LONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) supremo Altaf Hussain on Tuesday took a dig at the split faction of his party, saying he had popular support when the party's Karachi chapter was working under him before August 22, 2016. . The speech for which Mr. Hussain is standing on a hate speech case.
On the first day of his trial, Altaf Hussain appeared in court at Kingston-on-Thames Crown Court along with a large number of his associates. Not much happened in court as the jury is likely to take oath on Wednesday and prosecutors will decide their case before a jury of 12, which will ultimately decide the outcome of the charge.
Altaf Hussain arrived in the Range Rover, driven by his legal advisor Adil Ghaffar, and was accompanied by Mustafa Azizabadi, Suhail Khanzada, Nasir Ali and other members of his MQM-London faction. He entered the court in a wheelchair. Inside the court building, Altaf discussed with his lawyers and appeared comfortably. Altaf Hussain refrained from speaking on the charge against him and said that he cannot comment on the matter under consideration on the advice of his lawyer. He refrained from harsh treatment of his former allies in Karachi, but said that the people of Karachi and Sindh can see what is happening under MQM-Pakistan. He suggested that the MQM-P does not have the support of the Urdu speaking communities.
He said that under him "things were different" and "on a single call, there was action", which is no longer the case after the MQM broke into several factions.
Asked about instigating the allegation of terrorism and what would be his defense, Altaf Hussain said that he has gone through a lot of stress and difficulties in the 45 years of his political struggle, but he never lost hope and "Allah has blessed me". Always given strength. deal with difficult times”.