Two senior leaders of Pakistan's Muttahida Qaumi Movement were arrested today for "unknown reasons" minutes before they were scheduled to address media persons at the Karachi Press Club here.
A heavy contingent of the paramilitary Rangers surrounded the Karachi Press Club (KPC) and arrested the two leaders of the new coordination committee formed by the Altaf Hussain-led London-based Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
The Rangers had blocked roads leading to the KPC as the MQM committee members were due to address a press conference headed by Professor Dr Zafar Hasan Arif.
Arif was taken into custody soon after he arrived to address the media.
Kunwar Khalid Younis, another senior member of the committee, was also arrested as he reached the club.
The two MQM leaders were taken to an undisclosed location.
In a tweet, MQM leader Wasay Jalil said the two leaders were detained by members of the paramilitary force.
"MQM RC membrs Prof Hasan ZafarArif & K. Khalid Younus has been arrested by Rangers 4unknown reasons but its clear now who wants disturbance?," Jalil said in a tweet.
The press conference was cancelled after the arrests.
The incident marks another crackdown against the MQM by the Rangers as two days back, they appeared to have given some leniency to the party whose committee members and workers had marched to the party headquarters and raised slogans in favour of self-exiled London-based leader Hussain.
Arif is one of the nine Pakistan-based members of new interim coordination committee and a professor at Karachi University's philosophy department.
The 12-member committee was formed by MQM's London-based leadership in an attempt to regain organisational control of the party which it almost lost following the August 22 incendiary speech of Hussain which led to a crackdown on the party's sector and unit offices.
Arif and other members had also addressed a press conference on October 15 at the KPC where they called for an end to the prosecution of the MQM and false cases against their leader Hussain.
MQM is a political party claiming to represent the Mohajir (Urdu speaking people) in Sindh. It remains the single largest party in Karachi for decades now and have dominated the political landscape of Pakistan's largest city for years, sweeping provincial and national elections but since the clean-up operation began on the orders of the federal government, the party has come under intense pressure.
Last month, Pakistan charged Hussain with treason for an inflammatory speech slamming Islamabad.
The MQM Chief is reported to have criticised Pakistan by calling it a cancer for the entire world.
According to Pakistan media reports, Hussain called Pakistan under the Nawaz Sharif administration a "cancer of the world" and an "epicentre of global terrorism".
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