Daily Times

The MQM saga has taken a new twist as the London police have disowned a purported confessional statement by MQM leader Tariq Mir. On June 26, TV anchor Shahid Masood in his programme showed a six-page transcript attributed to the MQM leader that his party had been receiving funds from the Indian government since 1994. He posted this story on his twitter account, which was later aired by the rest of the news channels without confirming its authenticity. Earlier, the BBC issued a report in which they alleged that the MQM has close ties with the Indian spy agency and its members are sent to India to get training from RAW. Following the issuance of these reports, almost all news channels in Pakistan started a media trial of the MQM without conducting any investigation into the veracity of these stories. The denial by the London police has provided some relief to the beleaguered MQM.
MQM supremo Altaf Hussain has been facing a tough time in London while his party leaders and workers are facing allegations of terrorism and criminal activities at home. There seems to be a campaign gathering steam to corner the MQM. The effort however is half-baked and by now open to question regarding the truth of the allegations and accusations being freely aired against the MQM. Balochistan Home Minister Mir Sarfraz Bugti has demanded that the MQM should be declared a terrorist outfit and banned. This is one more example of jumping to conclusions without any proof. If Sarfraz Bugti has any evidence to authenticate his statement, he should produce it before pronouncing the verdict. It is very easy to link anybody with RAW to gain political mileage. Why is it that this India bogey is raised every now and then? So far, conclusions are being drawn on the basis of unfounded facts. Until the unassailable truth comes to the surface, no one should indulge in speculations and victimisation. There is also a lesson for the media that it should not fall for any story without checking. In the present case, the media has played a negative role and its image has been tarnished even further.
The government should also act responsibly and take stock of all the pros and cons before taking any action against the MQM. Everybody has the right to a fair trial and defence of his case. It can turn out to be a very embarrassing situation for the state if it starts implicating a political party in serious charges on the basis of propaganda. On the other hand, the MQM should negate all these allegations boldly. It should file defamation suits against those media channels that air or publish unfounded stories against the MQM. At the same time, the MQM should purge itself of all kinds of criminals and extortionists, if there are any. *