Scotland Yard to assess contents of Altaf Hussain speech

Pakistani paramilitary forces raided the headquarters of a powerful political party in the port city of Karachi on Tuesday after its London-based leader incited supporters to storm the office of a television channel the day before.

Hussain lost his cool on Monday while addressing MQM activists in Karachi over telephone from London – the usual way he keeps contacts – after violence broke out in the city’s southern districts. “The site is inaccessible in Pakistan only and is still online in other countries”, it said in a report.

Lahore-Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Shairf has said that no words were enough to condemn the vitriolic speech by MQM leader Altaf Hussain and the law will take its course now.

In a statement issued from London on Tuesday, Mr Hussain asked for forgiveness from the army and Rangers chiefs.

Sattar said if such statements are a result of mental stress, then that mental stress needs to be resolved first. Our policy is to strengthen and make Pakistan prosperous.

It was our desire to hold press conference and present our stance over the situation shortly after the tense situation but some of our friends took us with them. “No one will be able to take Karachi hostage now”, said Chaudhry Nisar.

“I believe that the [anti-Pakistan] slogans were also an embarrassment for the Muhajir community, who had sacrificed their lives and property for the sake of Pakistan”, he said.

Sattar accused Hussain of repeatedly embarrassing the party saying, “We have made a decision to address his mental tension, illness or whatever condition he is suffering from”.

Altaf Hussain has been running the day-to-day organisational affairs of the party over phone from the confines of his palatial London residence and the worldwide secretariat for a long time, although he does not hold any office in the MQM, which is a political party registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan in the name of Sattar.

While speaking to a local TV show, prominent leader of MQM and religious scholar Amir Liaquat Hussain announced to distance himself from MQM. Hussain, leader of Mutthaida-E-Qaumi Movement – the single largest party in Karachi, was accused of raising anti-Pakistan slogans at a protest rally that turned violent.

A day after the incident Hussain apologized to the military establishment for his behavior but by that time he had already lost his credibility in the country. Protests by its followers – often triggered by statements by Hussain, who has lived in London since 1992 – have over the years triggered stock-market gyrations and political upheaval.