Karachi: A senior Pakistani security official on Monday said the August 22 attack on media houses in Karachi was planned and executed by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), and six party workers have confessed to the crime.
“Members of MQM’s unit and sector offices carried out the attack on the directives of the party’s Rabita Committee and Central Executive Committee,” the director-general of the Paramilitary Rangers, Major-General Bilal Akbar, said while talking to media during his visit to Jinnah Hospital here.
Assailants launched attacks on several media offices soon after former party supremo Altaf Hussain delivered anti-state remarks last Monday, in what has now become an infamous speech.
Subsequently, MQM’s senior leader Farooq Sattar disassociated the affairs of the party from Altaf, saying all political affairs will be run from Karachi.
“The six arrested miscreants have revealed that they brought batons and knives and organised the attackers on the directives given,” Maj Gen Bilal said.
“These six persons are being handed over to police for further investigation and a subsequent trial, while we will continue to carry out raids to nab the remaining miscreants.”
According to the Sindh Rangers chief, two officials working in banks near the Karachi Press Club, belonging to the MQM labour division, provided refuge to the miscreants prior to the attack.
“One of them, Javaid Shaukat, has been arrested while the other, Khurram Khan, is still at large and raids are being conducted to arrest him,” the DG added.
Since August 25, more than two dozen offices of MQM reportedly built on government land have been demolished while about 200 remain sealed as law enforcement agencies continue a crackdown against the party.
On Sunday, prominent party leader Asif Husnain announced he was parting ways with the MQM and joined Mustafa Kamal’s Pak Sarzameen Party, which already boasts several prominent political figures.
