MQM chief Altaf Hussain told his party workers on Sunday that army generals had imposed martial laws in the past and so they could take a similar action again to weed out corrupt politicians and the MQM would support such an act.
Every party expressed its concern over the MQM chief's call.
Commenting on Mr Hussain's speech, a senior leader of the Pakistan People's Party, Taj Haider, said that “such statements are not welcome”. However, he hastily added that he would not say anything that might affect the working relationship of the PPP and the MQM, which are coalition partner at the centre and in Sindh. “We are following the policy of reconciliation and would continue to pursue it.”
Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Saleem Zia said that his party had a great respect for the country's armed forces and it was a firm believer that every organisation should play its due role as envisaged in the Constitution.
He said that the army was doing a wonderful job in the fight against militancy, it had defended the country from external threats, it had done a good job in the relief and rehabilitation work after the 2005 earthquake and it was doing a good rescue and relief operation amid devastating floods.
He said that the intervention of armed forces in politics was not a good thing and earlier experiences had shown that the country suffered a lot during military rules.
He said that the MQM was a partner in the general Musharraf-led government, which was almost like a martial law, and as to why it did not ask the then military ruler to weed out corruption.
He said that corruption was rampant in the country in every segment of the society, but it was inappropriate to target just politicians.
He said that his party would never support army intervention to remove a civilian set up.
Ghaus Bakhsh Mahar of the Pakistan Muslim League (Q) said that though the current civilian set up had given worst governance and corruption was rampant, yet he would not support the army intervention to disrupt the civilian set up.
He said that he believed that even worst of the democratic governments was better than the best of dictatorships.
He said that the present civilian government had failed miserably as it was taking important national decisions just for personal gains.
Amin Khattak of the Awami National Party said that his party would not support martial law.
He said that the past experience showed that the country had suffered greatly under martial laws.
He said that heroin and gun culture was the product/gifts of the past martial laws.
He said that during the military rules, sectarian and ethnic organizations were created to divide the political forces. He said that even a bad democratic government was better than a good martial law.
A leader of the Pakistan Muslim League (Functional), Jam Madad Ali, said that martial law is not a good form of government and he always preferred democracy. He said that he would not support martial law.
However, he said that effective steps should be taken to check the menace of corruption. He said he would support any action taken to control corruption but under a civilian set up. He said that people of the country did not like martial laws and had always protested against the dictatorial regimes.
Jamiat Ulema Islam (F) leader Qari Usman said that their party could not support martial law as the pervious experiences had shown that the country had suffered a great deal under the army rules.
He said that to root out corruption there were proper anti-corruption laws the only thing missing was their proper implementation. He said his party would not support any new martial law.
Meanwhile, despite repeated attempts, this reporter could not able to contact any leader of the Jamaat-i-Islami to get their viewpoint.
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