KARACHI, Pakistan: Three Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) office-bearers including two members of the Rabita Committee were arrested when Sindh Rangers raided the party headquarters Nine Zero early on Friday.
It was the second raid by Rangers personnel at the MQM headquarters after the start of the Karachi Operation.
“A heavy contingent of Rangers raided Khursheed Begum Secretariat of Muttahida Quami Movement in the early hours of Friday and arrested In-charge Co-ordination Committee Pakistan Kahfilwara and member Qamar Mansoor,” the MQM official website said.
In a statement, the Director General Pakistan Rangers Sindh Major General Bilal Akbar said that these MQM members which included Qamar Mansoor and Kahf-ul-Wara were arrested for making provocative speeches and endangering peace of Karachi.
While a Rangers spokesperson said that a list of persons involved in provocative speeches has been prepared and further arrests will also be made soon. He said that Rangers are working for restoring peace in the province particularly in Karachi.
After the raid, MQM supporters and workers reached Nine Zero where they chanted slogans to protest the raid.
Meanwhile, the MQM Chief Altaf Hussain strongly condemned the raid, saying that current situation will only create more vacuum for hate.
“We will continue our struggle until our last breath,” Altaf Hussain said. “These raids and arrests will not weaken our resolve.”
The MQM Chief urged the authorities to release the illegally arrested people before Eid. He also urged his party workers living outside Pakistan to contact their MPs & make them aware of the state terrorism against Mohajirs.
In an emergency press conference held by the MQM’s Rabita Committee after the raid, the MQM leader Farooq Sattar said that the MQM is being banned unofficially.
“We are as much patriots as anyone else in Pakistan,” Farooq Sattar said.
Farooq Sattar said that the consequences of isolating MQM and Mohajirs will not be good.
The MQM leader Barrister Saif said that the state terrorism against the MQM needs to stop.
