* ISPR DG says MQM’s remarks about army, its leadership are uncalled for and disgusting * Such reference to army as reaction to arrest of criminals won’t be tolerated
KARACHI: The military on Friday lashed out at the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain in rare censure of a civilian politician for his sharp criticism of the army.
The dispute marks a low in deteriorating relations between the military and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, which controls Karachi. Residents fear a confrontation could spark violence.
“Altaf Hussain’s speech on TV, containing remarks about the army and its leadership, was uncalled for and disgusting,” Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) spokesman Major-General Asim Bajwa said on his Twitter feed, referring to the leader of the MQM.
“Such reference to army or its leadership as reaction to arrest of criminals, who may have links with any political party, won’t be tolerated,” he said.
Asim Bajwa vowed that legal action would be taken against such remarks and the use of media to incite the people of Pakistan to rise against the state. He also tweeted that the army and law enforcement agencies would continue to carry out operations as assigned to them.
The military rarely gets openly involved in day-to-day politics.
The army has vowed to drive criminals out of the southern port city of 18 million people, scarred by violence unleashed by insurgents, drug lords and kidnappers. The MQM, Pakistan’s fourth largest party, has long held sway over Karachi, which is home to the main stock market and central bank, and generates half of the government revenue.
Law enforcement agencies have accused the MQM of retaining power through mafia ties, accusations the party denies. Political insiders say the military is determined to shatter the MQM’s grip on Karachi. A military operation against criminals is really directed at the MQM, the party says.
Hours before the ISPR spokesman’s comments, MQM leader Altaf Hussain accused the military of targeting his supporters, asking why it had not rooted out criminals and militant sympathisers from its own ranks.
“How many retired army men were caught in bank heists?” Hussain asked in a televised speech from London, where he has lived in self-exile since fleeing arrest in the 1990s.
Altaf Hussain was enraged by an accusation from a senior Karachi policemen earlier on Thursday, that his officers had captured two MQM workers acting as spies for India.
“I won’t call him pig, as a pig is better than him,” Altaf Hussain responded, as he urged his followers to prepare for a showdown. “Get commando training, get training to use weapons and get ready for a fight.”
The statement added that the MQM supremo had rather praised the steps taken by the army and asked Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif to dispense justice.
“Those who surrendered are called patriots while the founders of Pakistan are dubbed as traitors,” he said.
Altaf Hussain claimed that those in the corridors of power had never accepted them as “sons of the soil”. He said that Pakistan would “bear irreparable loss if atrocities against us [the MQM] are not stopped”.
The MQM chief said that other ethnic groups had also established nationalist organisations in the country but only his party was subjected to operations.
He said that earlier in 1992, members of the MQM were declared as Indian agents and also raised the point as to why the MQM is always linked with India and not with any other country. Meanwhile, the MQM’s Rabita Committee said in a statement that party chief Altaf Hussain had not criticised the military leadership.
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