COMMENTING on Mustafa Kamal`s call for a ban on the MQM you have ended your editorial by emphasising that `bans on politicians and parties are reminder of autocratic rule in Pakistan and have no place in the current political system` (April 16).
While one may not fully agree with Mr Kamal`s political views, it is a fact that since its inception with Gen Ziaul Haq regime`s help, the MQM leadership has been accused of ordering the murder of hundreds of people.It is also a fact that while this was going on, state institutions looked the other way.
Dawn`s assertion that the political part of the MQM should be left alone and the evil and criminal part should be dealt with according to the law is not based on logic. It ishardtobelieve thatthe policy oftargeted killings, torture and extortion, which went on for decades, was the work of a few lowly-ranked criminal-minded activists and the main leadership of the MQM did not have knowledge of it.
Whether the people of Karachi and Hyderabad vote for it, the MQM operates like a South American drug cartel with its own murder squads whose leaders act and talk more like mafia bosses than politicians. It is time someone looked into the MQM`s affairs, past and present, and provided justice.