Caught between conspiracies

Members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have decided to show solidarity with their leader, Altaf Hussain, by demonstrating their street power on May 25, 2014 in Karachi. The MQM chief has been under investigation, for money laundering charges, in London for nearly a year now. Though the UK authorities have been unable to prove the charges with substantial evidence, for the time being, Altaf’s accounts have been frozen.

Like any other political party, MQM’s major source of income is through donations, which it collects from its supporters locally and around the globe. Altaf  Hussain, the party chief who moved to London in 1992, after an assassination attempt, has been cooperative during the investigation process and has provided ample evidences of the donations collected so far. He is confident that he has nothing to hide and will be proven innocent in the end.

It is important to mention that these allegations started after the murder of Dr Imran Farooq in London, creating frenzy in the media and speculation that the MQM chief was behind it. The murder investigation is still going on and the authorities have failed to nab the culprits. Once the murder investigation failed to prove any such involvement, the money laundering charges were brought up. During the investigation, the police raided his residence and his daughter’s iPad and his personal belongings, such as cameras and coin collecting jars, were taken away as evidence by the police.

It is difficult to comprehend why the British authorities never raised any concern regarding the MQM’s funding in the past, so why start now?

UK is famous for its strict law enforcement and democratic culture. The authorities are very systematic when it comes to documenting every fund or proceeds coming in and going out of their country; every transaction is monitored and traced from the source to the recipient. However, they are undermining their policies in Altaf’s investigation even though he has not violated any rules while carrying out his personal and political financial activities in London. Furthermore, the investigation has been ongoing for an extremely long duration which has only resulted in harassment and victimisation of the party leader and his family.

To stand against such injustice, MQM is organising a solidarity rally for its supporters to show that they will stand united against all conspiracies, whether they originate at home or abroad.