SUKKUR: The Pakistan Sunni Tehreek (PST) took out a rally in Sukkur on Wednesday to condemn Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain`s remarks against the country`s security institutions and called for disbanding the party.

Led by Maulana Rizwan Qadri, the rally participants marched through the streets of the city raising slogans against the MQM and in support of the army and Rangers.

He noted that the parties serving vested interests were now out to malign the army and Rangers in their effort to get the operation stopped.

He said unrest also prevailed among corrupt elements associated with the parties due to arrest of facilitators and financiers of terrorist and militant groups.

`The MQM is on the forefront in opposing the operation against terrorism and corruption,` he said, adding that the party deserved to be banned as its chief has openly attacked the armed forces.

A similar rally was taken out in Kandhkot to condemn Mr Hussain`s remarks.

The rally participants led by Sheeraz Khan Domki, Haji Sahir Cholyani and Ahmed Ali Mughal started their march from the Clock Tower locality and ended it outside the local press club.

Raising slogans against the MQM, theydemanded immediate arrest of Altaf Hussain through Interpol. The MQM chief must stand trial for treason, they said.

Later, they lodged an FIR against the MQM chief at the A-Section police station for his anti-state activities and statements.

Another FIR was lodged by a group of people led by Zahid Shah against Mr Hussain at the Salehpat police station while some individuals lodged two similar F IRs against him, one at a Mirpurkhas and the other at a Thatta police station, on Wednesday.

`State machinery being used against MQM` HYDERABAD: MQM members of the Sindh Assembly Sabir Hussain, Dilawar Qureshi, Rashid Khilji and Zubair Ahmed in a joint statement issued here on Wednesday accused Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Defence Minister Khwaja Asif of using state institutions against Mohajirs.

They condemned the registration of cases against MQM chief Altaf Hussain at various police stations across the country and alleged extra-judicial killing of party activists.

They alleged that the two ministers harboured grudge against Mohajirs and had been using the state machinery against them.

They warned that their act would ultimately lead to destruction andreduce the stateinto ruins.

`Those who are fomenting hatred between Mohajirs and the army will meet their logical end soon,` they said.

In a separate statement issued by the MQM Hyderabad zone, registration of cases against Altaf Hussain over his criticism of the Sindh Rangers and their role in the ongoing operation in Karachi was condemned.

The statement claimed that the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and banned religious extremist outfits seemed to have formed an alliance against the enlightened party [MQM] and its chief.

It said the allegations levelled against Mr Hussain in the FIRs were baseless.

The banned outfits were hatching conspiracies against the MQM with the aim of creating hatred between it and the armed forces institution, it observed, and argued that the PTI and the banned outfits always supported the Tehreek-iTaliban Pakistan (TTP) while the MQM never supported it.

Terming PTI the political wing of the TTP, it called for registration of FIRs against PTI chief Imran Khan for having used objectionable language against the army in the past.

Speaking at the rally, Maulana Qadri observed that a remarkable improvement had been bought about in the law and order in Karachi due to the Rangersled operation in Karachi and arrest of terrorists and criminals belonging to various parties.