ISLAMABAD/KASUR, Aug 22: Enraged leaders of the Muttahida Quami Movement cried foul when police baton-charged a meeting of their newly inducted activists in Kasur and cast deputy convener Dr Farooq Sattar into a lock-up on Tuesday.

According to an MQM press statement released from London, a large number of Kasur residents were in the process of formally joining the party at a Mahmoodabad meeting when a police team, led by Sub-Inspector Hussain Baig, fell upon them and carried out an unprovoked baton-charge.

An emotionally charged Haider Abbas, MQM legislator from Karachi, spoke at a press conference in Islamabad and said the party would move a privilege motion in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

He criticised the local administration of Kasur and stopped short of holding either the Punjab government or the provincial chief minister responsible for the fiasco.

When a reporter asked Mr Rizvi if the attack on Mr Sattar came in response to MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s rather irreverent remarks about the Chaudhrys of Gujrat at an Aug 13 public rally in Lahore, he said: “The Chaudhrys are our good coalition partners and our minds are clear in this regard.”

Accompanied by federal Minister for Communications Shamim Ahmed Siddiqi, Minister for Housing and Works Syed Safwanullah and MNAs Israrul Ibad, Abdul Waseem, Pervez Qureshi, Abid Ali Umang and Dr Abdul Qadir Khanzada, Mr Rizvi said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz was in the loop about the incident.

However, the Kasur police said in a statement that the MQM had organised the meeting without informing the district administration.

They said they had gone to the meeting upon receiving complaints about the misuse of loudhailers.

The Punjab police chief suspended Sub-Inspector Baig and ordered an inquiry into the incident.