M A I N   N E W S

‘Mush commandeered MQM to counter CJ’s rally’
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad

Former army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg has said that Gen Zia-ul-Haq was responsible for the formation of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), as he wanted to counter the opposition his regime faced in Sindh. Dr Imran Farooq of the MQM has denied the claim.

In an interview to the Voice of America, General Beg said “most certainly” it was Zia who had the MQM founded. He added that General Musharraf should be asked why he relied on the MQM so much. He said it was under the present government that the offices of MQM’s rival, MQM (Haqeeqi), were shut down and its people sent to jail. The MQM had now come to the aid of the regime in a show of loyalty, he said.

In an earlier VOA interview, Benazir Bhutto had said the Gen Zia-ul-Haq founded both the MQM and the Afghanistan Mujahideen. She said there was a wide gap between what the MQM claimed and what it actually did.

Dr Imran Farooq told VOA that the army simply did not have the capability of setting up a popular political party. He pointed out that Gen Aslam Beg’s party had been formed with the army’s blessings and had failed to make its mark.

Meanwhile, writing for English daily ‘The Nation’, General Beg disclosed that President Musharraf had commandeered MQM’s political standing to block with brute force suspended Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry’s proposed rally in Karachi on May 12.

Referring to reports that MQM actions were ordered in micro-detail by the movement’s autocratic leader (Altaf Hussain), via telephone, from Edgware in north London, General Beg disclosed that Altaf was woken up late at night and asked to organise a counter rally against Justice Iftikhar on his arrival on May 12. Ruling party chief Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain was also summoned to work out the plan of action, which was formalised at the Governor House Karachi. On the same day, the “mother of all congregations” was planned at Islamabad, Beg wrote.

Altaf Hussain had declared from London: “If the opposition tries to bring the present government down, every single soul of MQM would sacrifice its life, to save the government.”

“The dye was thus cast, and the nexus-Musharraf, Altaf-Shujaat-Ishratul Ibad, was ready for the grand welcome (to Justice Iftikhar), “ he added.

“On 12 May, the Governor House took over the operational control, along with, IG police and the home secretary and delivered the coup-de-grace in the killing fields of Karachi,” wrote Beg.