Waseem Akhtar, a former Pakistani MP who has been incarcerated for months, is likely to be sworn into office from his jail cell after his Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) sweeps the mayoral polls in Karachi.
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Following the attack, Pakistani paramilitary troops have sealed the headquarters of the MQM and arrested five of its top leaders.
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.
He also crossed all limits by making remarks against the country and reportedly asking his followers to raise slogans against Pakistan.
In an address delivered by phone to supporters in Karachi on Monday, Hussain had denounced the government in remarks branded as “anti-Pakistan”.
Criticising the Pakistan government over attacks on its political rivals, the United States of America today said that in a democracy, critical opinion should be “encouraged and not silenced”.
Standing before reporters with several MQM lawmakers behind him, Sattar said all party decisions from now on would be taken inside Pakistan.
The MQM Chief is reported to have criticized Pakistan by calling it a cancer for the entire world. Sattar accepted that “there is a problem” and that Hussain’s frequent apologies after incendiary statements is an issue that needs to be resolved.
The MQM nominees grabbed the Mayor and deputy Mayor’s positions in the two major cities of southern Sindh province, Karachi and Hyderabad by big margins and also grabbed sizeable seats in the municipal corporations in other districts of the province underlining the party’s strong roots and popularity among the urdu-speaking population in Sindh.
It has clashed repeatedly with authorities who, according to rights groups, have resorted to hundreds of extra-judicial killings during a “clean-up” operation that began in 2013 in a city already plagued by violence.
MQM leaders distanced themselves from party chief and London leadership. Altaf Hussian who is a British citizen can not be head of political party in Pakistan because ECP rules do not allow any foreigner to head a political party in Pakistan.
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The election of an imprisoned politician as mayor is symbolic of the ongoing power struggle for control of Karachi, a port city which is the stock exchange, central bank, home to 20 million people, along with militants and gangsters.
