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MQM Party Headquarters illegally raided by Paramilitary forces, killing one worker and arresting several others


MQM Party Headquarters illegally raided by Paramilitary forces, killing one worker and arresting several others
 Posted on: 3/11/2015
A large contingent of armed personnel from the Pakistani Armed Forces have raided the headquarters of MQM, Pakistan’s fourth-largest political party. Paramilitary personnel arrived unannounced in the early hours of Wednesday morning and one party worker was shot and killed as they withdrew several hours later.
Without warrants of any kind, personnel entered the headquarters, also known as Nine-Zero, where several members of MQM’s Central Coordination Committee including Mr Amir Khan, Dr. Salim Danish, Arshad Hussain, MPA Abdul-Hasieb, Dr. Ayub Shaikh and Sindh MPA Rehan Zafar were present. However the Paramilitary personnel took Mr.Amir Khan into custody along with a large number of MQM workers.
The Founder and Leader of MQM, Mr Altaf Hussain, has appealed for calm from all sides. Speaking from London, he said “I was shocked to hear this news. In a democratic country it should not be the role of the Armed Forces to conduct extrajudicial operations on lawful organisations, least of all the headquarters of a democratically elected political party. 
"I appeal to my workers and supporters to remain calm; I believe that time will show this to be a wholly unjustified abuse of power on the part of the establishment.”
According to eyewitness accounts, all telephone lines have been disconnected and premises ransacked. Computers and other electronic items have been confiscated. The Rangers also destroyed the electronic surveillance system that had been set up following the May 2013 bomb attacks by the Pakistan Taliban (TTP). 
A party worker Mr Waqas Ali Shah was shot and killed as the paramilitary forces withdrew. Eyewitnesses report that withdrawing forces fired into a crowd of peaceful protestors.
It must be noted that MQM is the only political party in Pakistan that has openly supported The Pakistani Army's ongoing operation against the TTP and other religious extremists in Pakistan. In recent years, Karachi has seen a huge surge in sectarian violence and other religious extremists' terrorist activities, but Rangers have yet to conduct any meaningful operation against those elements.
Instead, they have targeted MQM, the most secular elected representative political party in Pakistan which defends the interests of all those who suffer from the country's outmoded but still powerful feudal structures and a ruling elite who over many decades have used those structures to consolidate their grip on power. This raid is just such an example.
7/19/2024 6:37:20 PM