KARACHI, April 10: Five of the seven persons who were burnt alive in Wednesday’s Tahir Plaza blaze were sympathisers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, a party leader said on Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference at the party’s headquarters Nine Zero, coordination committee head Anwar Alam said five victims of the Tahir Plaza incident were identified as Basit Mahmood, Dawar Hussain, Akhtar alias Danish, Razia Batool and Sobia and all of them were active supporters of the party.

“None of the victims were a lawyer and they had gone to Tahir Plaza for their different legal works,” he said.

Tahir Plaze was set ablaze on Wednesday from where rescue workers took out seven charred bodies.

He condoled with the bereaved families and demanded that the president, the prime minister, the Sindh governor and the chief minister take notice of Wednesday’s violence in Karachi and issue orders for the immediate arrest of the culprits so that they could be given exemplary punishment.

Mr Alam said the violence and arson were the result of a well-thought-out conspiracy. He expressed sorrow over the incidents and said the MQM condemned them. “We are against all kinds of terrorism and want peace and order,” he added.

He said elected representatives of the MQM were directed by party chief Altaf Hussian to reach their respective areas to maintain peace. “With our efforts, peace has been restored to the city and today no untoward incident occurred,” he said.

The MQM leader said elements who did not like the development work and foreign investment in Karachi were behind the conspiracy to destabilise the metropolis.

He said elements who wanted to widen the gap between the Pakistan People’s Party and the MQM would never succeed in their designs. “We will take every possible positive step for the sake of Sindh and national reconciliation,” he added. He said that the MQM would take all-out measures to maintain peace in the city as well as in the province and would not allow anyone to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere, so that democracy could flourish.

MQM leader Shoaib Bukhari said on the occasion that some elements were trying to drive a wedge between the PPP and the MQM.

Abdul Haseeb, Adil Siddiqui and Shahid Latif were also present.