KARACHI, Feb 6: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has strongly condemned publication of a sticker in a Lahore-based newspaper, showing the national flag in flames and giving the impression that the sticker has been issued by the MQM , because it also contains the impression of the MQM flag.

At a hurriedly called press conference at the Karachi Press Club on Sunday, the party's coordination committee members called it yet another attempt to tarnish the image of the party.

By publishing the self-designed stickers in all its editions, the newspaper had tried to make a dent in, what they called, the increasing popularity of the MQM as a party of the middle class and the poor in Punjab and other provinces.

Deputy Convener of the committee Anwar Alam, who was accompanied by Begum Nasreen Jalil and Ismail Qureshi, told journalists that it appeared that a conspiracy similar to one hatched in June 1992, when Brig Asif Haroon engineered the 'Jinnahpur' plot, was being hatched to show that the MQM was not a patriotic party.

He urged President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to order a judicial inquiry by judges of Supreme Court and Sindh High Court into the matter and ensure submission of the inquiry report within 15 days.

Mr Alam accused the newspaper of practising 'yellow journalism' with the aim of defaming the MQM and creating sensation. He also demanded appropriate action against the editor, publisher and management of the newspaper, and said that his party reserved the right to take legal action against them.

Ms Nasreen Jalil said that the media should be urged to follow a code of conduct so that such irresponsible publications could be checked and any harm to the national harmony prevented.

"People are fully aware of the elements behind such conspiracies," they said, adding that the malicious propaganda would not affect the popularity of the party or its chief Altaf Hussain.