Action against MQM: JUI-F chief wants official patronage of parties to end

Says MQM was established by Gen Ziaul Haq and nourished by Gen Pervez Musharraf

ISLAMABAD: Referring to the ongoing crackdown against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has asked the establishment to avoid patronising political parties.

“A crackdown is going on against the same party which was nourished and protected by the establishment in the past,” he said on Friday while talking to media after a workers convention in Rawalpindi.



“The former military dictator General Ziaul Haq had established the MQM and the former president General Pervez Musharraf nourished it,” he said, asking the establishment not to patronise the political parties.



Crackdown against the MQM started after Altaf Hussain on August 22 shouted anti-Pakistan slogans and incited his party workers to violence while addressing a hunger strike camp outside Karachi Press Club.

Later, the MQM workers attacked the office of a media house and clashed with police, resulting in the death of a person and injuries to a dozen. Since the incident, the government has arrested a number of MQM workers while hundreds of its offices have been sealed and razed to the ground.



All major political parties have condemned the MQM chief’s anti-Pakistan rant, and called upon the government to initiate treason case against him.

The government has already approached the British authorities, including the Scotland Yard, with all evidence of Altaf’s seditious and incendiary speeches, so that a legal action could be taken against him.

Fazl said the JUI-F will continue its struggle for democracy within the parameters of the Constitution.
Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2016.