Imran says ban on his entry to Sindh 'illegal'

ISLAMABAD: Cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, banned from entering Sindh province for a month after a bitter row with ruling ally MQM, has termed the restriction on him as 'illegal' and said he would visit Karachi to meet the victims of this month's riots in the city.

Speaking over phone to a conference organised by Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party (STPP) in Hyderabad, Khan said he would lodge a case against MQM chief Altaf Hussain in London and that he was personally collecting evidences for the case.

The Tehrik-e-Insaf party leader was barred from entering Sindh by the provincial government after MQM said it would hold demonstrations against him wherever he went in the city until he apologised for his outburst against Hussain.

Khan alleged that Hussain, living in self-exile in London, was responsible for the May 12 violence in Karachi during the visit of suspended Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikar M Chaudhry in which 42 people were killed.

Speaking to the meeting, attended by 14 political parties of Sindh, Balochistan and North West Frontier Province, Khan said he was not against "Urdu-speaking" people, the migrants from India, but termed Hussain, who hails from the 'mohajir' (migrant) community, as a 'terrorist'.

Calling upon political parties to unite against Pervez Musharraf, he said the President claims to be against terrorism, but he was "supporting" the MQM.

Khan said he was "illegally" barred from entering Sindh and that he would visit Karachi to meet the May 12 victims.

The meeting demanded that MQM be declared a "terrorist group", the Chief Justice be restored and a caretaker government formed under his supervision.