Announcing the disassociation, Sattar urged authorities not to demolish MQM offices.
KARACHI: The policies and decisions of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Pakistan are no longer linked to the party's founder Altaf Hussain and its offices in London, deputy convener Farooq Sattar said on Saturday.
The senior MQM leader said this during a press conference in Karachi here today.He said that there was a need to draw a line now, and that theline had been drawn on August 23.
"We drew a line on August 23. And the objective of drawing that line was that there is no link now between our decisions and London. Now our decision-making and policy-making are not linked to London anymore," said Sattar.
"When I say our decisions and policies haveno link to London. then it means there is no link to Altaf sahib either," he said.
The senior MQM leader said that, following the complete disassociation from the MQM founder and London offices, there was a need to end the political restrictions on the party and its victimisation in Pakistan.
Sattar said that the party's Nine-Zero head office remained unlawfully sealed to date, and that as many as 20 other offices had also been locked down, despite the fact that they were legal and had complete property documents.
"If they were illegal, why were these properties not demolished during my or Mustafa Kamal's time?" he asked.
He said that action by law enforcers was being taken against the party without any thorough investigation.
Sattar further urged security agencies, the federal and the provincial government not to bulldoze the offices of the MQM and they would be used as offices of local bodies' representatives.
Meanwhile, MQM Khawaja Izharul Hasan urged Asifa Bhutto, Bakhtawar Bhutto, and Mariam Nawaz to release the arrested MQM women workers detained last night by executive order.