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KARACHI: Hours after directing the closure of all party offices, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain withdrew his decision early Thursday morning, television reports said.
On Wednesday night, all offices of the MQM, including its Nine Zero headquarters, were shut down on the directive of the party’s chief.
Sources in the party had told Dawn that Hussain was “extremely angry” with the Rabita committee over certain organisational matters. The anger came out as Hussain phoned members of the committee and directed them to close all offices and hung up without listening to their responses.
Sources said after Hussain's directive to close the offices, the committee’s members, parliamentarians and other office-bearers immediately stopped work. They then converged outside Hussain’s Azizabad residence in a bid to calm him down by extending an apology.
Read more: All MQM offices closed on Altaf’s order
Last week, Rangers in a pre-dawn raid on the MQM's Nine-Zero headquarters, arrested two members of the Rabita Committee ─ Kaiful Warah and Qamar Mansoor ─ for "arranging and facilitating hate speeches against the peace of Karachi", a Rangers press release had said.
While Kaiful Warah was granted 'conditional release', Qamar Mansoor has been detained by the paramilitary force.
Read more: Rangers detain Muttahida leader Qamar Mansoor for three months
The MQM supremo on Sunday announced a hunger strike unto death in protest of what he called 'illegal' detention of his party activists by security forces.
The Rabita Committee later that night appealed to Altaf Hussain asking him to take back his decision regarding the hunger strike.
Read more: Altaf to start hunger strike in protest
Altaf Hussain earlier this month called upon the army chief to take notice of the alleged violation of the army’s code of conduct by director general of Sindh Rangers and other officials, and urged him to do justice in the matter. The MQM chief had also accused Sindh Rangers of torturing and murdering party workers.
Following the speech, First Information Reports (FIR) were registered against Hussain at police stations in various cities of Sindh for what the government regarded as "inflammatory remarks" against the military.
