KARACHI – MQM’s Coordination Committee Deputy Convener Farooq Sattar said on Sunday that all party members and the people of Karachi would appear before the Supreme Court on January 7 in connection with the contempt case against Altaf Hussain.
In his address to a demonstration of MQM workers in support of the party chief outside the Press Club, Sattar said that Altaf Hussain was the name of a philosophy and ideology who enjoyed the mandate of millions of his followers. He said the court notice had hurt the people of Karachi as it was against the party’s public mandate. He held that all state institutions should work within their constitutional ambit.
About the delimitation of constituencies, Sattar questioned was the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) asked by anyone to delimit the constituencies in Karachi. “If the ECP can’t work itself, it has no sound reason to exist further.”
He said that confirming voter lists was a responsibility of the election commission and a census was must before making new electoral constituencies in Karachi. Sattar also called for a census before carrying out delimitation of constituencies in Karachi.
“One community was separated in 1971,” Sattar said advancing his argument while referring to the Fall of Dhaka. He affirmed that the MQM was ready to render every sacrifice for the endurance of Pakistan.
Earlier, a large number of MQM workers staged a protest in support of their party chief Altaf Hussain outside the Press Club. The protesting workers raised slogans in favour of their party chief and against the contempt notice served on him by the apex court. They demanded that the notice be withdrawn, branding it as biased and partial.
Including Babar Ghuari, Waseem Akhtar, Faisal Sabzwari, Waseem Aftab, Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Nasreen Jaleel, Shahid Latif, Ashfaque Mangi, Iftikhar Ahmed Rindawa, prominent MQM leaders participated in the protest.