KARACHI, July 17: Founder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement Altaf Hussain has demanded that detention of Senator Agha Shahid Bugti, secretary-general of Jamhoori Watan Party and former chief minister of Balochistan Mir Humayun Mari , should be ended immediately and their relatives be also freed immediately.

In a statement, they said such policies would exacerbate unrest and discontent among people who felt being pushed to the wall. The unrest, he said, can push the country to a point of no return.

Mr Hussain said the situation demanded pragmatic approach and appealed to the president and the prime minister for their indulgence in the release of the above mentioned leaders.

Meanwhile, Sindh Assembly members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement on Monday slammed the secretary general of the so-called human rights association of Pakistan for his remarks on fake police encounters, during an interview with a TV channel.

In a joint statement they, at the very outset, demanded an apology from Mr Haider for the alleged extrajudicial killings when he was a minister in the PPP government.

While recounting MQM’s protests over extrajudicial killings, the Muttahida legislators asked Mr Haider why as law minister he had forgotten the legal points when MQM workers were being extrajudicially killed.

They alleged that about 15,000 MQM workers were extrajudicially killed during the PPP governments. They claimed that Mr Altaf Hussain’s apolitical brother and nephew were apprehended and killed after being tortured on Dec 9, 1995.

They alleged that at that time the same Iqbal Haider used to justify every extrajudicial killing and, therefore, like other PPP leaders, Mr Haider was also allegedly involved in the murder of thousands of innocent MQM workers.

His leader Ms Benazir Bhutto had appreciated his services in this regard, the MQM legislators claimed while recounting the Pucca Qila incident and other extra-judicial killings.

They also referred to the statements of former interior minister Gen Naseerullah Baber, who they described as butcher of Karachi.