Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has apologised for his party’s ‘misjudgement’ during the May 12, 2007 riots in Karachi, that had led to the killing of 50 people and injuries to hundreds others.
“MQM should have tendered an apology and I apologise for that. And this apology is for making a wrong judgment,” Siddiqui said, issuing an apology nearly 15 years after the fateful day.
On May 12, 2007, deposed chief justice of the Supreme Court, Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry was visiting Karachi. His supporters, eager to welcome the chief justice to their city, attempted to meet him at the airport, but were stopped from doing so. This led to clashes between supporters of the judge and members of the MQM, who then supported the Musharraf-led government.
Addressing the Balochistan High Court Bar in Quetta, Siddiqui regretted that women and children were present at the violent incident.
“We had been used and we regret that but that was not our intention and this is not how we function as a party,” he stated, as quoted in Dawn.
Siddiqui distanced himself from former leader Altaf Hussain, who was recently acquitted of charges of inciting violence in Karachi by a UK court, saying “even during the brutal 1992 operation, but we left him for his anti-Pakistan speech in 2016”.
Commenting on the oppositions current effort to bring about a no-confidence move against the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government, the MQM leader remarked that his party could not trust the opposition when the latter ‘lacked trust in each other‘.
