Hate speeches: No reference against Altaf for now

ISLAMABAD:

The government has deferred its decision of sending a legal reference to the British government against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) leader, Altaf Hussain, for his alleged hate speeches against Pakistan and its institutions.

The development came after MQM lawmakers quit parliamentary politics last week to register their reservations over the ongoing operation in Karachi.

“We have changed our mind. It’s time to reconsider our strategy,” a senior government functionary told The Express Tribune on Tuesday.

“At the moment, we are in the process of convincing the MQM top leadership to withdraw their resignations. The government does not want to create a constitutional crisis and it cannot afford more disturbances in Karachi which is already going through a testing time,” he said.

A leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) listed two reasons for putting off this decision: the present political crisis and poor legal position of the case.

“We were already unsure of the position on the issue. But the current political situation has forced us to think otherwise,” he told The Express Tribune. The Interior Ministry is also tightlipped over the matter. However, senior officials, who are supposed to deal with such matters said that the government was least interested in filing legal references against the MQM top leadership in London.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan announced in July that the government had decided to send legal references against the MQM chief, who, according to Nisar had delivered anti-state speeches by inviting a hostile spy agency to get involved in Karachi’s affairs

He had pledged that within a few days the government through the Foreign Affairs Ministry would dispatch the reference to the UK authorities.

“The case the government planned to file had no strong legal grounds and there is least possibility of success,” said a senior official who has been dealing with legal affairs of the Interior ministry. “We don’t have bilateral criminal agreement with the UK government. This also weakens our stance in this case,” he added.

Former interior secretary Tasneem Noorani said Altaf Hussain’s case of hate speeches against the state of Pakistan is difficult to handle.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2015.