KARACHI: Sindh Rangers on Saturday rounded up four top MQM (London) leader, including Dr Hassan Zafar Arif, outside the Karachi Press Club before they tried to hold a news conference.

One Zafar Rajput, a senior Hyderabad leader was arrested while three others were picked up outside the Karachi Press Club. All of them were taken to an undisclosed place by a strong posse of Sindh Rangers.

One Amjadullah, also from London group, kept himself hiding inside the Press Club and when he tried to come out of the club premises after four hours, he was also taken into custody by the Rangers and taken to an unknown destination.

Zafar Rajput was arrested from Hyderabad while search is going on of the remaining 11 members of the MQM Committee. The fourth one was Kunwar Khalid Yunus, MNA and a senior leader.

Before MQM London leaders arrived at the Press club’s premises, large number of Rangers personnel had taken positions in the surrounding area and were checking the vehicles that were passing by.

Dr Arif was taken into custody before he could enter the Press Club. He was taken in a Rangers mobile van to an undisclosed location.

Kunwar Khalid Yunus was also taken into custody on his way to Karachi Press Club and shifted to an undisclosed location. Following the arrests of the leaders, the London-based party decided to cancel the Press conference.

In a tweet, MQM London’s Wasay Jalil said coordination committee members Dr. Arif and Kunwar Khalid Yunus were detained by members of the paramilitary force.

The arrested are members of the new coordination committee which was constituted by the London-based MQM.

The 12-member interim coordination committee was formed by MQM’s London-based leadership in an attempt to regain organisational control of the party which it almost lost following the August 22  fiery speech of party founder Altaf Hussain.

Dr Arif had recently joined the party along with four other members — Advocate Ishaq, former President of the National Students Federation Momin Khan Momin, Amjadullah Khan and Advocate Idrees Alvi — of the new coordination committee. He is a former faculty member of Karachi University’s Philosophy Department.

Today’s development comes a week after he addressed a Press conference at the Karachi Press Club during which he demanded that the ongoing “anti-MQM” operation be called off forthwith.

The Oct 15 Press conference was the first show of strength by Altaf Hussain against Dr Farooq Sattar-led MQM-Pakistan, which had sidelined and disowned him following his Aug 22 speech.

It may be recalled that the MQM stood divided into many groups and factions and only one faction is loyal to Mr. Altaf Hussain, the MQM Supremo.

Saturday’s action against MQM London indicated a serious action against the Party by the Government with growing demands from many political leaders, parties and political activists to ban the party and try its leader for treason. The PPP and particularly Mr. Khurshid Shah and Maulana Owais Noorani also joined others demanding decisive action against the MQM London for its anti-Pakistan activities