Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain has reportedly requested Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to help him by giving him and his companions asylum and financial help.
According to a report in The News, Hussain made his request in his first ever public speech after the police relaxed his bail conditions.
In the speech, watched online by thousands of people, the MQM leader said he would like to travel to India because his forefathers are buried there.
“If India’s Prime Minister Mr Modi allows me to come to India and provides me asylum with my colleagues, I am ready to come to India along with my colleagues because my grandfather is buried there. My grandmother is buried there and thousands of my relatives are buried there in India. I want to go to India to their graves.”
Hussain, in his speech, alleged that his assets, house and offices were taken over in Karachi after August 22, 2017. He asked the Indian PM to help him with money if he could not provide him asylum.
In fact, Altaf even supported the decision of the Indian Supreme Court in the disputed Babri Mosque case saying that Modi’s government has the “right to establish Hindu Raaj (rule)” and if Indian politician Asaduddin Owaisi and others did not like India, they should migrate to Pakistan.
On October 10, Hussain was charged by the UK’s Crown Prosecution Services with the terrorism offence in a case related to his incendiary speech relayed from the UK to his followers in Pakistan in 2016.
He is due to stand trial in June 2020 and passport remains with the UK police as part of his bail conditions and he is not allowed to apply for any travel document unless permitted by the court.
Lawyers were now assessing whether Hussain has breached his bail conditions by asking Modi to let him stay in India while he awaits the trial of his case.
