MQM-P, Farooq Sattar’s faction announce pro-Musharraf rallies

Continuing their support for ex-military ruler and former president Pervez Musharaf, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan and the Dr Farooq Sattar-lead MQM’s faction will carry out separate rallies to express solidarity with Musharraf, who has been handed down death sentence by a special court in a high treason case.

When the MQM was united under the leadership of Altaf Hussain, the party was a close ally of Musharraf, particularly during his rule from 2001 to 2008. During an anti-Musharraf movement started by lawyers, the MQM had staged several rallies in his support.

In a statement issued the MQM-P on Thursday, the party denounced the special court's verdict against the former military dictator. The statement said the party would organise “a massive rally in support of Musharraf”. However, the party is yet to announce the date and location of the rally.

Earlier, MQM-P leaders maintained that Musharraf was severely ill and should be provide an opportunity to defend his case.

A day ago, the MQM-P sent its two key leaders, Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar and Haider Abbas Rizvi, to meet Musharraf in person in Dubai to “inquire about his health”.

Sattar’s rally

Dr Farooq Sattar, who is heading the MQM-Organisation Restoration Committee, has also expressed disappointment over the special court's verdict. He will organise a rally in Musharraf’s support outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) today.

Addressing at a press conference at the KPC on Thursday, Sattar said the court’s decision had “hurt sentiments of fifty million Mohajirs”.

“It is heartbreaking to learn that the person [Musharraf] who raised the slogan ‘Pakistan First’ has been declared traitor,” he said, commenting that due legal and constitutional formalities had not been fulfilled in the process.

He also invited leaders of the MQM-P, Pak Sarzameen Party chief Mustafa Kamal and federal law minister Barrister Farogh Naseem to attend the pro-Musharaf rally.