‘Tensions’ subside: MQM leaders making their way back from UK

Party’s lawyer says nation will hear good news soon.

KARACHI: One by one, the leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have started coming back to the country from London, signalling that the heat surrounding party chief Altaf Hussain has subsided.

On Thursday morning, the party’s lawyer, Senator Farogh Naseem, returned to Karachi, a week after senior leader Dr Farooq Sattar came home. MQM leader Mustafa Kamal, who is also in London, is expected to return home by the end of this week.

Speaking to the media, Naseem said the current situation has become normal for the party and its chief in London. “Honestly speaking, I was very worried till the time I had not gone there, and seen the situation with my own eyes,” he admitted, adding that, “Everything is fine there.”

The time has come for television anchors, who have been spreading rumours against the party chief, to be disappointed. “Very soon, the nation will hear good news,” he said.

Tension had in erupted in June when Scotland Yard had raided the house of Altaf Hussain over suspicion of his involvement in Dr Imran Farooq’s murder.

Following the raid, the police started inquiries into money laundering, and after hundreds of complaints, mostly from Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf supporters, also initiated probe into accusations that his speeches incite violence.

Agreeing with the lawyer, MQM parliamentarian Khawaja Izharul Hasan said that there was nothing to worry about. “What is actually happening in London is what the Scotland Yard and the Met police are saying - their statements are factual,” he said. “The rest is heresy, and assumptions based on ifs and buts.”

Hasan said that his party is fully cooperating with the police in London. It has, however, submitted its reservations, according to the law, on the inquiries.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 19^th, 2013.