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Altaf Hussain leading MQM by phone

* Imran Khan plans to petition 10 Downing Street for justice
* MQM says Karachi too dangerous for Altaf to return

LAHORE: Altaf Hussain leads the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) by phone from his residence in London, but Tehrik-e-Insaaf Chairman Imran Khan is trying to have him prosecuted under British anti-terror laws to obtain justice for the MQM’s actions on May 12 in Karachi, reported the Guardian.

According to the newspaper, Hussain leads the MQM a powerful, popular and critics say “thuggish” political force from an office 5,000 miles away. At Nine Zero the party headquarters in a middle-class suburb in Karachi, Hussain’s visage is everywhere, reported the London daily. A giant poster hangs over the building’s entrance and reverential acolytes speak of “Altaf bhai”, but the leader himself is missing.

For the past 16 years, Hussain has lived in self-imposed exile in the UK initially as an asylum-seeker and currently as a British citizen. According to the newspaper, he is based in an office block on Edgware High Street in north London, from where he rules his party by phone directing his closest lieutenants in long, late-night conversations. The arrangement has become a matter of controversy, however, as the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan has arrived in London to try and have Hussain prosecuted under British anti-terror laws.

Three weeks ago, gunmen opened fire on a rally supporting Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, triggering bloodshed that left 42 people dead. Khan along with lawyers, human rights activists and opposition parties accuses Hussain of orchestrating the carnage from his residence in London. “The entire incident was planned. No British citizen is allowed to sit in London while directing terrorist operations abroad, so why is there an exception for Altaf Hussain?” said Khan, describing the MQM as “a fascist movement run by criminals”.

According to the newspaper, Khan said that if Pakistan is obligated to arrest Al Qaeda operatives for the Western powers, then Britain has an obligation to arrest Hussain. He said he planned to submit a petition to Downing Street. “The British government is involved in a war against terror but is giving Pakistan’s No 1 terrorist sanctuary,” he said.

The MQM denies all the charges, insisting it was the victim and not the perpetrator of the Karachi violence. It says 13 of its own activists were killed and last week produced a video showing apparent supporters of the rival Pakistan People’s Party firing guns in the air. “This is a conspiracy against us. Our decision to hold a rally on May 12 may be open to criticism, but we were not involved in armed attacks,” said Dr Farooq Sattar, head of the party in Pakistan, reported the Guardian.

According to the newspaper, Hussain himself has little to say. At the MQM’s “International Secretariat” on Edgware High Street, a party official said the leader was not available for comment. He was happy to give the newspaper a tour of the premises and confirmed the office was Hussain’s London headquarters while vowing to repel any court action by Khan. Meanwhile, in Karachi, Imran Khan has been banned from the city for one month while graffiti slurs against him have started to appear on walls.

The MQM was founded in 1984 by Hussain and won broad support among the “mohajirs” Muslims who fled India after partition in 1947. The party prided itself on its well-oiled machine and its secular, liberal outlook. However, it was linked to extortion, gun smuggling and South African crime networks, according to a senior police officer speaking on condition of anonymity. “That’s what happens when a political party is run like the mafia,” he said.

According to the Guardian, the party has projected a different image based on secularism, economic development and support for the “war on terror” since entering a coalition government with President Pervez Musharraf in 2002. Moderates such as the Karachi mayor, Mustafa Kamal, boast of new roads, sewage systems and billions of rupees in fresh investment. “The MQM believes in every sect and religion. We are against extremism. We were the first to protest 9/11,” he said. However, according to the daily, the party’s aspirations of becoming a national force have been shattered by the May 12 violence. There is little sign that Altaf Hussain is planning to return to Pakistan anytime soon, based on what MQM spokesmen have said, the Guardian reported. “We do not want him to come back to Karachi, because it is too dangerous here,” said parliamentarian Faisal Subzwari. daily times monitor

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