The London Metropolitan Police are threatening to jail a high profile Pakistani politician today after a speech he made earlier this week regarding internal Pakistani policy sparked “complaints” from British citizens.
The speech was made by Atlaf Hussain, the leader of Pakistan’s influential Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). After winning a solid mandate in Karachi, Hussain responded to allegations of vote-rigging by saying that if the “establishment” wasn’t happy with the MQM’s victory they were free to separate Karachi from the rest of the nation.
Hussain issued a later clarification saying he didn’t necessarily advocate secession outright, but adding that “the nations which are pushed against the wall usually choose to build a separate home.”
British High Commission Adam Thomson claimed that Hussain’s speech about even the possibility of the secession of Karachi could violate Britain’s own law against “hate speech,” even though the speech was about Pakistani politics, made inside Pakistan, by a Pakistani politician.
Atlaf Hussain has dual Pakistan-British citizenship and has lived in London for years following several attempts on his life. Despite this, he remains a hugely influential politician in Karachi, and has effectively run the city from an office in North London. Hussain is currently in Pakistan, however, and might not return to London if it meant his arrest. British officials conceded the difficulty of attempting to have Pakistan extradite him.
The information in your article is incorrect and incomplete. Altaf Hussain has been in self-exile in London for over twenty years and has never returned to Pakistan. In the speech that you have reported, he incited his followers to murder the demonstrators who were peacefully protesting the rigging. He is wanted in over a dozen cases of murder and torture in Pakistan and his party is notorious for its militancy and silencing of dissent through violence. The UK harbours other terrorists like him to serve the empire
Horrible reporting. Altaf Hussain is a terrorist and Britain is harboring a terrorist. The speech was not made in Pakistan.
Altaf Hussain is currently NOT in Pakistan but in fact has been living in self exile in Britain for a long time now (1992).