MQM-P announces three-day mourning over Dr AQ Khan’s demise

Paying respect to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, who passed away on Sunday morning, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P) postponed its ‘residents rights rally’ scheduled for Sunday in Hyderabad and announced three-day mourning.

Addressing a press conference at the party office in Bahadurabad, MQM-P central leader and former Karachi mayor Wasim Akhtar said Dr Khan had served the country with dignity and hard work.

“Dr Qadeer Khan is our national hero who made Pakistan's defence invincible by making it a nuclear state. His death is a great loss to the nation,” he said. In recognition of the late nuclear physicist’s outstanding services for the country, Akhtar said the MQM-P had decided to postpone its rally in Hyderabad for the rights of residents of the province's second-largest city.

Instead of organising a rally in Hyderabad, the MQM-P held prayers in absentia at the venue of the rally, which was attended by leaders and workers of the party, Akhtar told the media.

Meanwhile, MQM-P Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has demanded of the federal and provincial governments to name important buildings and an airport after Dr Khan as a token of gratitude for his services to the country.