KARACHI (Web Desk) – Scores of MQM activists held a demonstration in Karachi on Thursday, protesting British politician and writer George Galloway’s interference in Pakistan’s internal affairs.
Galloway had, speaking about a money laundering case, said noose was being tightened around Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain. Citing his sources, Galloway had told a group of reporters that Scotland Yard was inches away from arresting Hussain.
Galloway has no right to meddle in “our internal affairs”, MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi said.
Other MQM leader Rauf Siddiqui demanded the British government take notice of MQM protest against Galloway’s irresponsible statement.
The protest demonstration was held outside Karachi Press Club , where charged MQM protestors chanted slogans against Galloway.
Muttahida leaders, on the occasion, demanded state institutions and media take notice of Galloway’s exuberant interest in a purely Pakistani matter.
They called Galloway’s remarks as uncalled-for and suspected he was doing that upon someone’s request. They also called on British Parliament to suspend Galloway as a legislator.
Earlier in mid-April, London’s Metropolitan Police extended MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s bail till July.
Hussain was given extension in his bail plea after he was questioned for more than five hours by investigating officers.
“I trust the British judicial system,” said Hussain as he walked out of the police station, adding “MQM workers should remain peaceful during the course of investigation.”
Earlier that day at 10:00 am, MQM chief accompanied by MQM leaders Babar Ghauri, Farooq Sattar, other members of the Rabita Committee, and his legal team, arrived at the police station.
Hussain told a pivate television that he was hopeful that he would emerge victorious.
According to MQM, the party chief arrived at Southwark Police Station by appointment.
Priot to that, addressing party workers and activists gathered at Azizabad’s Jinnah Ground in Karachi over telephone, Hussain asked his supporters to pray for him, saying one has to undergo tests in a political struggle.
The MQM supremo was arrested on June 3, 2014 during the course of a money laundering investigation initiated in July 2013 by the London Metropolitan Police, prompting thousands of people in Karachi to stage a sit-in calling for his release.
He was then shifted to Wellington Hospital over concerns to his health and underwent angiography and other tests. Having been discharged from the hospital, Hussain was taken to the Southwark police station where he was questioned for nine hours.
He was released on bail four days after his arrest in 2014, and granted two bail extensions ─ the first in July 2014 and the second on Dec 3, 2014. His bail extension is expiring today.
During their investigations, the London Metropolitan Police had discovered ‘a considerable amount of money’ during raids on Hussain’s residence and office in London.
A statement from the police had said that the cash was found when a counter-terrorism unit of police raided Hussain’s office on Dec 6, 2012 under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act in connection with the investigation of Dr Imran Farooq murder case.
In 2010, Imran Farooq, one of MQM’s founding members and a confidant of Hussain, was murdered in London.
The MQM chief’s visit to the police station coincides with the presentation of a primary suspect in Dr Imran Farooq’s murder case in a Karachi court, as per an announcement made by Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Monday.
Living in self-exile for over two decades, Hussain gained British citizenship in 2002 after leaving Pakistan in the early 1990s when a military operation was launched to end ethnic unrest in Karachi.
