"Whatever happened yesterday should not have happened, we condemn it," Sattar told reporters, in a rare public rebuke of Hussain. The supporters later clashed with police outside the television building, leaving one person dead and several wounded. Sattar said that Monday's violence, during which MQM supporters fired shots at the office of a television channel, had been started by Hussain when he criticised Pakistani media in a telephone address to his supporters in Karachi.
MQM NEW HEADQUARTERS TV
Senior MQM leader Farooq Sattar, who was detained on Monday after the attack on the TV channel, sought to distance himself from comments made by the party's influential, firebrand leader Altaf Hussain, who lives in self-imposed exile in London. It also comes as members of the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation are set to elect an imprisoned MQM politician, Waseem Akhtar, as mayor of Pakistan's biggest and richest city on Wednesday. The operation deepens a dispute between Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which has dominated Karachi politics for decades, and local security forces that regularly spills into violence. But the party has always strongly denied being involved in violence.By Syed Raza Hassan KARACHI, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani paramilitary forces raided the headquarters of a powerful political party in the port city of Karachi on Tuesday after its London-based leader incited supporters to storm the office of a television channel the day before. Police officials privately accuse the MQM of operating like a mafia to maintain its tight control on power. The MQM said the weapons were planted and the suspect smuggled in. Friday's arrests follow a raid on the same address on March 11, when authorities said dozens of weapons were recovered and a suspect wanted for the murder of a journalist detained.
"MQM is the only political party whose head office is being raided by Rangers," he told the crowd. Party spokesman Farooq Sattar condemned the raid to party members who gathered to protest afterward. "More arrests will be made in the near future," Rangers spokesman Major Sibtain Rizvi said in a statement. Two MQM members - a former provincial legislator and the chair of the decision-making central committee in Karachi - were detained in Friday's raid for "hate speech". They are also seeking to question MQM members over the murder of a dissident MQM activist in London. British authorities are currently investigating Hussain for money laundering. "Workers should be mentally prepared for more such raids we will see how many workers are arrested," Hussain said in a broadcasted telephone address after the raid. Hundreds of party workers have been arrested in a crackdown aimed at criminals and militants. MQM's leader Altaf Hussain, who lives in exile in London, has repeatedly accused the military of targeting his party in long, rambling speeches. have been arranging and facilitating hate speeches against peace of Karachi," Director General Sindh Rangers, Major General Bilal Akbar tweeted. It was involved in bloody factional battles in Karachi in the 1990s and now holds the majority of the city's legislative seats. The MQM, Pakistan's fourth largest party, traditionally represents the descendents of Urdu-speakers who migrated from India after the creation of Pakistan in 1947.
The paramilitary Sindh Rangers, which fall under military command, said they raided the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) because the party had been making hate speech. Many fear the showdown may threaten the stability of the financial hub that generates half of government revenue and is home to 20 million people, or upset the delicate balance between the fledgling civilian government and the powerful military, which has a history of coups. By Syed Raza Hassan KARACHI (Reuters) - Paramilitary forces raided the headquarters of a powerful Karachi political party and arrested two members on Friday, officials said, in a sign of deepening tensions between the army and politicians controlling the biggest and richest city.
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