KARACHI, Feb 5: The deputy convener of the coordination committee of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has said that a conspiracy has been hatched to bring a bad name to the increasing popularity of their party in all the provinces , Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas through a letter circulated by the interior ministry's National Management Cell to chief secretaries, home secretaries and inspectors-general of police.

Dr Farooq Sattar, the deputy convener, described the contents of the letter as baseless, concocted, and shameful in which his party was accused of collecting relief goods and cash forcibly from shopkeepers and marriage hall operators for the tsunami-hit people.

Speaking at a press conference here at the Karachi Press Club on Saturday, he called upon President Gen Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao to take notice of the letter and dismiss the director of the cell, Lt-Col Farooq Marwat, and initiate action against all those involved in the 'conspiracy'.

Dr Sattar, who was flanked by Begum Nasreen Jalil, Anwar Alam, Abdul Haseeb and Ismail Qureshi, pointed out that it was the MQM which had initiated action against all those involved in extortion and handed over such elements to the police to eliminate this menace from society.

He said the letter had also been published in certain newspapers to tarnish the image of the city and the country.