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London [UK], January 28 (ANI): The trial centered on the ownership of property in north London by the Altaf Hussain-led Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) concluded on Thursday night. The judge reserved the verdict after a series of hearings and will release a detailed verdict in the coming weeks.
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), formerly known as the Muhajir Qaumi Movement, is a secular political party in Pakistan founded in 1984 by Altaf Hussain. The party is currently divided into two main factions.
The hearing is before Justice Jhon in the High Court of Justice, Commerce and Property of England and Wales.
The trial, which began in late November last year, saw MQM supreme leader Altaf Hussein face to face with former loyalists, now MQM-Pakistan, created by the military establishment after 22 August. The former Loyalist is now laying claim to seven properties worth around £10million.
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The case was brought by MQM-P leader and federal minister Syed Aminul Haque, who left MQM in 1992 during an army operation against MQM and joined a faction created by the army. Aminul Haq rejoined MQM in 2011 after seeking a public apology.
The MQM-P then worked out a new constitution separate from Hussain, on which the claimant relied to own the property in London.
At Thursday’s hearing, Hussein appeared in the High Court, where lawyers for both sides reviewed the events after final arguments by lawyers for both sides and presented their claims for the property after repeated arguments.
Nazar Mohamad, a barrister representing the claimants, first laid out his argument that the MQM-P was the true leader of the party and should therefore own the London property. He gave evidence and said the MQM-P leader was the eventual successor, relying heavily on the new 2016 constitution.
Hussein’s lawyer, Richard Slade, offered his final argument, arguing that every constitution since 1984 provided that Altaf Hussein was and would continue to be the party’s founding leader, Theorists and higher authorities.
He said the 2015 and 2016 constitutions required the Central Coordinating Council to seek Hussein’s guidance as founder, leader and ideologue on all major issues, citing the constitutional amendments made on August 31, 2016 The MQM-P leader is now invalid.
He questioned how the founder leader could be removed from the party and its constitution without the approval of Altaf Hussain. Dr Farooq Sattar hijacked the party with invalid and illegal amendments, he said.
As part of the evidence, Hussein’s lawyer Richard Slade read a report in the Dawn newspaper on August 26, 2016, in which an adviser to then-Prime Minister Musadiq Malik said, ” MQM has to disassociate itself from its chief Altaf Hussain or face consequences”. Slade relies on this clip to show that the former royalists changed the constitution not only of their own free will, but under pressure from “dark forces”. He further stated that MQMP was not the correct beneficiary of the properties.
The two sides quarreled over claims to the party’s property. Lawyers for MQM-P acknowledged that the email address containing the email evidence was inaccessible and said it may have been hacked.
The claimant’s lawyer responded that, as Pakistan’s IT minister, Aminul Haque should figure out a way to access the emails to present as evidence.
In previous hearings, under cross-examination by plaintiffs’ lawyers, MQM head Altaf Hussain asserted his command over the party and settled the question of who was in control. Hussain explained that he was the ultimate decision maker and that the party revolved around him and London having the final say.
He said MQM-Pakistan was a splinter faction created under state pressure to break down MQM’s vote pool and support. Hussain said that while he was not involved in the smaller issues, overall control and leadership was widely believed to be in his hands. (Arnie)
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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