KARACHI, May 25: Thousands of workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement converged on the Karachi Press Club on Friday night to stage what was described by the MQM as a spontaneous outpouring of public support for Altaf Hussain who has lately been bitterly criticised by cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan for his alleged role in the May 12 violence.
According to a press statement issued by the MQM international secretariat in London, Mr Khan’s interview with a private television channel, in which he reportedly made uncharitable remarks against Mr Hussain, caused the MQM workers to see red. It adds that the MQM headquarters has received thousands of phone calls from concerned activists.
The MQM statement accuses Mr Khan of being a former “playboy”.
Mr Khan has made a string of statements against Mr Hussain and vowed to take the latter to court in London over his alleged role in the May 12 violence in Karachi.
Activists of the women wing of the MQM also took part in the demonstration and chanted slogans against the former cricket captain. They said Mr Khan should be ashamed of making spiteful statements against the MQM chief, who was far more popular than the chief of the Tehrik-i-Insaf.
National Assembly member Haider Abbas Rizvi and provincial minister Shoaib Bukhari took part in the demonstration.
If true, then its absolutely immature, wrong and not needed, just like the rally on May 12th was not needed. Not that I like Imran Khan as the politician, but like any other Pakistani he too has the same right to express himslef and travel freely across the country.
There is an arcane british era law that allows the executive to sort of declare someone persona non grata and ask him/her to leave the jurisdiction of the province.
A guy who cannot win more than one seat in the assembly now has the almighty govt. quaking in their boots. How desperate can you get. I am not a fan of Imran but the guy has every right to move in any part of Pakistan he wishes to. As I have said before Pakistan belongs to Pakistanis and not Musharraf or any of his lackeys.
Imran has my respect for being the only politician for doing *something *about the 12 may carnage. Rest of the political gang is upto their usual stuff..making statements and going home. Imran on the other hand is going ahead with a lawsuit, taking the MQM head on. Did u read his statement on BBC? After MQM protested against Imran for calling Altaf bhai a terrorist and chalking up Karachi walls, Imran who was earlier going to only visit Hyderabad, decided to add Karachi to his tour and said..if they think they can cow me down with these tactics, think again. He needs our support.
I don't know what to make of all this? It's just so laughable that a national hero and Pakistan's best-known export (and he has earned that status over the years) has been banned from entering Karachi just because he was brave enough to publicly denounce MQM for the May 12 crimes, *aakhir such karwa lag gaya in MQM ghundon ko. *This shows the true faces of Musharraf and his MQM chamchas. The thing that concerns me here the most is Imran Khan's personal safety and well-being. Knowing these MQM goons it would not be beneath them to try and kill Imran or atleast harm him in some way. So it's just as well that he cannot go to these troubled places for now. Entry or no entry Imran has managed to drive home the message that MQM is solely responsible for May12 mayhem
The thing that concerns me most here is Imran Khan's personal safety. Knowing these MQM goons it would not be beneath them to even try and kill him or atleast harm him in some way. So it's just as well that he cannot go to these troubled places for now. Entry or no entry Imran managed to drive home his point about who he really thought was responsible for May12 mayhem
I agree. I am thinking this banning maybe a blessing in disguise. For MQM its just another object to shoot at. Imran should be careful. I saw the interview which has the MQM in a tizz...Imran said on the show that he has been getting so many calls from people to stop irritating the MQM and that they might try and hurt him..but he said he was not afraid. We all know the character he has..but this is dangerous. I hope he stays safe.
