MQM, Lord Nazir renew old fight

LONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has requested the House of Lords to appoint a Lords Commissioner for Standards to investigate Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham for allegedly supporting a banned extremist outfit and for inviting a Lyari leader to the House of Lords.
In what is seen as the re-opening of the old wounds between the two sides, the MQM has written letters — with a Haripur event DVD recording — to all members of the Houses of Parliament calling for an investigation into Lord Nazir Ahmed for allegedly offering £10 million ($15.9 million) for the capture and trial of UK and US leaders Tony Blair and George W Bush in retaliation to the $10 million offered by the US for the capture and trial of religious leader Hafiz Saeed, leader of the extremist banned group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba.
Lord Nazir’s membership of the Labour Party was suspended following these alleged comments but no further action has been taken against him. Lord Nazir has denied passing these remarks or offering the “bounty.”
MQM’s Central Coordination Committee member Mustafa Azizabadi confirmed to The News that a letter had been written to “expose the true face of Lord Nazir Ahmed.” “It’s our democratic right. Lord Ahmed has been targeting us for no reason. We want to expose his links with the known extremists, criminals, extortionists and rogue elements.”
Lord Ahmed wasted no time in announcing that he will take legal action against the MQM over the “defamatory allegations about him and Habib Jan.”
He told this correspondent: “I have handed a copy of this letter to my solicitor and I will be reviewing the MQM file in relation to their activities in London. They (MQM) have something to hide and they are trying to put pressure on me. Both MQM and the Jewish Chronicle have attacked me, it’s because I support the oppressed people of Palestine and Karachi. It’s a personal fight now.

It’s important for me to pursue their activities in the UK, with parliamentarians and with various departments.”
“It is troubling that a known anti-Semite and a pro-terrorist who has a history of inciting the more radical elements in the Muslim community is afforded the House of Lords platform to propagate his propaganda that is detrimental to community cohesion in UK,” the MQM letter, dated 14th of May this year, alleges.
It says that Lord Ahmed’s conduct is wholly opposite to the conduct and standards in public life as set out in the commendations “Standards of Conduct in the House of Lords”.
The hard hitting letter calls Lord Ahmed “the unofficial PR guru for the banned terrorist organisations, patronizing known terrorists in Pakistan and Karachi in particular is against the spirit of the House of Lords’ ethics and is causing extreme discomfort, not just to the 99.9 percent mainstream Muslims in the UK but the Muslims in Pakistan.”
The letter further alleges that Lord Nazir invited a “known and wanted terrorist (namely Habib Jan)” to the House of Lords. The letter says, “The man in question is one of the founders/sponsors of the notorious People’s Aman (peace) Committee, the group behind the recent Lyari gang violence in Karachi.” The MQM letter appreciates that the labour party has initiated an inquiry on Lord Ahmed but deplored that “the House of Lords has somewhat been muted on this matter.”
“We request the House of Lords to appoint a Lords Commissioner for Standards to investigate the alleged breaches of the code in line with previous precedents and ascertain under what convention or protocol a member of the House of Lords is allowed to conduct himself in a manner that is not conducive to Lords’ ethics or character. By not doing so the House of Lords will be ill served by the prejudice evidenced in the current narrative of Lord Ahmed.”