Nine Zero

Nine Zero نائن زیرو (from the address of his house in karachi) was the name given to the headquarters of Pakistan's political party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement, in the National Assembly of Pakistan. It was located in Azizabad, a sub-division of Federal B. Area, Karachi. The house was constructed on a 120 square yards (1080 sq ft.) plot, belonged to the family of the MQM founder, Altaf Hussain, as he lived in house #90/8, Block 8 in Azizabad Karachi-75950 (near "Liaqut Ali Khan Chowk").^[1] It has now become the center of MQM's political and social activities. Altaf Hussain frequently delivers his speeches there by video or tele-conferencing in order to communicate with the workers of the political party. It is also the main centre of MQM in Karachi and is an important location for political meetings & discussions.^[2]

MQM Headquarter "90" is named "90" given by the last two digits of pone number, not the plot or house number.

Controversies

On 11 March 2015, Rangers carried out a raid at Nine Zero, the headquarters of MQM in Karachi as well as the party’s public secretariat Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall and arrested dozens of activists. ^[3]A huge quantity of arms and ammunition, walkie talkies, binoculars and other military gear used by Nato forces in Afghanistan were also seized during the raid.at least 27 suspects were presented before an anti-terrorism court. Rangers claimed that they apprehended nearly half a dozen target killers – including Faisal Mehmood, aka Faisal Moto, who was sentenced to death in the murder case of Geo News journalist Wali Khan Babar and a huge quantity of arms and ammunition, walkie talkies, binoculars and other military gear used by Nato forces in Afghanistan were also seized during the raid.^[4]

Nine Zero was sealed on 23 August 2016 by the Rangers following a hate speech delivered by MQM's leader, Altaf Hussain, which resulted in rioting and one death.^[5] Now many leaders of MQM have been arrested by rangers for investigation.

References