Every party has armed wings, why target MQM: Altaf

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain in harsh words on Wednesday said that the raid on Nine Zero and his sister’s house today by the Rangers was completely unjustified.

He questioned why the Rangers intruded into his widow sister’s house who is persistently ill and has no children. He went on to say that his brother in law was subjected to violence in Adiyala jail in 1995.

He also condemned the killing of MQM activist Waqas Ali Shah and blamed the Rangers for shooting him, adding that whichever young activist the Rangers could take into custody, they did so without any warrants. He also said that over 60 workers of MQM have been arrested during the raid today.

He went on to say that the Rangers claim it was not their bullet that killed Waqas and instead it was a bullet from a TT-pistol. He further said that he will also reply in a befitting manner to the Rangers’ superiors, asking them for justice. He also said that the medals that are worn by Rangers are all sacrifices of the elders of MQM.

The MQM chief questioned why no other party’s offices were ever raided in this manner and further said that the party had requested for an army operation in Karachi to stop the killings in the city, however, instead of an army operation a Rangers raid has been conducted.

Altaf argued that the Supreme Court had said every party has armed wings and questioned that according to the vote bank, is not MQM the third largest party.

He also said that since 19 June 1992, his house has been raided over a 100 times and that who has ever heard of a party leader’s house being raided. He added that he was being very patient with such incidents while even dealing with his brother, uncle and nephew being murdered in 1995 who had no association with the party.

The MQM chief went on to say that the party had no weapons at Nine Zero and in fact the Rangers brought arms along hidden in blankets to plant there. He questioned that if the party owned any weapons then why would they keep them at Nine Zero.



He made clear that MQM has zero tolerance for terrorism and any terrorist elements within the party, adding that, however, if the Rangers still felt MQM was at fault then why not hand over the whole party to the Rangers and hand over Karachi to Jamat-e-Islami (JI), Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI).

Altaf further said that since the establishment does not like seeing his face, then the Rabita Committee should take the decision to separate him from MQM and let him work for Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation (KKF).