Daily Times

LAHORE: Former army commanders and government high ups have unanimously disclosed that it was not the first time when Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain delivered a hate speech against the country.

Addressing a joint press conference under the banner of Pakistan National Forum (PNF) at the Lahore Press Club on Thursday, they claimed that Altaf Hussain had been consistently condemning the creation of Pakistan, besides inciting his followers to take up arms and disrupt law and order situation in Karachi and other cities.

Former Karachi corps commander Lt Gen (r) Muhammad Naseer Akhter, former chief of navel staff Admiral Yastoorul Haq Malik, air vice martial (r) Anwar Mehmood Khan, Maj Gen Khawaja Rahat Latif, Maj Gen Saeedud Din Qazi, former Supreme Court of Pakistan chief justice Sheikh Riaz Ahmad, former National Assembly speaker Syed Fakhar Imam and the PNF President Col (r) Ikramullah Khan attended the conference.

Earlier, an emergent meeting of the executive committee of PNF took place to consider the situation that developed after the controversial telephonic address of London-based politician and MQM head Altaf Hussain.

Talking to media, the former army and judiciary officials informed that the MQM had been involved in several heinous crimes in the past, including mass killings, adding that the MQM workers always attacked the media whenever it tried to disown the orders of the Altaf Hussain. On number of occasions, they revealed, bundles of printed newspapers were forcibly snatched and burnt by workers on the instigation of Altaf Hussain.

They confirmed that publishers of different newspapers in Karachi were even directed to present themselves in the office of MQM every morning to adopt a particular line so as to strengthen it as a political party. They said those who rebelled against MQM were often subjected to extreme torture, while in most cases, only dead bodies were found lying in various places of Karachi.

Former high command authorities also disclosed that the party workers used to drill the bodies of their political opponents on the directions of the party leadership, which depicts the inhumane behaviour of the party leadership.

The former high ups said that Altaf Hussain crossed all limits in his last direct address to workers in Karachi, which stirred everyone, as he forgot that he was being watched in Lahore, Rahim Yar Khan and other parts of the country as well. “He deserves no sympathy as his followers who are now trying to bat for him, should be severly punished,” they demanded.

The speakers were of the view that in his latest address, Altaf again incited his followers to take law in their hands by attacking the media houses bluntly, which further depicted his evil mind. They said that the followers of MQM obeyed his directives and the crowd attacked the media houses, which was equivalent to an attack on freedom of press and freedom of expression.

They said that no civilised country could tolerate or digest such onslaught on the freedom of expression, as this attack is also considered an attack on one of the fundamentals of democracy in Pakistan.

MQM chief Altaf Hussain is a British national and by sitting in England he was not only creating turmoil in Karachi but was also involved into destabilising Pakistan with the cooperation and assistance of other internal and external enemies of the country, they concluded.