May 17, 2007	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 29, 1428

PESHAWAR, May 16: The Awami National Party (ANP) has appealed to the British government to ban the activities of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain, who, it alleged, had issued directives on the phone when 40 people were killed in Karachi on May 12.

ANP additional secretary-general Haji Mohammad Adeel in a statement on Wednesday drew the attention of the British government to what he called the ‘terrorist stance’ of Mr Hussain on the visit to Karachi of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on May 12.

He alleged that the MQM chief had sabotaged the peaceful visit of Justice Chaudhry and unleashed a reign of terror in the city through his armed men. “Mr Hussain’s party destroyed the lawyers’ function and the Sindh government was involved in badly treating the chief justice.”

He held Mr Hussain responsible for the assassination of the workers of opposition parties and the destruction of private property in the port city.

Mr Adeel said on the one hand the British government had banned organisations like Khalistan and Al Qaeda, on the other hand it had let the MQM’s exiled leadership to continue their terrorist activities in Pakistan.

He said Mr Hussain was involved in funding terrorist activities in Pakistan. He alleged that Mr Hussain had ordered his gangsters to kill sons of the soil on May 12 and harassed them to return to their respective districts.