Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) senior leader Dr Farooq Sattar has said that a full charge sheet has been submitted on the explosion at the K-Electric plant behind the Gul Plaza, and the “unholy alliance” of the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC).
Speaking at an emergency press conference at the party’s Bahadurabad headquarters on Monday, Sattar said that in the light of the evidence, KE had illegally installed gas turbines, power generators and gas cylinders in the basement of the busiest commercial centre.
He said that the presence of furnace oil and other flammable substances had turned the entire area into a powder keg. He asked why the energy department and the Sindh government are still silent on this serious violation.
Advocate Tariq Mansoor said that the KE installations behind the Gul Plaza shopping mall are completely illegal, and the recent resolutions passed in the KMC are against the constitution, so the MQM-P would fight against all these abuses at every legal forum.
Sattar said the people of Karachi saw the JI and the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf vote against the resolution in the KMC meeting that was in favour of forming new administrative units and provinces in Sindh.
This process proves that these parties only make verbal claims, but when it comes to the rights of Karachi, they stand with the elders of the PPP, he added.
He said the people of Karachi are being exploited under the formula of “mayor, you are the opposition leader”, and the JI has traded the future of the city’s youth to save the mayor’s chair. He appealed to the youth and the people of Karachi to unite against “these looters”, claiming that the MQM-P is the true and only protector of their rights.
‘Hateful speeches’
Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said that the hateful speeches and conspiracies of the federal government’s coalition partner, the MQM-P, and federal ministers against the Sindh government are now coming to light.
A statement quoted him as saying that under a well-planned campaign, federal ministers are actively engaged in propaganda and conspiracies against the provincial government, which urges the leadership of the PPP to seek an explanation from the Centre.
He said that on the one hand the Centre seeks cooperation from the PPP on every issue, while on the other, its allies and federal ministers are daily involved in malicious conspiracies against the province and its government.
‘Point scoring’
Karachi Deputy Mayor Salman Abdullah Murad said Sattar should first account for his past, then criticise the PPP. Those who threw the city into the fire of linguistic politics are teaching a lesson in morality today, he added.
Murad said that it was the PPP that caught the leaders of the Chhotu gang. He stressed that the party does not engage in politics that protects criminals. He said that the talk of the president’s resignation is nothing but political point scoring. “There is no need to rescue Karachi from anyone. Karachi is a city of conscious people.”
He also said that the PPP has supported the people of Karachi in every difficult time. “The performance of 18 years is before the people. Development projects are witnesses.”
He added that those who suggest changing the name have themselves been changing the name and direction of their politics. “The PPP believes in public service, not in the politics of blame.”
