HAYDERABAD: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Haider Abbas Rizvi has reiterated the party’s demand for the formation of an inquiry commission by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, including members from Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and others, to probe the Gul Plaza inferno.

Addressing a press conference on Sunday in Hyderabad, Rizvi said that MQM chairman Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui had also written a letter to the prime minister to seek the formation of an inquiry commission under the Pakistan Commission of Inquiry Act 2017.

“This commission must comprise representatives from FIA, IB, ISI, MI, NDMA and other federal bodies to find whether it is an act of subversion or an incident of fire”.

He lambasted the Sindh government and Karachi administration for throwing debris of the fire, which also included remains of the deceased, at the Meva Shah ground, saying it would “compromise forensic investigation of the tragedy”.

“It looks like evidence is being stolen, although the crime scene’s sanctity should be protected and preserved under international standards.”

“This debris includes remains of the deceased. Those were not bones and limbs of cats and dogs. They all were humans”, Rizvi said.

“Gul Plaza is a crime scene which needs to be preserved and kept intact till the inquiry is completed”, he said, adding it was not done yet. “If I use the least possible terms, then I will say that Karachi administration and the Sindh government are accused of serious criminal negligence in this case.”

Rizvi said that to make matters worse, the Sindh government had been a judge of its own cause. “You are accused in this case. You face charges of this tragedy, yet you are holding investigations yourselves. You should have asked the federal government to come clean on it and let there be a federal probe”, he maintained.

However, MQM-P leader said, it was interesting that while the government faces the charges, it would become a complainant too in the matter and then give its own verdict. “The government itself is registering FIR. Why is there so much haste in registering a first information report (FIR)? And why the debris is dumped at the Meva Shah graveyard when it includes remains of deceased”, he wondered.

“When we raise a question, you find it politicking”

He asked the government whether it could identify 83 bodies using DNA samples.

“You are not even able to perform DNA tests and seek the help of the Punjab government”, he said.

Rizvi said it was quite disappointing to say that while e-challan could be issued for not using a seat belt in Karachi, the city lacked an effective firefighting system.

He said that Karachi was not “a colony of the Sindh government”.

Former MNA said even before the Jan 17 tragedy, MQM had launched its ‘Karachi bachao’ campaign and urged people to share their civic amenities-related and other problems in their short videos, which would be channelised by MQM accordingly so that people would know the PPP government’s “achievements” in Karachi even after receiving billions under the new NFC in the last 15 years.

“Nobody knows where this huge amount is spent”, he claimed and sarcastically said that Karachi used to be Sindh’s capital, but now this ‘capital’ had been shifted to Dubai. “Everything is being invested in Dubai now.”

He questioned the PPP government’s performance, especially in the backdrop of Bilawal Bhutto Zardari’s long presentation to diplomats in Islamabad.

“One must understand that PPP capitalises on the Gambat hospital, SIUT (Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation) Karachi and the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD).”

MQM-P leader said people know that NICVD had been a federal institution and was performing well even then, and likewise, SIUT was a product of Dr Syed Adeebul Hassan Rizvi.

“MQM will launch the Sindh Bachao campaign, which will start from Hyderabad today (Sunday).”

‘28th Amendment’

Former MNA said MQM was actively working with the federal government over the 28th amendment in order to ensure inclusion of implementation clauses of Article 140-A in the Constitution.

He said that this was agreed upon at the time of the 26th and 27th amendment but PPP blocked it.

“MQM is demanding formation of fully empowered local governments for the entire Sindh, but PPP doesn’t want it as it believes in colonial era local government bodies and that’s why PPP and MQM were poles apart on this issue”, he told a questioner.

Raizvi said MQM believed in participatory democracy, whereas PPP’s democracy revolves around provincial and federal governments alone.