KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Haider Abbas Rizvi, while addressing a press conference at MQM headquarters Nine Zero, categorically denounced "baseless allegations" levelled against the party by SSP Malir on Thursday.
After MQM decided to sit on opposition benches and elected its own opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, the scenario changed, said the MQM leader.
Rizvi said: "Despite the MQM being blamed for all sorts of crimes and facing an ongoing media trial, the party managed to grab a substantial victory in NA-246 — which was termed as the biggest by-election in the history of the country.
“This is political drama unfolding. Who is the ultimate beneficiary in this scenario?” questioned Rizvi.
"The way people have shown their belief in MQM's leadership and its chief Altaf Hussain is unprecedented. It was after this affirmation from Karachi's populace decades ago that MQM decided to pursue politics to benefit the common man.
“For how long will this blame game continue? MQM is the country’s third-largest political entity. I don’t even want to respond to such heinous allegations,” said Rizvi.
There is nothing new in the allegations hurled at us today by a corrupt mid-level police officer, said Rizvi. “This is all repetition; not even the central figures in the story have changed over the years.”
Some 300 MQM workers were arrested in relation to Hakeem Saeed's murder, said Rizvi, adding that several of them were killed during detention.
"But all of them were respectfully acquitted by the country's apex court."
He said today's allegations were reminiscent of the 1990s, when the party was blamed of conspiring against Pakistan in the Jinnahpur scandal.
"The Supreme Court later acquitted all our members and workers and cleared our name from the scandal."
Rizvi said SSP Rao Anwar had been involved in the killing of hundreds of MQM workers. “Rao Anwar is a corrupt police officer and the world knows about it,” he added.
Rizvi said it was a lie that MQM worker Junaid was arrested on Wednesday night, saying that “Junaid was arrested on March 24, 2015, and his family had filed a petition in the Sindh High Court on March 28 in this regard.”
“Tahir alias Lamba was not arrested last night; he was arrested February 26, 2015, and the very next day his wife approached the Sindh High Court against his illegal detention,” he added.
Earlier on Thursday, SSP Malir Rao Anwar had announced the arrest of two terror suspects, whom he claimed were members of Indian spy agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing).
Speaking to the media, he had made the startling claim that the suspects – Tahir alias Lamba and Mama Junaid – also belonged to MQM and had been sent to India for training in the past.
Read more: Arrested suspects affiliated with MQM, trained by RAW: SSP