The court on Wednesday reserved a case against a provincial lawmaker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and his aides in Karachi. The petition against lawmakers is being heard in an anti-terrorism court. He is accused of disturbing Compact Discs (CDs) carrying anti-state propaganda.
In final arguments, the prosecutor contended that an MPA along with his around 15 absconding accomplices had allegedly distributed CDs of Altaf Hussain's anti-state speech.https://t.co/iihNKjvf6D
— Dawn.com (@dawn_com) October 3, 2019
MPA Shiraz Waheed; Naeem Shamshad; Mohammad Shoaib; Danish Saeed; Mubeen, alias Pakistani; M. Nabeel; Waqas; Ali Hasan, alias Guddu and Syed Azhar Ali alias Anna have been charged with distributing CDs, which contained speeches and statements to wage war against the state, among the people in an Ahsanabad locality in 2016.
On Wednesday, the matter came up before the ATC-II judge, when detained suspect Mubeen was produced before the court from prison while others appeared on bail for terrorism acts in Karachi.
The judge reserved her order after hearing final arguments from the special public prosecutor and the defense counsel for the accused and adjourned the hearing till Oct 5.
Hearing of case pertaining to Altaf Hussain's anti-state speech has been adjourned until October 5.https://t.co/iihNKjvf6D
— Dawn.com (@dawn_com) October 3, 2019
MQM-London is currently not allowed to carry out its political activities in Pakistan due to a series of anti-Pakistan comments by its leader Altaf Hussain who is now not allowed to appear on TV screens. Altaf Hussain said in his video message, posted on MQM-L’s official social media platforms on 23rd March 2017 that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi should help the Muhajir minority to be given rights in Pakistan.
Speaking in London, he said Modi should raise his voice for Pakistani Muhajirs and the people of Balochistan. He went on to say that migration was a ‘big mistake’ of the forefathers.
This was not the first time when Altaf gave controversial statements. In 2016, Altaf Hussain chanted anti-Pakistan slogans during his telephonic address after which his speeches were banned from electronic media. During this speech, Altaf Hussain also openly threatened media houses and asked the electrified crowd to attack those media houses which don’t support Altaf Hussain.
There is a sufficient amount of evidence in the shape of Kulbhushan Yadav that Karachi has been the main target of the RAW.
Altaf Hussain’s anti-state stance led to the break-up of MQM-L from MQM-Pakistan which was then led by Farooq Sattar, Hussain’s blue-eyed man. MQM-P disowned Mr. Hussain and clarified that there was no association between the two factions anymore.
Karachi has been seeing violence and acute law and order situation since the 1990s. Several people were killed, looted, exploited or made criminals for political interests of Altaf Hussain. However, during the last government of PPP, the Pakistan Rangers were given the task to restore peace and order in Karachi. The situation has improved significantly.
Moreover, after Pakistan arrested Indian spy Commander Kulbhushan Yadav whose codename was Hussain Mubarak Patel from Balochistan who later admitted that his job was to meet people in Karachi and Balochistan and spread violence.
Read more: MQM in disarray
“I commenced intelligence operation in 2003 and established a small business in Chabahar in Iran as I was able to achieve undetected existence and visits to Karachi in 2003 and 2004 and having done some basic assignments within India for RAW”, he said in a confessional video.
Therefore, some analysts believe that the MQM from the 1990s under the leadership has been taking help from the RAW to destabilize Pakistan. There is a sufficient amount of evidence in the shape of Kulbhushan Yadav that Karachi has been the main target of the RAW. So the present case in which a lawmaker is accused of being the anti-state holds some grounds. The court is to decide if he is really involved in anti-state propaganda against Pakistan or he is just being victimized on political grounds.
Altaf Hussain's speechs from London clearly show #MQM as an anti-Pakistan party funded & supported by powers such as RAW #MQMBurningKHI
— Ali Haider Zaidi (@AliHZaidiPTI) August 22, 2016