190 MQM offices shut down in Karachi

At least 190 offices of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) have been sealed across Karachi within three days, officials said Friday.

Reportedly, six illegally constructed MQM offices have also been demolished in the city. Earlier, MQM offices were sealed in Jheel Park and Shah Faisal Colony areas.

MQM’s offices in Bhains Colony, Gulshan Maymar, Mosamyat, Sachal, Sukhan, Malik aur Ahsanabad were demolished, as they were set up illegally.

In Azizabad, name of “Mukka Chowk” has also been changed to “Liaquat Ali Khan Chowk”.

The photos and posters of MQM chief Altaf Hussain at Nine Zero and several other places were removed whereas Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall and transport office were also set up illegally.

On Tuesday, the police and Rangers conducted a major operation at MQM headquarters — the Nine Zero — in Karachi and the party’s sector and unit offices across Sindh after MQM activists clashed with the police and ransacked a private television station in the southern port city Monday leaving at least one man dead and seven others injured.

The violence erupted soon after Altaf Hussain gave a telephone address to supporters from London.

The MQM chief was accused with a dozen other party leaders of shouting anti-Pakistan slogans at the demonstration Monday.