The violence erupted soon after Hussain gave a telephone address to supporters from London in which he castigated the media for not giving due coverage of his workers.
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Hussain issued an apology Tuesday for his comments.
Who says long live Pakistan. Senior MQM leader Farooq Sattar and other leaders said that in future the party would operate from Pakistan alone and that all decisions would be taken by the leadership in Pakistan and not from London from where Hussain has controlled the MQM for years now.
The paramilitary forces reacted swiftly, detaining MQM’s top leadership, including members of parliament, and sealed the party’s offices across the city overnight.
“We call on the Pakistani authorities to conduct a prompt and thorough investigation into the attack on ARY News and to hold those responsible to account”, he said.
Later, Hussain’s second-in-command Farooq Sattar said the MQM “completely disowns” Hussain’s statements, accusing him of repeatedly embarrassing the party.
The MQM, run by Hussain from London-and accused of using extortion and murder to cement its grip on power-has always been blamed for ethnic violence in Karachi.
In the statement, the party chief also apologized for hurting the sentiments of his country-men by raising anti-Pakistan speech on Sunday. A number of cases are also pending in courts against Mr. Altaf Hussain which are under investigation for murder, money laundering and hate speech/inciting violence both in United Kingdom and Pakistan.
His swearing-in will come two days after his party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or MQM, faces its biggest internal crisis in recent memory.
MQM leaders distanced themselves from party chief and London leadership.
The party chief, who is based out of London, is known for making inflammatory speeches and apologising afterwards. “Being a Pakistani, I assure the Pakistani people, establishment, army, ISI, all higher authorities and leaders that I will never use such words again”, he said in the statement.
“One case pertains to treason for his anti-state speech to the participants of the hunger strike campaign setup by the party outside KPC and the other case pertains to the incident following his remarks which saw some media houses being attacked by MQM activists”, he added.
Exiled leader of MQM also charged with inciting terrorism after speech in which he chanted ‘down with Pakistan.’
Sayeeda Warsi, the former Conservative party chair, accused the Downing Street of ignoring MQM’s record of torture, murder and intimidation.
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MQM initially claimed to represent Urdu-speaking migrants who moved to Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947, and has influence in the southern Sindh province.
