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MQM displays its own May 12 ‘video’ clips

Staff Report

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) announced that if an inquiry commission were set up to look into the May 12 bloodshed, the party would present its own evidence.

MQM Coordination Committee deputy in-charge Abdul Haseeb, along with MNA Haider Abbas Rizvi, MPA Faisal Sabzwari, Shahid Latif, Ashfaq Mangi, Sheikh Liaquat Hussain and others addressed a press conference Saturday at MQM central office (Nine-Zero). They played a 10-minute video clip of what they said was May 12 footage showing a number of opposition party leaders and activists allegedly holding weapons and firing at participants of the MQM rally.

“This was the right time to disclose these facts in front of the media and the public. The anti-MQM conspiracy should end now, and people who are exaggerating facts should show the real picture to the public,” Rizvi claimed.

Six different 10-minute clips were presented, showing places such as Guru Mandir, COD (Shahrah-e-Faisal), Ayesha Bawany College (Shahrah-e-Faisal), and Jinnah Hospital.

The first visual showed what appeared to be a large MQM public rally passing through Guru Mandir Chowk. Heavy firing started suddenly, injuring many participants, including women and children. An active MQM worker, Baber Changezi, was killed during this firing, which scattered the crowd.

The second visual showed the area around COD, Shahrah-e-Faisal. A Lexus Jeep (BD 1820), apparently driven by PPP information secretary Sherry Rehman, with former minister Syed Naveed Qamar in the passenger’s seat were shown in this clip. This jeep, according to the MQM video, appeared to lead the PPP rally, including Peoples Students Federation (PSF) activists. All of them appeared to be holding party flags and heavy weapons which they were allegedly shown firing in the direction of MQM activists. A similar jeep was shown to leading activists who allegedly burnt many vehicles parked beside the road. A party member was also shown standing on top of the jeep, and allegedly firing towards Shahrah-e-Faisal. The MQM claimed that the Lexus Jeep driven by Rehman was registered in her husband, Nadeem Hussain’s name.

Another clip apparently shot at the Ayesha Bawany College (Shahrah-e-Faisal) appeared to show activists of the Awami National Party (ANP) and the PakhtoonKhwa Milli Awami Party allegedly firing at people. It also apparently showed them allegedly destroying public and private property, and allegedly using offensive language against the MQM.

The fourth visual was apparently shot at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC). It appeared to show the PPP leader in the City Council, Saeed Ghani, along with scores of PPP activists allegedly beating a person who the MQM claimed was a relative of Aslam Pervaiz. He had come to the JPMC to collect Aslam’s body. Another clip, again shot at JPMC, apparently showed Islami Jamiat-e-Tulaba (IJT) activists allegedly attacking policemen. The MQM claimed that these policemen were trying to save the relatives of injured MQM workers from the IJT members.

The fifth visual showed the area near the Drigh Road Railway Station (Shahrah-e-Faisal). According to the clip, PPP and ANP workers allegedly destroyed a Suzuki Alto car (AC-1660), and then claiming that the MQM was responsible for it. The car, MQM officials claimed, belonged to an MQM worker, Syed Irfan Ali.

Haider Abbas Rizvi and Faisal Sabzwari claimed that the MQM media cell had hours-long video clips “against the terrorists.” These clips, they said, will be shown at “an appropriate time.”

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