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NOTE FROM PAKNATIONALISTS.COM: MQM is one facet of violence spawned by political parties, or what passes for political parties in Pakistan. While MQM is a major contributor to violence in Karachi, it is not the only one. PPPP, ANP and others maintain similar secret militias. It’s just that MQM outguns them all.

 

By Dr. Shahid Qureshi
The London Post
Monday, 20 September 2010.
WWW.PAKNATIONALISTS.COM

LONDON, Britain—Dr. Imran Farooq former leader of the MQM was involved in heinous crimes in Pakistan. Imran Farooq was never invited to the meeting held just before his death, which proves the point that he was ‘no more in the party’. The way MQM people are minding the family and parents of Imran Farooq is like if they are under house arrest without open access to the media. We see images of Altaf Hussain weeping on TV screens but nothing from the family, parents, brothers and sisters of the Dr. Imran?  How bizarre is that?

It would be useful and may help solving the current crime if Scotland Yard investigates/studies the murder of Haji Jalal, reportedly a British Citizen who was member of the MQM core committee, living in London for many years and killed in Karachi in July 2009, after having reported disagreements with Altaf Hussain. MQM issued no statement on his death and no one from the party attended his funeral.

The propaganda by MQM/Altaf in Britain that they are fighting against Taliban is utter nonsense. A senior General once said, ‘MQM will disappear in the air once countered with Taliban’. They see every man with a beard from North of Pakistan as Taliban and sing from the hymn sheet coming from abroad. In fact it is a bunch of criminals and killers now violating British laws for many years.

Since 2001, MQM has done nothing practical in the fight against ‘terrorism’ apart from sending faxes and false reports to foreign embassies in Islamabad and to foreign governments. They are part of every government since 2002 and done nothing apart from collecting extortion money from Karachi and sending to London via illegal channels. They have been exaggerating the impact of visits to MQM officials by junior US diplomats and visiting US officials as if White House and US presidents have been keeping them in the loop. They have become part of the problem than part of the solution for Pakistan and a burden on British taxpayers.  

Dr Imran Farooq had a Rs. 5,000,000 (Rupees five million, or 5 Lacs) head money announced by Pakistan, and was convicted and charged in Major Kaleem’s case. The others who were charged in the same case are Altaf Hussain (escaped to London), Saleem Shahzad (London), Aftab Ahmed, Ashfaq Chief, Javed Kazmi and Hajji Jalal (was in London and eliminated in Karachi in 2009). Those who are alive are in London and frequently appear on TV screens in the meetings of the inner circle of Altaf Hussain. Others include Yousuf, Nadeem Ayubi, Ayub Shah, Ismail alias Sitara, Ashraf Zaidi in USA, Sajid Azad, Asghar Chacha, Rehan Zaidi and Safdar Baqri.

On 5 February 1998, Advocate-General Shaukat Zubedi asked for a RE-TRIAL before a competent court, but the court didn’t agree with his contention and acquitted the appellants. Sind High Court acquitted them because the prosecution seemingly did not peruse the matter. Normally if the prosecution won’t pursue the case under ‘political pressures’, defense is going to win. But that does not mean justice has been done or that the accused were acquitted because they did not commit a crime.

The incident happened on June 20, 1991, and the FIR of the incident was lodged on June 24. The accused in the case had been charged with kidnapping army officers and torturing them. Trial before STA Court No. 3 began before judge Ghazanfar Ali Shah in March 1993 and the judgment was delivered on June 9, 1994 when Altaf Hussain was in London and not in Pakistan. 

Major Kaleem and three other Pakistan Army officers were patrolling the Landhi area in civilian clothes in an army jeep when about 20-armed terrorists took them hostage after seizing their weapons. The army men were taken to a place called White House in Landhi, an MQM-run torture cell [like most feudal politicians run similar ‘facilities’ on their lands] where they were allegedly tortured and kept for seven hours. They were rescued when the police reached the place. 

It was Altaf Hussain and MQM who issued a memo to his workers saying, ‘If there was war between India and Pakistan, MQM workers will remain neutral’. Why did Altaf Hussain issue such instructions that come close to high treason? Whose side is he on? He has already chosen to be a British Citizen while running a Pakistani political party.

A senior analyst in the UK says, ‘Altaf Hussian of MQM is becoming a headache for the British Government. His so-called International Secretariat in London is a center of criminal activities. Police would be interested to know who is funding this secretariat and are there any mafia links? Altaf and his cronies allegedly own quite a few properties in London worth millions. Question is: what is the Serious Fraud Office in Scotland Yard doing about it since it was reported in a London weekly newspaper? These properties are allegedly worth millions of pounds and there is no reason for SFO not to investigate if they are not doing already?”

A senior British parliamentarian said to me, “I am living here for many decades and I cannot afford these kinds of properties”. Someone said, ‘In an ideal situation if British Government treats MQM and its leader by the law without protecting him with legal loopholes, applying the law on him instead of considering him an ‘asset’, the whole so called Mafia den would be closed down in minutes.  Surely security services and GCHQ have records of all the coded communications and speeches.”

It seems Altaf Hussain soon will be questioned in local police station under caution for inciting hatred, racism, money laundering, and financial corruption. His passport may be confiscated and travel restrictions might be imposed on the entire inner circle.

I asked senior British lawyer Amjad Malik: Can someone like (Altaf Hussain) be tried under Race Hate crimes in Britain, (keeping in view his inflammatory speeches)?

He answered, “If someone in Britain uses his oratory in a negative way and target his audience to create hatred against any other class in that society which results in violent activities and/or results in killings and entails acts committed at any time as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population with knowledge of the attacker including offences such as murder, blackmailing, targeted killing in revenge and to create terror, torture, rape, severe deprivation of liberty, enforced disappearance of persons, damage to property or genocide, terrorist activities, or organized crimes to advance political aims, or he incites racial and religious hatred by using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior, or disorderly behavior,  the answer is yes, that person may be investigated and later charged under section 18 of Public Order Act 1986 and further for using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behavior, or disorderly behavior, or displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting under s.4(a) Public Order Act 1986. In my opinion those oratory intimidation and criminal behavior will be considered racially aggravated offences if racially motivated under s.28(1)a of Crime and Disorder Act 1998 which confirms ‘that at the time of committing the offence, or immediately before or after doing so, the offender demonstrates towards the victim of the offence hostility based on the victims membership or (presumed membership) of a racial group; or b) the offence is motivated (wholly or partly) by hostility towards members of a racial group based on their membership of that group’. Incitement for racial hatred is similar to incitement of race and religious hatred which we see under s.29a and b) of Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006. I will give example the case of Abu Hamza here as an example as in similar situation one can be investigated by UK police under Police and Criminal Evidence Act and may be asked to attend an interview under caution to see if there is a satisfactory response to the allegations of incitement to racial hatred and as a result of that investigation may be charged by the State if there is sufficient evidence to prosecute and one can be tried in UK under existing national laws, and if one is foreign national and/or naturalised, he can be stripped off his nationality and may be extradited to the State where he originally belongs and where those crimes actually take effect subject to some conditions and human rights provisions. In all circumstances Britain will offer a fair trial to the accused”.  

There is a possibility that Altaf Hussain and his gang might be extradited to Pakistan under Interpol ‘Red Warrant’ after the nullification of National Reconciliation Ordinance, NRO, a law that Pakistanis describe as the ‘National Robbers Ordinance’.

Altaf Hussain should be sacked from party leadership, brought to justice and MQM must elect a new local Pakistan based leader if they are a political party and not a mafia. MQM needs to ‘disarm’ as soon as possible to save more innocent lives in Karachi and in London. Many people in Karachi have grievances against Altaf Hussain’s gang for murdering their relatives. He should be brought to justice before someone shifts the gang war to the streets of London’.

 

Mr. Qureshi is the editor of the UK-based online paper TheLondonPost.net where this article was first published. Mr. Qureshi can be reached at

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