Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh Rangers have arrested two members of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM)-London Rabita (Coordination) Committee from Karachi ahead of their planned press conference at the Karachi Press Club.

The arrest of Dr Hassan Zafar Arif and Kunwar Khalid Yunus came when the former reached the Karachi Press Club on a motorbike to address the media. Both the MQM leaders are members of the party’s 12-member interim coordination committee.

According to reports, the arrested leaders were shifted to the Rangers headquarters in Mitha Ram Hostel, and the press conference was cancelled. The law enforcers also took positions in the area and checked vehicles parked there. Later in the evening, Rangers also arrested newly joined MQM-London leader Amjadullah from outside the Karachi Press Club.

Dr Hassan had recently joined the party along with four other members — Advocate Ishaq, former president of the National Students Federation Momin Khan Momin, Amjadullah Khan and Advocate Idrees Alvi — of the new coordination committee. He is a former faculty member of the Karachi University’s Department of Philosophy.

The MQM-London had objected to the existence of a coordination committee in Pakistan, led by Dr Farooq Sattar. The interim coordination committee was formed by MQM’s London-based leadership in an attempt to regain organisational control of the party which it almost lost following the August 22 incendiary speech of party founder Altaf Hussain.

Saturday’s development comes a week after Dr Hassan addressed a press conference at the Karachi Press Club during which he said the party’s London group fully supported Altaf Hussain. He had demanded that the ongoing “anti-MQM” operation be called off forthwith. He had said that conspiracies being hatched against the party would fail, saying Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) was created to divide the party “but it will fail in its attempts”.

“We demand that the state should lift all restrictions on Altaf Hussain, including his speech, written statements and publication,” he had said. The presser was in fact a response to the minus-one formula, the MQM-London leader said, referring to Altaf’s exclusion from the Karachi-based party.

The October 15 press conference was the first show of strength by Altaf Hussain against Dr Farooq Sattar-led MQM-Pakistan.

On October 2, senior members of MQM-London Mustafa Azizabadi, Qasim Ali Raza and Wasay Jalil cancelled Dr Farooq Sattar’s party membership for committing ‘treason’, saying he had no right to impose administrative decisions.