KARACHI, July 22: MQM leader Hyder Abbas Rizvi has criticised the allegations levelled against Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf chairman Imran Khan and asked him to refrain from issuing provocative statements hurting the sentiments of ‘millions of MQM workers’.

Talking to journalists in London, the PTI chief had held the British government responsible for the murder of PTI leader Zehrah Shahid Husain in Karachi and said that it should restrain its citizens from spreading violence in Pakistan, a clear reference to Mr Hussain.

Addressing a press conference here on Monday, Mr Rizvi said Imran Khan was accusing the MQM and its leadership of being involved in violence only to divert people’s attention from his irresponsible activities and behaviour.

He said while the country was facing severe crises, Mr Khan preferred to attend a charity programme in London to save Asian elephants instead of staying in country to attend an all-party conference called by the government to formulate a national security policy.

Mr Rizvi said it was difficult to understand what Mr Khan wanted to achieve by provoking the people of Sindh’s urban areas.

He said the PTI government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had failed to do anything to meet the promises it had made and was facing immense pressure from civil society and the masses for having failed to stop drone attacks and persistent terrorist attacks.

During his election campaign, he said, the PTI chief had promised that after coming to power he would not allow drone attacks and Nato supplies. And now he was keeping quiet on these issues to hide his party’s failure and was issuing provocative statements against the MQM.He said a member of the provincial assembly belonging to Imran Khan’s party was murdered in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, but he did not utter a word about it.

Accompanied by Wasay Jalil and other MQM leaders, Mr Rizvi said the PTI was running a vicious campaign against MQM and Mr Hussain.

He accused the party of having asked its workers to call London police and lodge false and fabricated complaints against the MQM chief.

He said everyone knew that Mr Khan never condemned terrorist attacks on innocent people, defence installations, mosques, Imambargahs, etc, and instead supported Taliban and militants of other banned organisations on every forum.

Mr Rizvi said that soon after the murder of Zehrah Shahid the PTI chief had blamed the MQM chief for it, but he should now be asked why he was not telling the nation who was behind the murder of his party’s MPA and attacks on security personnel in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.