ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition moved against Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain for his May 11 utterances in which he had allegedly asked for the secession of Karachi from Pakistan.
A three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, which had taken up the petition of Barrister Zafarullah Khan of the Watan Party, rejected the petition saying it was not inclined to accept it.
Earlier the court had asked the petitioner to procure any notification from the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to establish who is the chief or convener or under whose name the MQM was registered with the commission under the Political Parties Order, 2002.
In response, Barrister Khan presented a notification of June 21, 2012, suggesting that the MQM had been registered as a political party with the ECP under the name of Deputy Convener Dr Mohammad Farooq Sattar, son of Abdus Sattar.
The court noted that Barrister Khan had no grievance against Dr Farooq Sattar and suggested the petitioner to avail remedy by approaching the proper forum if he had any grievance.
Barrister Khan had alleged in his petition that Mr Hussain, a British citizen living in London, in a telephonic address to his party workers had allegedly demanded secession of Karachi on May 11.
Barrister Khan had also pleaded before the apex court to declare Mr Hussain an enemy of Pakistan, ban his telephonic speeches from London and outlaw the MQM as a political party.