The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief on Monday urged Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chowdhry to start a probe into what he called 'Jinnahpur conspiracy'. In a video press conference aired in Lahore and Rawalpindi Press Clubs and 19 other locations in Sindh, the London-based MQM leader also demanded of the Chief Justice to make PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif accountable for launching a "military operation" in 1992 against the MQM.
He said that the former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief, Brigadier Imtiaz, and former Corps Commander Lieutenant General Naseer Akhtar, during a media talk, had termed 'Jinnahpur' map "a drama, a development", which according to Altaf Husain, had marked the victory of some 15,000 martyrs of MQM.
"The 1992 operation was an attempt to malign MQM, which was then fast becoming popular countrywide," Altaf Husain told a huge gathering, largely attended by MQM leaders and Co-ordination Committee members. Terming himself a patriot, Altaf said he was a strong opponent of a political system embedded by a feudal and hereditary mindset.
The MQM leader also demanded of the Chief of Army Staff and the heads of other law enforcement agencies to burn all such files which were "full of allegations against MQM". "Mr Chief Justice should call Brigadiar Imtiaz (Retd) and General Naseer Akhtar (Retd) and listen to them," he said.
He also called upon PML-N leader, the then prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to clarify his position before the nation, particularly the people of Punjab, on the 1992 operation against MQM. Altaf questioned about "compulsions" which prevented Nawaz from stopping the 1992 military crackdown. Party members and leaders said "No", when their leader asked if they wanted his homecoming.