Kamal declares MQM ‘funded by RAW’

Demands banning of MQM-P name, flag, symbol; levels allegations at party convener

Pak Sarzameen Party chairperson Syed Mustafa Kamal declared the Muttahida Qaumi Movement to be funded by India's Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and levelled accusations at leaders of the MQM-Pakistan on Monday.

"The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf-led federation and the state itself is keeping the setup of RAW alive in Pakistan in the form of MQM-P," claimed Kamal at a press conference. "MQM founder Altaf Hussain is also being kept alive in Pakistan today through the name, flag, symbol and letterhead of the MQM-P," he said, alleging that this was hampering Pakistan's efforts to be removed from the Financial Action Task Force's grey list and was defamatory for the country.

He further accused MQM-P convener and MNA Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui of working for the Indian spy agency to destabilise Pakistan for the past two decades.

Kamal referred to the recent press conference by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) director-general, where they claimed to have evidence of MQM's links with RAW.

Claiming that the nation could only accept the stance of the state when the "real agents of RAW" and its remnants are eliminated from Pakistan, Kamal called for a ban of the name, flag and symbol of the MQM, and erasure of party leaders Amir Khan and Siddiqui.

However, Kamal advised the government to allow MQM lawmakers and senators to remain part of the government for now "to avoid a political crisis." He pointed to legislators like contentious law minister Farough Naseem in the government, "who may come up with something from their sleeves to avert [a] constitutional crisis for the government."

Published in The Express Tribune, November 17^th, 2020.