MQM not RAW agent, Altaf assures supporters

• MQM chief questions ‘authoritative sources’ mentioned in BBC’s damning report against party
• Altaf asks Interior Minister Nisar to probe money laundering charges against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chairman Altaf Hussain on Thursday rejected allegations leveled in a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) the other day accusing the party of taking funds and militant training from India.

Addressing party workers via telephone from London, the MQM chief said that he respected the British media organisation but rejected the allegations levelled against his party members that they were members of RAW.

“Who were the ‘authoritative sources’ that BBC quoted in their documentary?” Altaf asked. The MQM chief added that western news channels like the BBC and CNN had also claimed that there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and that these allegations were later found to be false. “My legal team is looking into the BBC documentary against MQM and we will announce our legal plan soon.” Altaf added that media channels are welcome to criticise MQM but they should avoid being biased against it.

“Numerous conspiracies have been hatched against the party since its inception, but they could not break the party nor reduce the love of its followers,” he said. “If we were really trained by the Indian establishment then it wouldn’t have been so easy for Rangers to kill us like this.”

Altaf also criticised Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar, saying that the minister should also expose Finance Minister Ishaq Dar’s money laundering. “Ishaq Dar himself accepted of being involved in money laundering,” he said. He added that if the interior minister wants to probe the BBC documentary against the MQM, he should also probe the 2008 documentary by the same media organisation against the ISI.

Altaf said many ‘big fishes’ were given ‘clean chits’, adding that Nawaz Sharif, rather than being sent to jail, was made the country’s prime minister.

“More than 41 of our workers have been killed during the Karachi operation,” he said, and urged party workers to continue with the movement if he was assassinated.

RANGERS LYING?

Commenting about the arrest MQM worker Waqas Shah’s killers, Altaf said that Rangers had once again lied about the killers of Shah.

“I demand a judicial commission for probing Waqas Shah’s murder, I am ready to prove Rangers involvement in this case.”

Refering to DG Rangers, the MQM chief challenged him to go on to the streets of Kashmir and fight for independence.