UK’s home secretary confirms ‘lobbying’ on Altaf’s hate speeches

LONDON: Britain’s Home Secretary Amber Rudd MP has confirmed that she has been “lobbied” during her visits to Pakistan about the hate-speeches against Pakistan made by the London-based leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

On Tuesday during an appearance before to answer questions of the Home Affairs Select Committee members, Bradford West’s Labour MP Naz Shah asked the Home Secretary to explain why no action has been taken against Altaf Hussain who has been constantly making incitement speeches and provoking violence in Pakistan from his base in London.

Naz Shah asked the Home Secretary that the MQM’s leader has been “inciting violence and terrorism from our British shores, lives in London, makes hate speeches, incites violence through his speeches, which have led to lots of killings in Pakistan.”

Naz Shah, who is member of the powerful Home Affairs Select Committee, reminded the Home Secretary about Altaf Hussain’s 22nd August speech last year which led to violence against media and a casualty and asked why no action has been taken against Altaf Hussain and why its taking so long.

The Home Secretary replied that the investigation into Altaf Hussain’s hate-speeches is an “operation matter” for the Metropolitan Police, which is investigating this case. She confirmed that she gets “lobbied quite a lot when I go to Pakistan and other countries”.

Amber Rudd added that she would “make sure that the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the police has the support, where appropriate, to bring prosecutions”.

This is not the first time Naz Shah raised the issue of MQM in the Select Committee. In August last year, she asked Scotland Yard’s chief Sir Bernard Hogan Howe, the chief of Scotland Yard, to stop Altaf Hussain’s hate speeches. She called on the Scotland Yard chief to investigate MQM founder’s speeches under the Terrorism Act of 2006. She had also asked the then Home Secretary to look into this matter seriously and ensure that the British soil is not used for incitement of hatred against Pakistan and members of Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies.

Naz Shah told The News yesterday that she will continue to raise this issue until the British authorities act. She said that Altaf Hussain had every right to express his critical views and criticise Pakistan and its armed forces but has “no right to incite violence and use language which clearly is aimed at inciting terrorism and violence”. She said that Altaf Hussain was banned on Pakistan’s national television but has used social media platforms to urge his followers to attack individuals linked with Pakistan’s law enforcement agencies.

Scotland Yard confirmed to Geo News last month an ‘International Letter of Request’ has been sent by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to the Pakistani authorities, seeking help in its investigations in relation to at least two speeches made by the MQM’s founder Altaf Hussain. A spokesman for Scotland Yard said that a letter under “Mutual Legal Assistance” has been sent to Pakistan’s “competent authorities” in relation to two speeches made by the MQM leader on March 11, 2015 and Aug 22, 2016.

Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) two weeks ago registered a money-laundering case in Karachi on the request of Sarfraz Merchant alleging that the MQM’s charitable wing Khidmat-e-Khelq Foundation (KKF) was used to launder proceeds of crime to Altaf Hussain with help from several leading figures in the MQM. Merchant’s lawyer Toby Cadman has handed over a copy of Merchant’s FIR and related documents to the Metropolitan Police requesting investigation.