LONDON: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-London has sought help of the US lawmakers and lobbyists known for their hostility to Pakistan after the troubled party decided to approach international bodies as part of its campaign in relation to the ongoing Karachi operation and division of the party into three groups.
The MQM’s London-based founder Altaf Hussain approved the plan to reach out to those organisations and US lawmakers who have traditionally worked for lobbies working against Pakistan after coming to the conclusion that he will not be allowed political space in Karachi after his August 22 speech.
As part of this plan, Hussain’s second-in-command and trusted lieutenant Nadeem Nusrat has held a series of meetings with the US Congressmen, some of whom are known for working full time against Pakistani interests.
During his latest trip to the USA, Nusrat held talks with Senator John McCain in Washington DC on the occasion of First Commonwealth Annual Leadership Dinner, which was hosted by Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy.
In a statement, the MQM-London said Coordination Committee Convener Nadeem Nusrat apprised the US Senator of “ongoing military operation against the MQM in Pakistan and also discussed about other matters”.
Nusrat told the US Senator that it was his party’s belief that the US should review its policies towards Pakistan and raised objections on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). The MQM, in a press release quoting the US Senator, said Pak-US bilateral relations won’t pull out from harsh to comfortable position unless Pakistan brought an end to alleged support and patronisation to Haqqani network. Pakistan has always said that it has never supported any militant group and supports Afghanistan’s government.
Last week, Nusrat met known anti-Pakistan Congressmen Dana Rohrabacher and Ted Poe who have a track record of campaigning and lobbying against Pakistani state. Nusrat and Dana Rohrabacher met for three hours and in a joint statement alleged that Pakistan was “sponsoring extremist groups as proxies in the region”. The MQM confirmed that Nusrat met Ted Poe at the Capitol Hill and following that he made a speech against Pakistan. Dana Rohrabacher is known for being on the pay of Indian lobbyists and a few years back demanded for a referendum to be held in Balochistan.
The MQM said in a statement that the US lawmaker had assured the MQM he would “do his best to put a stop to this naked and unwarranted aggression against innocent civilian Mohajirs, Balochs and Pashtoon”.
Earlier this week, the MQM-London celebrated a speech by Congressman Ted Poe in which he called on the US government to un-friend Pakistan. The MQM said that Ted Poe had “raised the plight of Muhajirs in the United States Congress and criticised Pakistan’s role in facilitating and sponsoring (alleged) terrorism worldwide”.
Congressman Ted Poe, who is known to be linked with the Indian lobby, invited the attention of the US government towards alleged human rights violations. In a statement, the MQM accused Pakistan of “suppressing” Muhajirs and demanded cutting of US aid to Pakistan.
Ted Poe told the Congress that he was raising the issue because the “World Muhajir Congress has written a letter to the United States Congress”. It’s understood that the World Muhajir Council is linked with the MQM-London and its press releases have been issued from MQM-London’s office and from the official MQM email addresses.
In another development few days back, the MQM made an intervention during the 35th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on item agenda 4 in the general debate where a representative from MQM’s London office – Adil Ghaffar Khan – attended. Khan told the session about Pakistan’s alleged “heavy handedness” on MQM and the “Muhajir community” and linked Karachi operation against militants and criminals with “genocide”. He urged the world to take notice of the ban by Pakistan’s media regulator on MQM founder’s appearance on national televisions. Khan’s speech was facilitated by an NGO called “Centre for Environmental and Management Study”. Prior to Khan, it was Muhammad Anwar and Arif Ajakia who used to attend the UNHRC sessions but both are now side-lined in the party. Muhammad Anwar has not been consulted in regard to party affairs in over a year.
Both Nadeem Nusrat and Adil Khan mentioned “Balochs” in their communications in order to extend hand of friendship to exiled Balochs for a common cause, as part of the concerted strategy, but there is little chance that Balochs will make an alliance with the MQM fearing opposition from their own supporters. Mehran Baloch, who has represented Balochistan at the UNHRC for nearly a decade, has said it on record that the MQM in Karachi ruthlessly targeted local Balochs and did everything to marginalise them when the MQM was in alliance with Pervez Musharraf and ruling the city.
The MQM didn’t respond to questions about the impact for its politics on lobbying with rabidly anti-Pakistani US lawmakers.
Our Karachi correspondent adds: When a person belonging to MQM-London was contacted in Karachi, he said on condition of not being named that he would ascertain the charge about meeting hostile US lawmakers. “What I know,” he added, “is that we are meeting all the US leaders and lawmakers whether they are supporting or opposing Pakistan.”
