KARACHI, Jan 16: Muttahida Qaumi Movement Chief Altaf Hussain on Monday slammed killing of at least 40 persons in Kohlu by security agencies, and demanded immediate lifting of the siege of the area.

Disclosing that a siege had been laid around Kirpani and Kahan areas of Balochistan for three days, he condemned the action in the strongest possible terms.

According to a statement issued from the party’s international secretariat in London, Mr Hussain expressed his concern at the accounts furnished to the MQM by residents of the area by telephone and through the Internet.

The people revealed that their stocks of food and other essential items were rapidly depleting. Their woes were mounting with every passing day because of the extreme cold and constant bombardment.

“Their lives are in danger” he noted with shock, and urged President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to order an immediate end to the killings and siege of Kirpani and Kahan by security forces. He demanded that the local people be allowed to move freely so that they could collect food and other essential items.

Expressing grief over the loss of precious lives, the MQM chief warned that subjecting innocent people to such atrocities would mean invoking the wrath of God Almighty.