KARACHI/ISLAMABAD: Saulat Mirza, in a video statement aired on Geo News, hurled startling allegations on Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and its top leadership, just a few hours before his execution was scheduled to take place on Thursday at 5:30AM.

Mirza's execution has now been postponed for 72 hours.

Mirza said he was an MQM worker and received direct orders from MQM leader Babar Ghauri to assassinate KESC chief Shahid Hamid.

“I was summoned at Babar Ghauri’s house where I took Altaf Hussain’s orders via telephone. Altaf Hussain would usually pass on instructions through Babar Ghauri,” alleged Saulat Mirza.

Speaking to ARY News, MQM Chief Altaf Hussain said, "Without any proof or evidence, Saulat Mirza's statement will not have any effect on the party."

Hussain termed the allegations a conspiracy against MQM.

Babar Ghauri speaking to Geo News dismissed Mirza’s statement as a “fable” and denied having given any order for a murder.

“This is a made up story, we are not allowed to call workers to our house and deal with them there,” he said. When asked if Saulat Mirza has never come to his house, Ghauri said “no”.

“When he [Mirza] was in North Nazimabad, I met him then as an MPA,”.

“Then he was removed from the party and I maintained no communication or relationship with him.”

Mirza, however, said workers like him were used as “tissue papers” by MQM, and were disposed off when there was no use left for the party. “Other workers should take a lesson from my ending,” said Mirza. "Criminals in the party would get protection under Governor Sindh," he claimed.

Meanwhile Sindh Governor's spokesperson has stated that Dr. Ishratul Ibad has never supported any accused or criminal.

Saulat went on to say that workers in the MQM who gained popularity among the public are eventually sidelined.

"Mustafa Kamal was humiliated and then sidelined from the party because he had grown popular and Azeem Tariq was murdered for the same reason," Mirza said.

"I have no vested interest in making these allegations at this hour. I just want to leave a message for those who wish to join, or are part of political organisations, to learn from my mistakes," said the death-row inmate.

Also read: A death cell for a triple murderer

Meanwhile, Machh Jail Deputy Superintendent Sikandar Kakar while talking to DawnNews confirmed that they have received orders to postpone the hanging of Saulat Mirza for three days.

Mirza was found guilty of murdering the then managing director (MD) of Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), now K-electric, Malik Shahid Hamid, his driver Ashraf Brohi, and his guard Khan Akbar outside Hamid's residence in DHA on July 5, 1997.

Previously a resident of Block J in North Nazimabad, Karachi, Saulat was his parents’ fourth child.

Having received his intermediate education from Pakistan Shipowners' College in Karachi, he became active in student politics and joined the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation (APMSO), the students’ wing of MQM, then an acronym for Mohajir Qaumi Movement.

His name first appeared on intelligence and security agencies’ radar in 1994, after the killing of two US diplomats at Karachi’s Shahrah-i-Faisal and murder of four workers of an American oil company, Union Texas, near PIDC bridge.

He was believed to have been arrested from Karachi airport after his arrival from Bangkok; police confirmed his arrest at a press conference on December 11, 1998.

During that press conference, in the presence of the then Karachi DIG, Ameen Qureshi, Saulat Mirza made revelations about his involvement in the murder of scores of innocent people, including several high-profile personalities.

Mirza was initially detained by FIA immigration officials for traveling on a fake identity but was handed over to the then Station House Officer (SHO) of Gulbahar police station, Mohammad Aslam Khan (Chaudhry Aslam), who was also present at the airport on intelligence reports.