KARACHI: Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain on Friday said that if any allegations against party members were proven true in relation to sectarian killings then the accused workers should be "hanged publicly".

In a statement issued on Friday, the MQM chief said personnel from certain law enforcement agencies were involved in spreading negative reports and disinformation against the party by linking it to the recent sectarian killings in Karachi.

If these allegations are proven groundless then those involved in spreading disinformation "should be hanged".

Also read: Sectarian killings

Hussain said the MQM’s struggle was centered on intra and inter-faith harmony and despite living in exile for a better part of his life, he had been working to promote religious harmony in Pakistan.

The MQM chief added that as the army was engaged in fighting against militants in North Waziristan, “extremist elements present in different institutions of the armed forces” were trying to weak it from within.

Addressing heads of the armed forces and the civil and military bureaucracy, Hussain said it was crucial that strong action be taken against these extremist elements within the services.

He moreover requested religious scholars to exercise restraint and not be swayed by the ongoing wave of sectarian violence, saying everyone, including Shia and Sunni scholars, know who is behind these acts.

Hussain offered his condolences to Allama Abbas Kumaili on the death of his son Allama Ali Akbar Kumaili, who was gunned down on September 6, in Karachi’s Azizabad area. Days after the murder of Ali Akbar Kumaili, a Sunni cleric and lecturer of Jamia Binoria Maulana Masood Baig was gunned down in the city’s North Nazimabad neighbourhood. The killings have been condemned by all major political parties.