The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) clarified on Thursday that the leader of MQM Altaf Hussain had never received a single paisa from the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) or any other agency, and the shameless allegations were “an unmitigated lie”.
Rejecting claims that Hussain’s name was also included in the list of journalists and politicians, who were given money in 1990 general elections, an MQM spokesperson clarified that the ISI had sent money to the MQM chief but he had firmly rejected the offer and this fact could be corroborated from Hamid Gul and then chief of army staff Mirza Aslam Beg. “When the issue was raised in the National Assembly in 1996, then federal interior minister had submitted a statement from ISI Director General in 1990 Lt Gen Asad Durrani.
The statement had also contained a list that did not have the name of Hussain rather it had the name of a senior Pakistani journalist, Altaf Hussain Qureshi,” the spokesperson said. “The list submitted by Air Marshal (retd) Asghar Khan under oath in his petition is in the record of the Supreme Court, and dragging the name of MQM leader in this affair is a crude attempt by certain elements at distorting facts and misleading the public,” he added.
The spokesperson said that it has been made the biggest crime of Hussain that he refused to sell his conscience to the agencies. “It was because of this refusal that he had to face allegations and fabricated cases, imprisonment and hardships of exiled life. If the MQM chief had also availed the opportunities thrown his way, he would also have had palaces and properties in various cities,” it was stated.
