderstandings amongst residents of the city.
Meanwhile, the official sources at Sindh Secretariat apprised that Home Minister Sindh Dr Zulfiqar Mirza has formed a committee under the chairmanship of Raza Rabbani, a senior leader of Pakistan Peoples Party on October 30, 2008 to resolve all disputes amongst political parties but when he was contacted he denied to accept and said that no such committee has been formed so far in this regard.
CCPO Karachi Waseem Ahmed when contacted, also denied to accept that 141 activists of different political parties have been killed in the past 45 day and when he was told that some official sources at Sindh Secretariat has provided this information, he replied that the given information is totally wrong.