PESHAWAR, May 27: Activists of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, Khyber Agency chapter, staged a demonstration outside the press club on Sunday against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s self-exiled chief Altaf Hussain and other MQM leaders living in London and demanded their early extradition to Pakistan.
They also burned an effigy of Mr Hussain and chanted slogans against Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad and Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim for their support to, what they called, “the rioting hordes and killers involved in killing, pillage and ransacking of private property across Karachi on May 12”.
They carried party flags, placards and banners inscribed with vitriolic remarks against Gen Pervez Musharraf, the Sindh governor and Mr Hussain. The enraged activists of PTI also chanted slogans against the Sindh government and demanded lifting of the ban on entry of PTI chairman Imran Khan in Sindh.
Later, some activists from Peshawar district also joined the demonstration and criticised the Punjab government for extending its shoulders to the Sindh coalition government and barring Mr Khan from entering Lahore airport on Sunday. They too chanted slogans against the Punjab government and demanded of the centre to remove Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad who had allegedly been involved into “criminal” cases in the past in Karachi. They alleged that Gen Pervez Musharraf and Mr Hussain were responsible for the killings in Karachi on May 12.
Speaking to newsmen, PTI provincial deputy general secretary Shah Farman asked the MQM leadership to refrain from fighting against the entire nation. He announced that PTI would not allow an entry to MQM ministers in the NWFP till lifting the ban on their leader (Imran) in Sindh.
He said Karachi was part of Pakistan and it was not a fiefdom of the MQM. He said one month ban placed on Mr Khan’s entry into Sindh had exposed the hollowness of the provincial coalition government, which could not tolerate the presence of opposition in the port city.
He said they would organise rallies across the province against Gen Musharraf and the MQM if ban was not lifted on the entry of Mr Khan in Karachi. He asked the MQM leaders not to cultivate a permanent enmity with the tribal people.