Afaq claims rival MQM involved in 92 murders

Lahore: The Mohajir Qaumi Movement led by the jailed chairman of the party, Afaq Ahmad, has accused the rival Muttahida Qaumi Movement headed by the exiled party chief Altaf Hussain of having killed 92 of its workers in Karachi alone since 2003, with family members of none of the deceased being allowed to lodge a murder case against the accused.

While making public a letter written to the newspaper editors by Afaq Ahmad, who has been behind bars since 2003, the central secretary information of the MQM, Athar Osmani, said the party chairman has survived two attempts on his life in Karachi's central jail during the last six months.

In the first attempt his food was poisoned while in the second one, the rivals tried using a poisonous injection to get rid of him, said Athar, who has just been released after a three- year detention.

"I have been told by Afaq Ahmad to declare on his behalf that in case of his unnatural death, Altaf Hussain and Governor Sindh Ishratul Ibad should be tried for his murder," Athar Usmani added.

The MQM secretary general said that since Altaf Hussain's joined the Musharraf camp and the coalition governments in the Sindh and the Centre, a reign of terror and barbarism has been unleashed against the workers of the Afaq-led MQM.

He said since becoming a part of the Sindh government and ensuring the appointment of an absconding Ishratul Ibad as Governor of Sindh, the Altaf-led MQM has killed 92 innocent workers of the rival MQM and kidnapped 300 others in various parts of Karachi.