Arrest warrant for Merchant

KARACHI: A district court on Wednesday issued an arrest warrant for Sarfraz Merchant, a key witness against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leadership for their alleged links with the Indian spy agency.

The civil judge of south district issued the warrant against Merchant as a police report was filed against him under the Pakistani penal code sections that deal with threatening an individual and cheating.

The court ordered the police to produce the suspect in the court on April 21, the next hearing of the case.

Merchant, who lives in London, arrived in Islamabad last week to provide evidence against MQM chief Altaf Hussain and his aides for their alleged links with Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of India.

A report said in his hourlong interview with the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), Merchant provided documented proof to establish the claims of RAW-MQM connections.

He told the local media before his departure to London that FIA officers conducted a long interview in which many questions were asked about the party’s connection with RAW and its involvement in money laundering.

Hussain, the MQM supremo, was arrested by London police on the suspicion of money laundering in 2014 after it recovered huge amounts from his residence in a crackdown. However, he was not implicated in the case and the charges were dropped recently.

However, the MQM leader came under sharp criticism at home and his political adversaries kept pressing a probe against him.

Meanwhile, another legislator of MQM in the provincial Sindh assembly on Wednesday declared her defection from the party to join newly formed Pak Sarzamin party of Mustafa Kamal, a former mayor and senator of MQM, who led a rebellion in the party.

Bilqees Mukhtar, accompanied by Kamal, Anis Kaimkhani and other defected leaders of the MQM, announced her disassociation with the MQM accusing Hussain of using abusive language in his speeches which could not be tolerated by any decent female or male.

A case was recently registered against Hussain for publicly speaking about ‘sex’ during his speech to his party workers at its headquarters.

Addressing the press conference, Kamal said he has been getting good response from all over the world as people were calling him and expressing ehir wish to join his party.