ISLAMABAD, Aug 2: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has informed the government that some “invisible forces” are reactivating criminal elements in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, with clear indications to spoil the elections.

The newly-elected deputy convener of the MQM, Farooq Sattar, who along with Aftab Shaikh came to Islamabad on Friday for submitting amended party constitution, told Dawn that they had already conveyed their fears to the relevant authorities.

He said though the kind of threats that had been given to the party in 1993 elections to give up seats in favour of a renegade group, had not yet been experienced, the criminal elements who had been expelled from the MQM and had joined other parties, including some banned sectarian organisation like Sipah-i-Sahaba, were now rearing their heads.

The kind of activity, including display of automatic fire arms, with impunity, was not possible without some backing, Sattar opined.

When asked to identify the “invisible forces,” he said it was no more a secret; these were the same agencies who had forced the MQM in the past elections to give up their democratic right of contesting the polls.

“No power can force the MQM to surrender their right of contesting the elections,” he stressed.

To a question that MQM chief Altaf Hussain had been convicted in a number of cases and there were reports that the party might not be allotted election symbol, he said the recent changes made in the Constitution and law, particularly Political Parties Order 2002, had been rejected by all the main parties.

Sattar said the MQM did not recognize the right of military government to amend the Constitution or law. It should be left to the future parliament to make necessary amendments in the law.

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement, he added, would field candidates from all the major urban centres of Sindh.

He dispelled the impression that the voting bank of the party had been eroded and it could not repeat the past results, and said the party’s graph had rather gone up over the years because of its devotion to the cause of middle and poor classes.

He ruled out the possibility of the electoral alliance of the MQM with any other political party. The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) would be the last party on earth which the MQM would join hands with, he emphasised.

However, he said the MQM might enter into seat adjustments with the Sindh Democratic Alliance.