Author:
Publication: The Daily Excelsior
Date: April 11, 2001
Altaf Hussain, chief of Muttahida
Quami Movement (MQM), has blamed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)
for fomenting sectarian violence in Pakistan through "their hired assassins
and so-called religious leaders".
Launching a scathing attack on the
ISI, Hissain said he was firm in his conviction that "a very organised
and powerful institution of the establishment, that is the ISI, is behind
the conspiracy of rising sectarian violence in the country."
"The ISI through their hired assassins
and so-called religious scholars, carry out murders, organise armed attacks
on mosques and Imam barahs, and then put the blame on foreign hands or
the MQM," Hussain, who is in exile here, said in a message to the scholars
in Karachi.
Hussain, whose message was quoted
in the MQM website, said "everyone is witness to the establishment of `Jihadi'
organisations in Karachi and the open display of arms by their members".
Meanwhile in Geneva, MQM asked the
UNHRC to urgently address the "systematic destruction" of Pakistani civil
institutions, warning that an "unstructured" Pakistan with nuclear capability
would "not take a second to push the nuclear button".
In a memorandum to the UN body,
MQM said unless UNHRC took immediate note and addressed this, "the day
shall not be far when every edifice on which the Pakistani nation is based,
goes up in smoke in a manner not dissimilar to the once towering Bamiyan
Buddhas".
The MQM sought urgent steps to meet
the situation saying "you are aware of the potential consequences of a
collapsing Pakistan or Pakistan in the clutches of the extremist and radical
forces, whether civilian or military, who are gaining strength."
Blaming the Pervez Musharraf regime
for "systematic destruction" of Pakistani society and polity, it said the
military regime was holding "Sham" local elections on non-party basis "to
gain constituencies for itself with the view to subvert the democratic
process and deny the people their right to franchise and choose their political
party".
Castigating the regime for its human
rights record while referring to the prosecution, arrest and torture of
political activists including those of the mqm, the memorandum said "sectarian
violence has also become endemic while religious fanaticism is on the rise,
adherently promoted by the Government". (PTI)
