MQM leader warns IMF before signing any deal with Pak

Altaf Hussain, leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Wednesday appealed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to be "cautious" before signing any agreement with unreliable countries like Pakistan. Hussain, in his latest tweet, pointed out to the "respected" IMF authorities that Pakistan will "start breaking all of its promises" as soon as the IMF signs the bailout package with the debt-ridden country.

The MQM leader added that Pakistan has been assuring the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the IMF that it will take action against all banned religious outfits and extremist organisations. Ahead of reaching an agreement with the IMF, Pakistan on Tuesday released clerics Khadim Hussain Rizvi and Peer Afzal Qadri on bail for orchestrating violent protests against the acquittal of Asiya Bibi, a Pakistani Christian earlier accused of blasphemy.

Rizvi and Qadri have been aligned to Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) a renowned religious outfit operating in the country. Hussain said it is well-known that Islamabad was under siege by the "armed terrorists" of TLP in November 2017, which carried out attacks on police stations, public and private properties at the behest of Rizvi and Qadri.

"Pakistan Army and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had not only supported the terrorists of TLP but also distributed money to these notorious terrorists during Islamabad sit-in in November 2017," Hussain claimed. He alleged that Pakistani courts have released Rizvi and Qadri on order of Pakistan Army and the ISI.

The MQM leader called it a "first explosion of breaking down of condition and agreement between Pakistan and the IMF." He went on to say that the Pakistan Army, as well as the jihadi outfits, are still on the same page. Hussain added that if the judiciary would have been independent in Pakistan, thousands of activists and leaders of different political parties would not seek asylum in the West. 

(With inputs from agencies.)