Pakistan security forces raid MQM party offices in Karachi

The raid sparked an angry response, with party workers shutting down large parts of Pakistan’s biggest city in protest.

KARACHI // Pakistan’s largest city was on edge on Wednesday after troops raided the headquarters of a well-known political party, arresting about 20 suspects and seizing weapons.

The troops seized a large cache of assault rifles and detained suspects – including six “known criminals” – from the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) offices in Karachi, said Colonel Tahir Mahmood, a spokesman for a Pakistani paramilitary force known as the Rangers.

The early morning raid in the country’s economic hub took many in the teeming metropolis by surprise, especially since it targeted a prominent party with a presence in the national parliament.

Hours later, local media reported that businesses in Karachi and other cities where the party has a presence had started to close.

Col Mahmood showed the heavy weapons he said were seized from MQM offices and for which he said the party did not have licenses.

“Some of the weapons may have been stolen from containers meant for Nato troops in Afghanistan, while there are those that cannot be imported into the country,” said Col Mahmood. “We will investigate how these weapons made their way here.”

Soldiers sealed the building and handed responsibility for it over to police. It will remain in police custody until an investigation is completed, he said.

MQM condemned the raid and insisted that the weapons were all legally held.

“It was all licensed weapons issued to the MPs of the party,” senior MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi said, adding that it was a disgrace that a leading political party was “being ridiculed in such a ruthless way”.

Party leader Faisal Subzwari accused the Rangers of killing one MQM worker and said the weapons were licensed and necessary to guard the offices against Taliban threats. The party has been outspoken against the Taliban and other militants who have a major presence in the city. Another party leader, Farooq Sattar, condemned the raid as politically motivated.

The Rangers said there was no resistance during the raid, but television footage showed Rangers soldiers firing gunshots while leaving the offices.

Senior police officer Tahir Noorani said that MQM activist Waqas Ali Shah was shot dead.

The Rangers also arrested Aamir Khan, a senior MQM leader, who was present at the time of the raid.

The raid enraged MQM workers and the party announced a protest. Petrol stations, schools and colleges were closed and public transport also vanished from the roads.

MQM was founded in 1984 in response to the marginalisation of Mohajirs – migrants who fled India amid the violence of the sub-continent’s partition.

Its leader Altaf Hussain lives in exile in London, holds 23 seats in the National Assembly, almost all in Karachi.

Mr Hussain remains a highly influential figure in Karachi, Pakistan’s economic centre and main port, wielding effective control over the city from his London home, addressing supporters using a loudspeaker linked to his telephone.

The party has complained in recent months that their operatives have been targeted in military and police operations designed to quell violence in the city.

After taking office two years ago, prime minister Nawaz Sharif started an operation to take back control of Pakistan’s commercial capital, where Taliban fighters are taking over key neighbourhoods. The city is a transit point for everything from Afghan opium to military equipment for the US and Nato.

* Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Bloomberg