Break-in attempt at Altaf Hussain's London home stirs panic in MQM

LONDON - The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) London has claimed that an unsuccessful attempt was made to break into the house of party chief  Altaf Hussain.

The party said that two individuals, apparently an Asian and the other African, tried to break into the MQM leader’s Abbey View house in middle of the night of Aug 22-23.

When the neigbours and security guards spotted the duo, they escaped in a white car.

In a statement, the MQM-London said that the incident could not only have been a botched break-in but also an attempt to murder or inflict physical damage on Mr Hussain, who has been living in self-exile from over two decades.

The party said that the break-in involved two men climbing over a neighbour’s wall at 2am in the morning who along with Altaf's personal guards became aware of the attempt following which the two men managed to flee.

The London faction of the party reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police and appealed to the British Prime Minister Theresa May to take stern notice and immediate steps both to bring the culprits to justice and to provide foolproof security for Mr Hussain's Abbey View Residence.

The Abbey View residence of MQM London supremo has been under the radar of British authorities.

As part of its investigations into the 2010 murder of senior MQM party official, Imran Farooq, the UK police raided the same home.

Police officers found significant amounts of cash and other documents leading to a long-running money laundering investigation that was eventually dropped in 2016.

The investigations into Imran Farooq’s murder and the money laundering allegations are now closed, but a spree of anti-Pakistan speeches by party chief led to split of the group into two branches: MQM-Pakistan and MQM-London.

The head of MQM-P is Farooq Sattar who is exploring new options with other political forces of Karachi to contest next General Elections contrary to MQM-L chief Altaf Hussain who is facing health issues and cannot transmit his message through Pakistani television channels due to an order by Lahore High Court.