MQM workers being treated as ‘prisoners of war’, alleges Altaf

LONDON/KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain has criticized Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah and PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari for not responding to his telephone calls.

“Sindh province is burning and MQM workers are being treated as ‘wartime prisoners’ however, attitude of Qaim Ali Shah and Asif Zardari is disappointing,” Hussain said in a statement from London on Saturday.

The MQM chief said he telephoned Sindh CM over the arrests of MQM workers by Rangers, but the latter did not listen to him.

Hussain went on to say that he also called Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Dubai several times but he did not respond to his phone calls.

The MQM chief alleged that Rangers have made the entire Sindh province an “occupied territory” but the attitude of the CM Sindh and PPP Co-Chairman was disappointing.

Meanwhile, CM Sindh Qaim Ali Shah refuted Hussain’s claims, saying that that he left a meeting to attend to the telephone call from Altaf Hussain however, the MQM chief was ‘very emotional’ and hung up the phone midway through the conversation.