KARACHI: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Faisal Vawda presented a charge sheet against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain on Tuesday, saying the latter was an absconder who should be brought back to Pakistan and tried according to law.

Talking to media personnel in Karimabad — flanked by PTI’s candidate for NA 246 by-poll Imran Ismail and PTI Sindh Chairman Nadir Leghari — Vawda presented three demands in front of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government.

Vawda said since Altaf was an “absconder” and a “proclaimed offender”, authorities should issue a red warrant to bring him back to Pakistan so that he could face appropriate legal consequences.

He also demanded that the MQM chief’s assets, including his Azizabad residence — Nine Zero — be seized and that Pemra implement a ban on airing his speeches.

Earlier, Imran Ismail had asked the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to ensure that presiding officers at polling booths during the upcoming by-poll should not be Karachi locals. “Officials from Karachi are prone to threats, which undermines the credibility of the election,” he said.

Responding to PTI’s verbal onslaught, MQM leader Waseem Akhtar, while talking to DawnNews, said “Imran Khan has lost his mind.”

Akhtar said the whole nation had seen PTI’s “real face” when it joined the same Parliament it had been cursing for seven months. “Their humiliation in the assembly was there for everyone to see.”

The MQM leader said PTI was a “tadpole” as far as politics is concerned and that there was no chance of a PTI victory in the upcoming by-poll in NA-246, which is considered an MQM bastion. “PTI will be wiped out on April 23, when the people of Karachi will give their mandate.”

Referring to Imran Khan, Waseem Akhtar said “he has run away from an American court.”

Temperatures have been running high in Karachi’s political arena ever since PTI announced it will contest the NA-246 by-election after MQM’s Nabeel Gabol vacated his National Assembly seat.

MQM leader Faisal Sabzwari, while addressing a press conference later in the day, said the polling booths will decide the true result.

Also speaking at the occasion, MQM leader Haider Abbas Rizvi said that April 23 will be the day of MQM’s victory. “People of this constituency vote for Altaf Hussain, they have always had.”

Both MQM and PTI have been engaged in verbal clashes and skirmishes in the run-up to the election. A few days ago MQM supporters had ransacked a PTI election camp in Karimabad when the party’s candidate was campaigning in the area.

This had happened after the Jinnah Ground incident, when Imran Ismail’s campaign caravan was attacked by MQM supporters, who shattered his vehicle’s windows with bats.

Know more: PTI leader's convoy attacked in Karachi's Azizabad, FIR registered.