950815

J A V E D

15-EIGHT-1995

"I have received your letter dated August 8, 1995, in the evening of the 9th August, 1995. This is for the first time that a formal letter has been received from you in which you have raised certain issues and laid down "pre-conditions" for the continuation of talks for restoration of peace in Karachi.

2. It may be recalled that in the meeting held on 24th July, 2995, at the Governor's House, Karachi, Sindh, it was mutually agreed to continue the dialogue on 31st July, 1995, at 11.30 a.m. at the Parliament House, Islamabad.

3. I was amazed subsequently to learn through the media that you had attached conditionalities to continue the dialogue and for attending the meeting on 31st of July, 1995. This was all the more surprising in thelight of the fact that the dialogue for restoration of peace in Karachi was initiated without any 'pre-conditions'. Nonetheless the Government negotiating team waited for you and your team at the mutually appointed time and place but your team without any formal/informal communication failed to arrive. Thereafter, I have continued to reiterate the Government's concern to continue the dialogue and settle all relatable issues on thenegotiation table.

4. That so far as the description of your Organization is concerned, let me emphasise that the primary issue concerning us is the restoration of peace and normalcy in Karachi. Innocent citizens and personnel of the law enforcing agencies are being brutally killed. The ordinary citizen has been made a captive at the hands of a group of terrorists, some of whom have been owned by your leadership. It is, therefore, imperative that you appreciate the urgency and the enormity of the task ahead of us instead of getting entangled in matters of secondary and semantic importance. We need to address the broader issue.

5. However, I may emphasize that the question of the name of your group has a convoluted history of its own. You have voluntarily chosen to use different names in different contexts starting as APMSO, you switched to Mohajir Qaumi Movement but then contested elections as independents under the name of Haq Parast Group (HPG). Thereafter, in 1992, a splinter group within your Organization emerged which called itslef MQM (Haqiqi). Subsequently, you substituted the word 'Mohajir' from your Organization's flag with the word 'Altaf'. Thereafter, you changed the name of your Organization to Mutahda Qaumi Movement. It will be recalled that the Chairman of MQM was late Azim Ahmad Tariq who was assassinated by Khalid Taqi and others on the orders of Alttaf Hussain according to the Police investigation. Therefore, MQM was officially not headed your leader Altaf Hussain. Today there are three known groups of MQM, late Azim Tariq's, Haqiqi's and Altaf Group. As the democratic party believing in pluralistic politics it would not be possible for us to ignore the existence of other factions. To do so, or demand so amounts to fascism.

6. Further, it would not be out of place to mention that unlike other political parties functioning in Pakistan, your Organization has not exercised theoption of registering itself under the Political Parties, Act 1962. I am, therefore, compelled to observe that the point raised by you about the change in the nomenclature of your group is selff-contradictory.