Daily Times

MQM founder Altaf Hussain has asked Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant him and other members of his party asylum in India.

He made the request during a speech aired on social media from his London abode earlier this month.

“If India and Prime Minister Modi allow me to come to India and provide me asylum with my colleagues, I am ready to come to India along with my colleagues because my grandfather is buried there … my grandmother is buried there … my thousands of relatives are buried in India. I want to go to their graves and want to pray,” he said in the video message broadcast on social media on Nov 9.

He also said that Muslims do not have any right over the disputed site that once housed the Babri Mosque in Ayodha. “The current government of Modi has the right to establish Hindu raj and if Indian politician Asaduddin Owaisi and others do not like India, they should migrate to Pakistan where a Muslim homeland has been established for them,” he said. Altaf asked Modi to let him come to India because his grandparents are buried there along with “thousands” of relatives.

“I want to go to India to see their graves. I’m a peaceful person. I promise that I will not interfere in any kind of politics but please allow me along with my colleagues to live in India,” he asked.

A UK court recently announced that the incitement of violence case against him will begin on June 1, 2020 and will continue for two weeks.

He was arrested on June 11 during a raid at his London house for inciting violence through a hate speech he made in August 2016.

The police said in a statement that he was arrested on suspicion of intentionally encouraging or assisting offences contrary to Section 44 (intentionally encouraging or assisting an offence) of the Serious Crime Act 2007.

“Throughout the investigation, officers have been liaising with Pakistani authorities in relation to our ongoing inquiries,” the statement said.

Altaf has been accused of delivering a ‘fiery’ speech while addressing his party workers on August 22, 2016. He allegedly chanted anti-Pakistan slogans and incited the workers to vandalise media offices in Karachi.