MQM-P workers extorting Meena Bazaar shopkeepers, alleges PML-F leader

Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) General Secretary Sardar Abdul Rahim has alleged that workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) have been extorting shopkeepers of the Meena Bazaar in Karachi and they resort to violence if the shopkeepers resist their extortion attempts.

Addressing a press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Wednesday, Rahim said the PML-F was a peaceful and patriotic party, but he warned the MQM-P not to mistake its silence for weakness.

He said local MQM-P office bearers in the Meena Bazaar, Karimabad, were involved in extorting shopkeepers and when these shopkeepers supported by the PML-F workers resisted, the MQM-P workers attacked them.

Rahim also criticised the role of police stating and alleged that after the violence, the law enforcers booked the PML-F workers in a false case instead of registering a case against the MQM-P’s perpetrators. He urged the police to remain neutral, otherwise, they might as well take off their uniforms and start chanting MQM-P slogans.

He stated that despite the PML-F withdrawing its candidates in elections in favour of the MQM-P in the past, it was being repaid with hostility. He asked the MQM-P leadership to manage their workers.

“On the nights of April 18 and 19 in the Meena Bazaar, MQM-P workers were extorting shopkeepers, and when PML-F workers tried to assist the shopkeepers, MQM-P workers retaliated violently, severely injuring a PML-F worker,” Rahim recounted.

He accused the police of supporting MQM-P workers, particularly naming local MQM-P official Saqib Ghani as being involved in violence. The PML-F leader emphasised the urgency of the situation, suggesting that such behaviour could worsen in the future if they were not promptly addressed. He said that his party was committed to standing with the people and highlighting public issues.