Murder investigations’ aftermath: MQM chief steps down, takes back decision later

Altaf Hussain admits Scotland Yard searched his house and took away several items.

KARACHI:

Breaking his long silence over the murder investigations of Dr Imran Farooq, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief broke down on Sunday and said he was being dragged into the case unnecessarily.

People woke up on the holiday to news that Altaf Hussain had stepped down as the MQM chief, following raids by the Scotland Yard at his home in England over his suspected involvement in Farooq’s murder in 2010.

Declaring the accusations against him as false and terming them conspiracies of the international establishment to malign him, Altaf earlier said that he was stepping down on moral grounds as he wanted to clear his name. He handed over the affairs of the party to its Rabita Committee.

Party supporters did not take this announcement well and several workers gathered at the party headquarters in Nine Zero. Hundreds of enraged supporters with tears rolling down their faces pleaded Altaf to take back his decision. “Bhai [brother], we are nothing without you. Bhai, we love you,” the women sobbed.

The Rabita Committee then held a meeting and decided that they would not accept Altaf’s resignation. They request him to take back his decision, which he did, a few hours later. The workers rejoiced at this announcement — several of them danced to the party’s songs holding large posters of Altaf.

“My fault is that I have raised my voice against feudals, extremists and the Taliban,” Altaf said when he addressed his workers later. “In the eyes of Britain, I may not be a leader but for my own people, I am one.”

Altaf, who has been in self-imposed exile in England since 1991, came out hard on the British government and their ‘establishment’ in his speech at a time when the British prime minister, David Cameron, was visiting Premier Nawaz Sharif. “The agencies should arrest the killers of Imran Farooq and refrain from conspiring against me,” he said, adding that he will go to court to fight his case.

For the first time, the MQM chief also accepted news that had surfaced last week about Scotland Yard and the London Metropolitan Police raiding his house. “They were in my house for several hours and they took away several things,” he said. “I told them to provide me a list of things they took but they didn’t do that.” Altaf said that he has never broken any rules during his stay in the UK and would never do so in the future. He alleged that the British government and its establishment were after his life and wanted to kill him.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the party submitted a petition in the British Deputy High Commission, expressing their concern over the government’s step. While silently protesting outside the British High Commission on Sunday afternoon, the workers said that what the British government was doing had hurt the sentiments of the entire nation. Their leader was innocent and the British were falsely dragging him in the case, they insisted.

Parliamentarian Dr Farooq Sattar, who was addressing the protesters, said that they were the affected ones in Dr Imran Farooq’s murder. The media trial of the MQM and Altaf Hussain was unacceptable, he added. “We will fight in UK courts,” he announced. “The issue should be solved immediately and with justice. We will defend Altaf Hussain against all these accusations.”

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2013.