City
Epaper

Pak's MQM founder seeks asylum, financial help from India

By IANS | Updated: November 17, 2019 14:10 IST

Altaf Hussain, the founder of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) who has been charged with a terrorism offence, has requested Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for help by giving asylum and financial help to him and his companions, a media report said on Sunday.

Open in App

On October 10, Hussain was charged by the UK's Crown Prosecution Services with the terrorism offence in a case related to his incendiary speech relayed from the UK to his followers in Pakistan in 2016, Geo News said in the report.

He is due to stand trial in June 2020 and passport remains with the UK police as part of his bail conditions and he is not allowed to apply for any travel document unless permitted by the court.

Lawyers were now assessing whether Hussain has breached his bail conditions by asking Modi to let him stay in India while he awaits trial of his case.

In his first ever public speech after the UK police relaxed his bail conditions, the MQM leader said he would like to travel to India because his grandparents are buried there.

"If India's Prime Minister Modi allows me to come to India and provides me asylum with my colleagues, I am ready to come to India along with my colleagues because my grandfather is buried there. My grandmother is buried there and thousands of my relatives are buried there in India. I want to go to India to their graves."

Addressing Modi, Hussain alleged that his assets, house and offices were taken over in Karachi after August 22, 2017. He asked the Indian Prime Minister to help him with money if he could not provide him asylum.

Hussain's MQM is influential in urban areas of Pakistan's southern province of Sindh, including its restive port city of Karachi.

The MQM claims to represent the Urdu-speaking migrants who moved to Pakistan with the partition of India in 1947.

In September, a video of Hussain singing the Indian patriotic song "Sare Jahan se Achcha Hindustan Hamaraa" went viral on the internet.

( With inputs from IANS )

Tags: indiaHussainukmodiMQM
Open in App

Related Stories

International‘Not Our War’: Keir Starmer Rules Out UK Role in Iran Conflict, Plans Global Summit on Strait of Hormuz

InternationalIranian President Calls for Constructive Role of Brics to Halt West Asia Conflict During Talks With PM Modi

LifestyleEid 2026 Date: When Will Saudi Arabia, UAE and India Celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr?

InternationalUS-Israel-Iran War: Japan, Germany, France Show Caution Over Trump’s Strait of Hormuz Warship Plan

MaharashtraMaharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis Unfurls 200-Foot National Flag at Nagpur’s Kasturchand Park

International Realted Stories

InternationalSomali forces kill nine al-Shabaab militants

InternationalBipartisan MATCH Act aims to tighten chip export controls, curb China's tech rise

International"Even the best fighter pilots might not have any options": Ex-US combat pilot Bodenheimer on Iran tracking, downing a US F-15E

InternationalPakistan's academic paralysis: QAU students, faculty left in limbo due to vacant VC post

International"Genius move": Former US Combat Pilot Ryan Bodenheimer hails India's X-GUARD on Rafales in Op Sindoor