KARACHI: Sindh Rangers on Saturday took Professor Dr Hasan Zafar Arif and Kunwar Khalid Yunus of the London-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement into custody from outside the Karachi Press Club, where they were due to address a press conference.
\nBefore MQM London leaders arrived at the press club’s premises, large number of Rangers personnel had taken positions in the surrounding area and were checking the vehicles that were passing by.
\nDr Arif was taken into custody before he could enter the press club. He was taken in a Rangers mobile van to an undisclosed location.
\nKunwar Khalid Yunus was also taken into custody on his way to Karachi Press Club and shifted to an undisclosed location.
\nFollowing the arrests of the leaders, the London-based party decided to cancel the press conference.
\nIn a tweet, MQM London’s Wasay Jalil said coordination committee members Dr. Arif and Kunwar Khalid Yunus were detained by members of the paramilitary force.
\nSindh Rangers took into custody Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) London leaders Dr Hasan Zafar Arif and Kanwar Khalid from outside the Karachi Press Club (KPC) on Saturday.
\nPrior to their custody, the two leaders had arrived at the KPC to address a press conference in connection with the ongoing arrests of the party workers in the metropolis.
\nSubsequently, Dr Arif and Khalid were shifted to the Rangers headquarters where they are reportedly being interrogated.
\nOn October 15, 12 members of an interim Rabita (Consultation) Committee of MQM-London, which was formed a day earlier and endorsed by Altaf, were present during the press conference.
\nSpeaking to the presser, Dr Arif had said that conspiracies being hatched against the party will fail, saying Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) was created to divide the party but it will fail in its attempts.
\nBoth arrested are members of the new coordination committee which was constituted by the London-based MQM.
\nThe 12-member interim coordination committee was formed by MQM’s London-based leadership in an attempt to regain organisational control of the party which it almost lost following the August 22 incendiary speech of party founder Altaf Hussain.
\nDr Arif had recently joined the party along with four other members \u2014 Advocate Ishaq, former president of the National Students Federation Momin Khan Momin, Amjadullah Khan and Advocate Idrees Alvi \u2014 of the new coordination committee. He is a former faculty member of Karachi University\u2019s philosophy department.
\nToday’s development comes a week after he addressed a press conference at the Karachi Press Club during which he demanded that the ongoing \u201canti-MQM\u201d operation be called off forthwith.
\nThe Oct 15 press conference was the first show of strength by Altaf Hussain against Dr Farooq Sattar-led MQM-Pakistan, which had sidelined and disowned him following his Aug 22 speech.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KARACHI: Sindh Rangers on Saturday took Professor Dr Hasan Zafar Arif and Kunwar Khalid Yunus of the London-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement into custody from outside the Karachi Press Club, where they were due to address a press conference. Before MQM London leaders arrived at the press club’s premises, large number of Rangers personnel had taken […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":287,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-5507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n