Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Tuesday threatened to abandon relief work in earthquake-affected areas after thrashing of their two workers allegedly by Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) people.
Addressing a hurriedly called press conference here at the Press Club, MQM parliamentary leader Dr Farooq Sattar alleged for the last one week, 31 workers were threatening MQM relief teams in AJK.
Today, he said, one of our worker, Zubair Bhatti, was kidnapped by JI people in Muzaffarabad. They thrashed Zubair severely and also shot him in the chest. He was shifted to Abbas Medical Institute by the local people, who found him abandoned at a deserted place.
He said, according to latest reports, Zubair has been operated in the hospital and he is now out of danger.
He also told reporters another incident of the same nature took place in the afternoon when a MQM worker, Adil Rashid, was kidnapped and severely beaten by JI workers and later he was found lying in a nearby village with his hands and legs tied with ropes.
Dr Farooq Sattar said they were doing all relief work on purely humanitarian basis and they have no political agenda. But some of the people are afraid of growing popularity of his party in this area, traditionally not a familiar place for MQM's political activities.
He said they had informed offices of the President and Prime Minister about the incident. "We will be constrained to leave the place if atrocities being committed against our workers are not stopped and we are not provided protection in the next twenty-four hours," Dr Farooq Sattar warned.
He urged authorities to take immediate notice of the situation and bring the culprits to the book. He said these kinds of activities will discourage zealous volunteers working in quake-affected areas in very harsh weather conditions and this will be a disservice to the already devastated people.
However, Dr Farooq Sattar said, we will continue to work in other areas to help channelise the assistance through relief commissioner.
To a question, he said he was not sure if there was some hidden hand or a conspiracy was being hatched to ensure MQM's ouster from the area. "We are very keenly watching the situation and trying to unearth the conspiracy if any."
Some of the MQM parliamentarians were also present during the press conference.