11 arrested in Karachi over slogans, flags supporting MQM founder Altaf Hussain

KARACHI: Police in Karachi have arrested 11 people after a rally on Arif Jiyeja Street in support of Muttahida Qaumi Movement founder Altaf Hussain, a first information report registered on Thursday stated.

The FIR was lodged under Sections 153-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, relating to promoting enmity between different groups, and 34, concerning acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention. It named 11 individuals.

Police constable Deedar Ali stated that while on patrol he saw a group of people chanting slogans in favour of Hussain and carrying flags bearing the words jiye Altaf and 48th foundation day APMSO. The constable said the sloganeering was creating tensions and hostility and was provoking political parties in the area, raising the possibility that the situation could worsen. Police mobiles and additional personnel were then called to the scene, and the demonstrators were surrounded before 11 people were taken into custody.

MQM, however, gave a different account of the arrests. In a statement, the party said its workers were detained during a raid at an office on I.I. Chundrigar Road. The premises had no connection with MQM or its activities and called for the release of those arrested.

Background

Hussain began his political career during his student years at the University of Karachi, where he and Azeem Ahmed Tariq founded the All-Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation, or APMSO.

The MQM led by Hussain was accused of using violent methods to gain and keep political influence. Hussain, on the other hand, maintained that the state and rival political parties had targeted MQM and its workers since the party’s creation.

The party’s decline as it had been known followed Hussain’s speech in August 2016, when he raised slogans against Pakistan and called the country a cancer for the entire world. Within hours of that speech, MQM workers attacked the ARY News office in Karachi. A crackdown followed, after which the party’s Karachi headquarters and Hussain’s residence in Azizabad were sealed.

Later, party leaders in Pakistan publicly distanced themselves from Hussain and removed his name from the party constitution.