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Protesters Burn Imran Khan’s Effigy To Protest Accusation

Supporters of an influential Pakistani political party took to the streets of Karachi today, to protest against cricket-hero-turned-politician Imran Khan, who has accused their party … Continue reading Protesters Burn Imran Khan’s Effigy To Protest Accusation


Supporters of an influential Pakistani political party took to the streets of Karachi today, to protest against cricket-hero-turned-politician Imran Khan, who has accused their party of killing one of his senior staff a week after a general election.

Furious members of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) have denied responsibility for the killing of Zara Shahid Hussain on Saturday outside her home in the upscale Defence area of Karachi, capping a bloody election in which about 150 people were killed nationwide.

MQM leaders condemned the killing by unidentified gunmen and demanded a retraction from Khan.

The May 11 elections gave the MQM 18 of 19 national assembly seats in Karachi, which has long been the party’s power base. Khan’s party won a re-vote in part of one constituency of Karachi on Sunday, giving it one seat and also angering the MQM.

About 3,000 MQM joined the protest to denounce Khan, whose Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) party was to hold a rally later in the evening and elsewhere in the city.

During the demonstration, the protesters burned an effigy of Khan, shouting slogans against him.

One of the protesters, a senior MQM official, said the party would be taking legal action against Khan.

Khan, recovering in hospital from a fall during campaigning, said he held MQM leader Altaf Hussein responsible for the murder “as he openly threatened PTI workers and leaders through public broadcasts”.

The MQM, a secular party, is locked in a battle with various rivals for influence in Karachi, including Pakistan’s Taliban movement, which has sought to gain a foothold in various districts on the outskirts of the city in recent years.

The general election handed a landslide victory to opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N). But Khan’s campaign electrified many Pakistanis, pushing the PTI from the margins to Pakistan’s third-largest party.