Pak paramilitary rangers file criminal case against MQM chief

The paramilitary rangers in Pakistan today filed a criminal case against UK-based MQM chief Altaf Hussain for allegedly threatening the officials after a raid at the party's headquarters here.
The case has been registered against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief under the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint by the rangers, DIG South Abdul Khaliq Sheikh said.
In the FIR, Colonel Tahir Mahmood, a spokesman for the rangers, alleged that after the raid at the headquarters of the MQM last week, Hussain in an interview on a TV news channel threatened security personnel who were involved in the operation.

A large number of criminal cases registered against Hussain were dropped in 2009, following the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) issued by former military ruler General (retd) Pervez Musharraf in 2007.
This is the first criminal case registered against the MQM chief after the NRO.
MQM senior leader Khalid Maqbool said the filing of the case was nothing new for them.

"Hussain has also served time in jail in the past and faced such cases in the past it is nothing new for us," he said.
Hussain had condemned the Rangers' raid on the party's headquarters and claimed that personnel of the paramilitary force brought the weapons and ammunition "wrapped in blankets" with them and then claimed the recovery to frame the party.

He had alleged that the raid was "staged" by the Rangers.
During a pre-dawn raid at the MQM's headquarters, a party worker was shot dead and several others were arrested, sparking an angry response from the workers, which led to Pakistan's biggest city Karachi shutting down.