They later clashed with police outside, leaving one person dead and several wounded.
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The violence erupted soon after the powerful exiled leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Altaf Hussain, gave a telephone address to his supporters in which he castigated the media for not giving due coverage of his workers.
At least one person was killed and several others injured when hundreds of members from the controversial Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) party stormed the office of local the ARY TV station before clashing with police who arrived on the scene to control the situation.
MQM supporters rushed to the office of ARY News on Monday shortly after the speech and attacked the private news channel’s office, firing shots and smashing the premises. A cameraman from a different channel, Samaa, was attacked while trying to take video of the events.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Monday strongly condemned the attacks on media houses at Karachi. The current camp looked the same until Hussain’s address started.
A day after the fiasco, Altaf Hussain apologized to the military establishment including the army chief and he promised not to use anti-Pakistan slogans again.
The locally based leadership of the party had held meetings with provincial and federal leadership to resolve their grievances prior to Hussain’s address Monday.
“We will arrest those who incited this violence”.
Pakistan setup, under the leadership of senior leader Farooq Sattar, has announced to distance itself from MQM London setup saying ‘MQM will be run from Pakistan’.
The workers also caused damage to shops located in Zainab market in the city’s Saddar area forcing their closure.
The party also denies allegations by defectors, law enforcement personnel and political oponents of having received funding from India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) spy agency.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said attacks on journalists and news channels were not acceptable.
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Before the Rangers’ operation, many in Karachi seemed afraid to even talk about MQM and accused it of extortion, kidnappings for ransom, torture and murder.
