Syeda Mazhar
Altaf Hussain, the Chairman of one the leading Political Parties in Karachi – MQM, a man infamous for the innumerable rumors circulating about him since forever. There are times when he is accused to have connections with the Indian Intelligence Agency, RAW and times when he is said to be involved in money laundering. Countless times Altaf Hussain has been recorded to have resigned from the Party. The recent development being that he is dead weeks after educating the people about sex, in a press conference. Three days ago this news was also dismissed by MQM leaders. Altaf Hussain is said to be clinically well and fit.
Not only is the Party’s Chairperson but the Party itself is accused of being funded by Indian Agencies. The air of ambiguity and crime around Muttahida’s leader and the Party itself is further concentrated by the several times when a number of MQM officials, including Altaf Hussain, have been arrested in relation to the money-laundering case but no-one has been charged. The party insists that all its funds are legitimate and that most of them come from donors in the business community in Karachi.
British authorities held formal recorded interviews with senior MQM officials who told them the party was receiving Indian funding. A Pakistani official told the BBC that India has trained hundreds of MQM militants in explosives, weapons and sabotage over the past 10 years in camps in North and North-East India. More recently; greater numbers of more junior party members have been trained in comparison to 2005-6.
MQM is also said to be very active in frequently calling strikes in Karachi and other cities in Sindh province and have been using killings and other violence to keep shops closed and people off the streets. During strikes, MQM activists have been said to ransack businesses that remained open and attack motorists and pedestrians who were unfortunate enough to venture outside.
In addition, they have been accused of trying to intimidate the journalists. In the most flagrant cases, MQM leader Altaf Hussain publicly threatened the editor of the monthly NEWS LINE magazine after he published an article on the MQM’s alleged use of torture against dissident members. This not being an isolated event, the following year, a prominent journalist, Zafar Abbas, was severely beaten in Karachi in an attack that was widely blamed on MQM leaders angered over articles by Abbas describing the party’s factionalization. The same year, MQM activists assaulted scores of vendors selling DAWN, Pakistan’s largest English-language newspaper, and other periodicals owned by Herald Publications.
More recent events include, anti-terrorism court issued on Wednesday non-bailable warrants of arrest against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain in a criminal intimidation case registered against him on the complaint of Colonel Tahir Mehmood of the Sindh Rangers. In the FIR Altaf was quoted as saying: “Jin afsaran ne mere ghar par chapa mara woh Rangers ke afsaran thay, woh thay, woh ab thay hogaye,” (The officers who have raided my house, they ‘were’ Rangers officers, they have become things of past). Altaf had clearly intimidated the Rangers personnel.
Pakistan Army after waging a war against terrorism in the North Waziristan feels responsible to now rid the urban civilization off the curse. With every succeeding raid, the allegations on the political Parties are strengthened. Despite all the evidence, the party has been accused of crimes that they manage to weasel their way out of either through corruption or through intimidation. Altaf Hussain has not been able to maintain a reasonable responsible nor respectable public image. He has been known to bad mouth the Pakistan Army and don’t see eye to eye with the Rangers, especially after the Nine Zero raids. Not only have Altaf Hussain threatened to invite RAW and Indian forces to avenge their humiliation, he has been giving anti-Hate India speeches to the Pakistani masses.
Aside from the copious indictments and rumors floating about MQM and its Chairperson, Altaf Hussain, now the senior leaders of the Party are rising up against the “criminal tyrant” heading it. The once blue eyed boy of MQM, Mustafa Kamal, in his press conference; at the beginning of this month has blamed Altaf Hussain of being a “dictorial drunkard” who did not address people in his right state of mind and being a source of embarrassment to the Party. Altaf Hussain has been impugned by Mustafa Kamal for ordaining the Party leaders to beatings and threats if they dared to go against his wishes. He is also known to utter enticing statements about the journalists, Army and other political Leaders if they offer resistance to his thoughts and plans.
The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) contacted on Saturday former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal and businessman Sarfaraz Merchant, seeking cooperation to probe allegations against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leadership. On March 1st, the former Mayor of Karachi accused the party of involvement in money laundering, criminal activities and links with India’s premier spy agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). This Press Conference is pivotal in the history of MQM, further reaffirming its suspected role in promoting terrorism in the region and also being an ally to the country which has forever been hostile towards us.
