Editorial:THE FRONTIER POST
The charges levelled by Dr. Zulfikar Mirza, former Sindh PPP minister, against the MQM and federal interior minister Rehman Malik are too serious to be dismissed just like that. Those very disconcertingly relate to the country’s security, stability, in fact its very existence. He has spoken of a US conspiracy to break up Pakistan, of which he says MQM supremo Altaf Hussain is very much part. He further claims Altaf having written to former British prime minister Tony Blair for the disbandment of the ISI. And he accuses Malik of being a compulsive liar, hand-in-glove with terrorists in Karachi. And if some harm comes to Pakistan, he says, Malik will be no less responsible for that. These are no petty political accusations that could be shrugged off dismissively, as have the MQM and Malik. Mirza has made specific charges and those have to be answered specifically by both, not evasively as have they done. His accusations have touched off very troubling alarms in the people’s minds which cannot be settled down by counter-allegations against him by the MQM nor by meaningless comments by Malik. The MQM has to clearly state if their supremo had spoken or not of the alleged US conspiracy to dismember Pakistan to Mirza and also if he had told him that his party was aboard this diabolical plot. And the party has categorically to state if Altaf had sent a letter to Blair for the ISI’s dismantling, as asserts Mirza. And Malik has to state his position unambiguously on each and every accusation that Mirza has slapped him with. The PPP leadership too must understand that it cannot take the escape route by simply taking the cover of Mirza’s accusations being his personal views. It is no some simple political foray that the leadership could dissociate with his sallies so conveniently. What he has said is not something that concerns just the party or its estranged political ally or Malik. Surly, it is not politics he has spoken of. It is sensitive matters so crucially concerning the country’s stability and security that he has talked of. The issue is too grave and the PPP leadership has necessarily to take the matter in the same light, which regrettably it has not, as is so evident from the patently evasive comments of the party’s senior official and political functionaries. Indeed, given the gravity of the affair, the ruling PPP leadership should have immediately responded to his charges by instituting on its own a high-level investigation to establish the truth. It deplorably has not. In fact, it appears inclined to sleeping over the issue and let it fade out, giving the perturbing sense that it is its political expediency not the country’s security that comes to it uppermost. That is not acceptable. Some pundits have proposed the inclusion of Mirza in the suo moto case presently being heard by the Supreme Court on the worrisome law and order situation in the port city of Karachi. Mirza has himself volunteered to appear before the honourable apex court if he is called to make a deposition. But what he has said goes beyond the Karachi turmoil and is much broader in content and substance. And that calls for an incisive separate inquiry to establish the facts for a very stern follow-up action. In the circumstances, the more appropriate action would be to set up a high-level tribunal comprising persons of repute in law, security and intelligence to hold the inquiry. And it must be a public inquiry, open to the media with permission to telecast the proceedings live. Mirza asserts he has the documentary evidence to substantiate his charges. Those he should present to the tribunal. And the tribunal must provide all the opportunity to the accused parties to present their case. The truth must not just be established; the people must know of it first-hand. This country is too precious. And nobody whoever he may be can be allowed to play with its destiny, integrity and security. The hands that are trying to hurt it must be chopped off with a sharp razor; and those colluding with its enemies must be dealt with unsparingly and unforgivably without any leniency or even the slightest favour.
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