ISLAMABAD: The British government has passed on a reference seeking punitive action against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain to London’s Metropolitan Police, the interior ministry announced on Saturday.

The UK Home Office also confirmed that it had written to Pakistan in response to the reference sent last month, seeking action against Mr Hussain for inciting violence in Pakistan.

According to the ministry’s statement, a communiqué from a senior Home Office official condemned the violent events of Aug 22, when the MQM workers stormed some media houses that did not cover the party’s hunger strike in Karachi.

British Home Office says information passed on to Met Police, which will proceed as per law

According to the statement, the communiqué from the Home Office says: “British police will carefully examine all the evidence and approach the government of Pakistan through the British High Commission in Islamabad in case more evidence is required.”

It has also been conveyed that the police in Britain are fully independent and discharge their duties in accordance with the law.

The reference, sent to the British authorities on Aug 30, sought action against Mr Hussain for inciting violence in Pakistan.

His provocative speech on Aug 22, which was followed by an attack on private TV channels, was among the evidence sent to the British authorities.

Sources in the interior ministry said that material proving that Mr Hussain had asked his workers to attack certain media houses had been attached with the reference.

The reference said that Mr Hussain had violated British and international laws, therefore action should be initiated against him under British law. It sought action against all those inciting violence and spreading unrest in Pakistan.

Soon after the attack on the media houses in Karachi, the matter was raised with the British home secretary by Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, while Pakistan’s high commissioner in the UK was also said to be in contact with British authorities over the matter.

Though dozens of cases of a serious nature have been registered against Mr Hussain — who has been living in self-imposed exile in the UK for the last three decades or so — he has continued to maintain a firm hold over his party, until now.

The anti-Pakistan slogans raised by him on Aug 22 stirred up a revolt against him, with a number of MQM leaders disowning his remarks and forcing the party to part ways with him.

In what appeared to be the biggest setback for Mr Hussain, Dr Farooq Sattar — top MQM leader and the one in whose name the party is registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) — disowned his erstwhile leader’s anti-Pakistan remarks and announced that all party decisions would now be taken in Karachi.

Mr Sattar, who was briefly picked up by Rangers for questioning, announced this decision soon after his release on Aug 23. Since then, several of the party’s sector offices, which were illegally constructed, have been razed.

The embattled party has also amended its constitution to do away with an article requiring them to seek guidance from the party’s founder.

A resolution condemning Mr Hussain’s anti-Pakistan remarks, introduced by MQM members, was also recently passed by the National Assembly, while the Supreme Court is due to hear a petition seeking a ban on the MQM.

Owen Bennett-Jones in London also contributed to this report.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2016