Zulfiqar Mirza Reckless and irresponsible Statement

At long last, President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday did what he was supposed to do much earlier in the interest of his own party,the province of Sindh and the country. He summoned Senior Minister of Sindh Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza to Islamabad and reportedly imposed a ban on all his political activities. Circumstances also forced Mirza to swallow his bitter and loathsome words as he had to issue a written statement apologizing for his objectionable conduct.
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Sindh minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza has tendered an apology to the Mutttahida Qaumi Movement leadership but not before his reckless and irresponsible statement put on fire the whole political environment of the province, loss of 15 lives and setting ablaze 25 public transport buses in angry protest demonstrations by MQM workers against his inflammatory statement on July 13. The new wave of agitation followed the anguish shown upon the MQM partying ways with the PPP at the centre and in Sindh was subsiding and the biggest city of Pakistan was returning to normalcy. Notwithstanding his apology and President Asif Ali Zardari summoning him to Islamabad for some ear pulling, the fire ignited by Mirza was hardly worthy of a senior member of Sindh government and needless at a critical political stage of the province where temperatures are already running high. What seems particularly repulsive about Dr Mirza`s words was an entire community, the Urdu-speaking people of Sindh, and this is worthy of more condemnation had he directed his tirade towards his political rivals. The language used to denounce an entire community is not becoming of a senior political leader. For this he needs to be censured in the strongest possible terms. There is absolutely no doubt now that Dr Mirza needs to be reined in if peace is the common goal. And who suffered at the end of the day, not only PPP and MQM but millions of the residents of the city that is plagued by violence and collapse of law and order. One wonders how Dr Mirza could use the derogatory language and show bad tenor at a highly critical point of time without someone from the top prompting him. Whether this was Mirza’s personal spitting of venom on being removed as the province’s interior minister or he was under some directions, the net result is extremely dangerous. Not only Karachi but urban centres all over Sindh felt the heat of the fiery remarks of Dr Mirza. Business was completely closed and angry people marched the streets of all major and minor cities.

•  Dr Zulfiqar Mirza - Statement on MQM and Mahajirs:
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• All this was done after a lot of damage was done following a fiery and highly provocative statement made by the Minister a day earlier, which was condemned not only by MQM against whom it was directed but also segments of the society.

There was also a demonstration in Lahore where MQM workers suspended traffic on bustling Ferozepur Road for many hours. This is the first time the presence of Muttahida in Lahore was felt. This means the MQM has done an organizational homework and the party is no longer restricted to urban Sindh; it has emerged a political party of reckoning. However, MQM needs to be reminded that also added some fuel to fire by not disowning the graffiti on Karachi streets calling for a `Karachi province`. A pertinent notice must also be served on political workers across Pakistan that when in anger, they damage their own property, ravage their own home by setting on fire their own buses and private vehicles. Every riot leaves behind a loss of billions of public and private assets. There must be a civilized way of venting their distress.