At a time when the political class is under attack from all quarters — particularly the media — for the poor response to the floods, ruling coalition constituent and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain on Sunday said his party would “support the patriotic generals if they take any martial law-type action against corrupt politicians and feudal lords''. At a workers convention in Karachi over telephone from London — as is his wont — Mr. Hussain said the generals had directly or indirectly ruled Pakistan through martial laws in clear violation of the mandate of millions. “If these generals can topple political and democratic governments, they can also take steps to weed out corrupt politicians and feudal lords,'' he said in a speech that was also critical of Pakistan's foreign policy as it was ineffective in comparison to India's. Most political parties were quick to criticise Mr. Hussain's statement with Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan stating that the Supreme Court ought to take suo motu notice of this observation. Sherry Rehman, former federal Information Minister from the PPP — with which the MQM is allied not only at the federal level but also in Sindh — described the statement as inappropriate in a country where democracy has been derailed so often. “Governments can always be criticised without challenging the institutional premise of democracy,'' she said.
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