Pak court issues arrest warrant against MQM chief

An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan today issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against MQM chief Altaf Hussain in connection with a case in which he is accused of threatening Pakistan Rangers in Sindh.
The court issued the arrest warrant against Hussain, who was declared an absconder by it last week, on a criminal intimidation case filed against him by Colonel Tahir Mehmood of Sindh Rangers.
In the complaint, Colonel Mehmood, who was in-charge of a raid carried out on MQM headquarters on March 11, alleged that Hussain, who is self-exiled in London since 1992, in an interview with a TV channel threatened the officers who were part of the raiding team.

Following the complaint, police had prepared a charge sheet against the MQM chief and the ATC on August 1 declared him an absconder in the case pertaining to using threatening language against Pakistan Rangers in Sindh.
Meanwhile, the paramilitary Rangers yesterday asked the MQM leadership to hand over 187 alleged target killers belonging to the party.
In a letter sent to the MQM senior parliamentarian Farooq Sattar, the Rangers claimed that the 187 suspects were involved in the killings of 208 policemen following the Karachi operation in 1990s.

The letter enlisted the names of the target killers, of which 119 accused killed at least one policeman each, 47 suspects killed two policemen each while a target killer named Faisal was involved in killing 5 personnel.

The MQM chief and his party have been of late under scrutiny both within and outside Pakistan and he is facing money laundering cases in the UK and Pakistani authorities are also cooperating with the British police in the investigations into the murder of former MQM stalwart Imran Farooq.
The MQM remains the single largest party in Pakistan's biggest city Karachi and has dominated all general and local bodies elections held since its inception.