KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Monday reacted sharply to a ‘raid’ on senior party leader Dr Farooq Sattar’s house and said the MQM was being penalised for supporting democracy.

Speaking at a press conference at the Karachi Press Club after the midnight raid in PIB Colony, senior MQM leaders asked party workers to stay calm and peaceful after the action by the Rangers caused anger among them.

“The MQM is being penalised for its support to democracy,” said party’s coordination committee member Kanwar Naveed Jameel who was accompanied by other senior leaders. Dr Sattar had remained Karachi mayor besides being elected eight times to parliament. “The raid on his house is really regrettable,” said Mr Jameel.

He said the MQM was the first party to seek a military operation against criminals, banned outfits and land mafia, leading to the federal government action in September 2013. The party also sought a committee to monitor the operation so that law-enforcement agencies could not exploit the initiative, he said.

“The prime minister approved the monitoring committee but even a year after the launch of the operation no such committee has been set up, with the result that there is no check on the entire exercise,” he said.

While the operation is still under way, there is no respite from extortion incidents and killings, said Mr Jameel, who was accompanied by Wasim Akhtar, Abdul Haseeb Khan, Amin-ul-Haq and Kunwar Khalid Younus.

“Instead of setting up a monitoring committee, MQM leaders are being harassed and their houses raided. Such acts are really regrettable but it will not cause the MQM to withdraw from its principal stand, as the party has the history of keeping its principles intact even in worse situations,” said Mr Jameel.

He added that the party had issued clear directives to its workers to stay calm and not to get harassed by such actions.

Earlier, MQM workers in large numbers gathered outside the Karachi Press Club and raised slogans against the raid on Dr Sattar’s house. Holding placards and banners, they sought an independent inquiry into the raid that they said ‘compromised security’ of the most senior party leader.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2014