Islamabad: The government will present a legal dossier to the British government on the statements of London-based chief of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which amount to “waging war against Pakistan,” the country’ interior minister said on Sunday.
Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said preparation of the legal documents was under way and it would be handed over to the British in the coming days.
The interior minister strongly condemned statements and speeches of Altaf Hussain from his London base over the ongoing operation against crime and corruption in Karachi by paramilitary Rangers and other law enforcement agencies.
MQM alleges the operation by Pakistan Rangers, launched in September last year in the country’s largest city and its port and financial hub, is targeted against it — an allegation forcefully denied by the government.
The minister, who was addressing a press conference, he said the latest “hate-inciting speech” the MQM chief delivered on Saturday night “crossed all limits.”
He said the MQM leader “insulted” heads of key institutions and “sarcastic poems were read against the armed forces of Pakistan and accusations were levelled against the army.”
The interior minister said actual danger to Hussain is from the two cases in the United Kingdom where the noose has been tightened against him by the UK agencies.
He said Pakistan will extend all possible legal cooperation to UK in both these cases involving money laundering and 2010 murder of MQM leader Imran Farooq in London.
Khan said the claim that the operation in Karachi only targets one specific party is absolutely wrong. “Action has been taken across the board.”
“Only criminal elements within the MQM have been targeted during the ongoing operation. Activists belonging to the PPP [Pakistan Peoples Party], Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Sunni Tehreek, Shabab-e-Milli and ANP [Awami National Party] were also arrested, but no party raised any objections apart from the MQM,” the minister said.
No other party took to the streets nor asked for the operation to be ended, he said.
“The operation will continue with the same pace,” the interior minister said. “As a result of the operation there has been noticeable decrease in rime and terrorism cases.”
The interior minister emphasised that the Urdu-speaking community, which MQM claims to represent, are as patriotic as any other Pakistani.
Citing statistics for July, Khan said that “target killing has decreased by 50 per cent in Karachi. Kidnapping for ransom cases decreased by 100 per cent and not a single case was filed in July.”
Only one bank robbery was reported in July, he said, adding that the improvement in the law and order situation in the country had been appreciated internationally.
“Altaf hasn’t come to the country during the past 25 years and I doubt that he will ever return,” the interior minister said.
Responding to a question the federal interior minister said that the media has ended live broadcasts of Husasin’s speeches and the government is also considering a blanket ban on airing his speeches.
