MQM says it has no control over emotions of activists following Altaf’s speeches

LONDON: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has said that it has no control over how the party activists react – violently or peacefully – after the speeches made by its London-based leader Altaf Hussain, who is being investigated by Scotland Yard after allegations were made that Hussain is responsible for inciting violence in Karachi. In a news article titled “Feared in Karachi, living in London: man who runs his party ‘like a cult’”, The Times said on Thursday that the MQM has been described as “a mafia and a cult” which has been accused of “maintaining control of the mega city through a lethal cocktail of extortion, killings and intimidation”. MQM leader Senator Nasreen Jalil was quoted as saying by the paper that how people react after Hussain’s speeches is not the party’s responsibility. “How people feel about it emotionally, we are not able to control that.” She told the newspaper: “He sings, he acts, he cries, he laughs, people move with him. The way he feels about things so passionately, that is his strength.” When asked about the widely-held allegation that the MQM runs an armed wing to intimidate its opponents, Nasreen Jalil didn’t deny the existence of the armed wing. However, she said that the party felt it needed to defend itself. “I don’t know about the armed wing, but definitely we need to protect ourselves.” But the paper said a youth worker of party said that “he was given a gun to intimidate opponents”.The paper said: “The confession is a rare admission of the existence of the armed wing of the MQM, which has helped to maintain the party’s grip.” The paper said that the MQM’s venerated leader Altaf Hussain was granted British citizenship in 2002 – “a year after writing to Tony Blair offering MQM’s help in the battle against Islamic militants in Karachi, where the party is accused of violent intimidation of opponents”. The MQM leader has denied that he ever incited violence but the Karachi based liberal party has for long been associated with using violent tactics against its opponents, which the party denies. The MQM told the paper that Altaf Hussain was cooperating with the Scotland Yard “as a witness only” in the murder investigation of Dr Imran Farooq, former senior MQM leader who was killed in Edgware outside his home three years ago. The paper said that in spite of the party’s reputation Mr Hussain’s supporters “adore him as an ideologue and spiritual leader, and say his movement is battling local Islamism”. The paper said that the MQM’s student wing - the All Pakistan Muttahida Students’ Organisation (APMSO) - demands three promises from new recruits: “blind faith in the party leader; to destroy one’s ego to become a better worker; and to strive for mutual co-operation within the party”. The paper said those who choose to leave the MQM are “forced into hiding”. It quoted an ex-party affiliate as saying that “loyalty is the biggest part” of the MQM politics and said that the ex party member had a “bruise under his eye” which was a reminder “that the party was still watching”.