KARACHI:
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain has condemned the Rangers raid on his party’s headquarters, claiming that the weapons shown to media were brought to Nine-Zero by paramilitary troops ‘hidden under blankets’.
Addressing the crowd at Azizabad via phone from London, Atlaf questioned why no raids were being conducted against other political parties while the Supreme Court had already declared that all political parties have militant wings.
Hussain further claimed that Karachi should be handed over to other parties like Jamaat-e-Islami, Awami National Party and Pakistan Peoples Party, while the Rangers could take over MQM.
Altaf added that MQM had zero tolerance for criminals and violence, and offered to step down as party chief because ‘security establishment cannot tolerate me’. He claimed that he only wanted to remain associated with Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation, the charitable wing of MQM.
“The Rabita Committee should decide the next course of action.” According to reports, the Rabita Committee is likely to announce its plan of action today [Thursday].
The MQM chief also said that mistakes of a few activists were hurting the party. “The party’s image is being tarnished because of the mistakes committed by a few activists. If the arrested men were wanted [by the police], they should have gone to some other place instead of putting the majority [of workers] and Nine-Zero in danger,” he said.
