Pakistan troops raid MQM party headquarters

Pakistani soldiers raided the headquarters of a well-known political party in Karachi, arresting about 20 people, seizing weapons and sealing the premises.

Col. Tahir Mahmood says troops seized a large cache of assault rifles and detained the suspects — including six "known criminals" — in the raid early Wednesday of Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) offices. He said the party sheltered criminals and obstructed life in the neighborhood by placing barricades in the streets.

The MQM is a prominent party that controls most of Karachi. Its opponents often accuse it of using violence to bolster its power, and its leader, Altaf Hussain, is wanted for an unrelated murder case in Pakistan and lives in exile in London.

Party official Farooq Sattar condemned the raid as politically motivated.

Mahmood said the raid was not politically motivated and was prompted by news that several wanted men were at the headquarters, including one sentenced to death in absentia for the 2011 murder of a young television reporter. Four others, who say they were members of MQM, have already been jailed for the killing. The MQM denied they were members of the party.

On Wednesday, Aminul Haque, a prominent MQM politician, said any weapons at its headquarters were properly licensed. He said Sindh Rangers killed an MQM member during the raid. "Dozens of our workers have been picked by the rangers," he told Reuters. "Rangers opened fire, killing one of our workers, Waqas Ali Shah, and wounding a cameramen from Express TV."

Although MQM members have been arrested before, there has not been a move into the party's heavily defended headquarters since the military raided it in 1992.

Wire services