welcome to Sputnik orbiting the world
with me George Galloway and me gayathri
the giant port city of karachi
pakistan's largest is locked down and at
a standstill vehicles are burning the
British consular under siege its
diplomats disappeared to Dubai and all
over a British man from edgware on the
outskirts of London Altaf Hussain was
arrested this week by London's
Metropolitan Police after a long-running
inquiry which involves a strange death
and piles of unaccounted for money
Hussein is not being held for murder
though rather like Al Capone on charges
of money laundering the murder inquiry
is continuing all tough and his
supporters however fiercely deny any
wrongdoing on his part some years ago
alone I can promise you in Parliament I
raised of mr. Blair's government some
trenchant questions about out of Hussein
here's a clip of what I said then why is
out of Hussein being allowed from a sofa
in edgware to conduct a terrorist
campaign and a campaign of extortion of
businesses and citizens in Sindh and why
was he given British citizenship I want
to ask the minister tonight and if he
doesn't have the answer to hand I would
like him to write to me and tell me the
answer to this question was Altaf
Hussain ever refused British citizenship
and if he was refused British
citizenship what changed between that
refusal and the Granton or citizenship
to him it is an extraordinary thing
madam Deputy Speaker in the middle of a
so-called war on terror that a bloody
reign of terror any major Pakistani city
and there are millions of Pakistanis
were citizens of our own country a
terrorist cell is operating from edge
well
in the form of the MQM every day out of
loose any British citizen addresses his
puppets in Karachi giving them
instructions on how they should govern
including how they should handle
peaceful demonstrations well I think I
look younger now than I did then joining
us now to discuss the backdrop to this
week's extraordinary events is barrister
Asha jameel I'm glad to see barrister
Asha thanks for coming on the show thank
you for having me yeah just before we go
into outer force in and the arrest give
us the backdrop with you because many
British viewers will be rather puzzled
as to why this is all happening who this
man is what he stands for and the rest
tell us about the MQM who they represent
what their demands are well George MQM
is perhaps the fourth largest party in
Pakistan at the moment it was formed
some time ago by altaf was saying
initially whilst he was a student and
then it became what was known as the MQM
matata call me mute movement what other
means United initially it was mohajer
call me movement and that really was
formed initially for those who had
emigrated to Pakistan from India South
Asia Bangladesh and they were all do
speaking initially was a party to give a
voice to those who they felt had been
trampled upon and were discriminated
against and that's how the party
initially formed over the years it has
levered a lot of power in Karachi
particularly that's where it's more
prominent because that's where the
Mahars emigrated to and a lot of people
have said that they wield far too much
power and there are rogue elements of
that party which has caused terrorism in
the city of course these allegations
which are denied by the MQM but in 1992
there was an operation called Operation
cleanup it resulted in the arrest of
several senior MQM leaders in the
country there were a number of
allegations made against
al dhafra sane and there was a warrant
out for a murder against him also and at
that point he fled the country and he
obtained a political asylum in the UK
interestingly in 2002 he was given a
British passport under what was
considered now when it was investigated
to be a clerical error so how it can be
a clerical error I'm not quite sure but
one thing which recently came to light
is that whilst Tony Blair was in
government a couple of weeks after 911
al Dolph was sane or the MQM had written
a letter to that administration Tony
Blair's government and said that we have
unlimited resources to curb um you know
to have demonstrations bring people out
in the street we we have you know we
would encourage you to disband the isi
ISI of course is the intelligence
service in Pakistan one thing's clear he
addresses from London from edgware from
his sofa that I talked about there in
Parliament he addresses his followers in
Pakistan over television live television
broadcast to them and it's pretty
blood-curdling stuff isn't it well
there's been a number of speeches and
he's got away with them so far because
they're just on the peripherals just on
the edge you know in May last year 12
over 12,000 people complained to the
police they made a report saying he has
incited violence and the terrorism acts
you must arrest him and that's when the
investigation kicked off around about
the same time as together you remember
you you instructed my firm hkh Ken
riding solicitors to see whether
there were avenues that could be pursued
in terms of either a civil action or a
private prosecution but it seems after
those complaints were made the police
got into action of course there was
always the ongoing inquiry in relation
to the murder case of dr imran farooq dr
imran farooq was murdered here in London
he was one of the leaders of the MQM
there seems to have been some kind of
falling-out and these days
the inquiry is ongoing so we better not
go too far down the Avenue but I did
instruct you to bring a private
prosecution I said to the government and
to Scotland Yard to the prosecuting
authorities either you prosecute this
man or I'll bring a private prosecution
it then became clear to me that the
investigation into Altaf Hussain was
sufficiently serious to make me wait and
now they have arrested him tell us what
happened this week well you see around
about the time you instructed us in fact
the police kicked into action there was
a raid last year in almost a year ago
now in june twelfth of june Austrian
alte oper scenes house so inquiries had
been ongoing now there are probably four
different avenues of possible criminal
activity there's a murder investigation
there's the incitement the speeches he
makes the hate speeches in Karachi talks
about the prepare body bags for so and
so he did a speech in 2009 saying to me
12th of May 2012 was the tenth of our
speech against PTI workers saying if you
come out as a variance party that is
indeed it if you come out in protest I
don't blame me if I unleash my followers
on you but you say I don't think there
was enough really to successfully
convicted front of your jewelry with
those speeches but they're still being
looked into and then there's the money
laundering because during the course of
the investigation the counterterrorism a
unit in fact engaged with the murder
inquiry and in the course of that cash
was recovered sizable sums over half a
million in total from multiple scenes
personal residence and also from the MQM
secretarial offices which are in edgware
so that is the case upon which the
police have the most evidence at the
moment and that's the case under which
they arrested him this week and the
fourth of course is tax evasion because
you know they have a number of
properties as all this cash and where
has it come from now in relation to the
money laundering we're told officing
will no doubt do is
if he is charged and he hasn't yet been
charged because he's ended up in
hospital and I know well he hasn't been
well I think he did have an appointment
already but yes it's so it's difficult
for the police to interview him but she
is no doubt going to say this as money
which was given to me by donators
because there were thousands of MQM
followers and I'm sure they are all step
forward saying we made donations but it
still has to be accounted for it should
have been put in bank accounts tax you
know these all issues but you will have
to deal with so how did the political
class in in Pakistan respond to his
arrest well is it's very interesting
actually because um Imran Khan had last
year accused Oh toughest thing of the
merger of a very senior PTI leader Zara
Hussein and just this week he made a
statement saying I had my differences
without officing but I have a great deal
of sympathy for the MQM supporters
whether he's done that to win over the
MQM supporters or you know because he is
running scared because it is potentially
very volatile time with the arrest of a
huge leader there are masses who follow
him in karachi karachi is in lockdown
you know it's closed down people cannot
go to their exams shops offices
businesses are closed people are too
scared to come out into the streets n qm
did make an announcement saying karachi
should resume it should now open up but
we will continue RM sit-ins and
demonstrations those demonstrations are
going to have no effect in Britain
because this is an independent
investigation well he's British of his
own choice how he became British still a
matter of conjecture and and controversy
he's British the crime alleged happened
in Britain and the British justice
system will deal with them it's nothing
to do with a big crowd in in Karachi
what about the Government of Pakistan
Nawaz Sharif presumably seeing a rival
not yet behind bars but under arrest is
he happy about it nobody has expressed
happiness at all in fact the political
parties are being very very measured in
careful as is the media Nawaz Sharif
it's
believed has issued a statement to his
party saying do not make any comment
he's also offered a consular to come and
even give support to otha saying if the
police allow it so in fact they're all
treading very very carefully and nobody
n Musharraf today says well you know he
has a great deal of sympathy for the MQM
and eldar sustain the Pakistani public
on the other hand is pretty turbulent at
least outside of Karachi and many in
Karachi who have lived under the shadow
of this MQM phenomenon just tell us
quickly what happens next well you see
now we've got to wait until he's
improved his recovered from hospital
he's released from hospital he still
under police custody he needs to be
interviewed the police will have to make
a decision as to whether they are going
to charge him or not if they do then the
you know Crown Prosecution will be
consulted and there will be a
prosecution as they would in an ordinary
event he will no doubt wish to defend
himself it'll be a jewelry trial so you
know it's not a political decision this
is very much an independent judiciary in
this country and the due legal process
will take place thank goodness for that
barrister I shall jameel thank you very
much coming up after the break it's
deedee anniversary time with a
necessarily dwindling number of
surviving veterans of the day that
changed Europe for good sixth of June
1944 we'll be right back
you
welcome back to Sputnik d-day marked the
opening of a second western front in the
Second World War hundreds of thousands
of Allied forces crossed the English
Channel and invaded nazi-occupied France
at Normandy successfully fooling the
Germans who expected a landing further
east in Saving Private Ryan Steven
Spielberg's masterpiece the opening 20
minutes probably caught the nightmarish
quality of the longest day better than
any surviving usual footage the beaches
of Normandy stained red and the heroism
of the attackers became legend
particularly must be said the American
and Canadian contingents who definitely
drew the short straw in the selection of
beachheads at the end of that day
despite enormous sacrifice the Western
Allies had landed and the tide of the
war began to turn people on the left in
Britain have been campaigning for the
opening of such a second front for more
than a year on the Eastern Front the
then soviet union had been making
sacrifices almost beyond calculation and
the Soviet government has become
increasingly furious and suspicious that
they were being left to fight Hitler
alone joining us now to discuss perhaps
the most significant day in European
history is military historian max Arthur
OBE max you've got tremendous spread in
the in the daily meal with a adorned I
must say what picture I've never seen
before of two of the wounded from that
longest day and your stuff is just
brilliant your book silent day I'm
reading no just for the younger viewer
as we say tell us what happened on d-day
it was an amazing day because the bulk
of the population didn't know it was
going to happen on that day the buzz of
deception deception lots of deception
raids going out Hitler was deceived the
German army was deceived everyone
thought it's gonna be an attack on the
particle a cause it's only
22 miles across we took the longest
possible route through a through the
Normandy but all the way through from
1942 when the Americans arrived the
Canadians earlier we'd had these people
on our home Shores waiting desperately
waiting really for one one day that they
get back across and get across the water
and start attacking the Germans so the
book is basically dealing with what it
was like to live in this country with
the Canadians and the American soldiers
overpaid oversexed over here solutely
the adoration of the women and the
children for these these young men was
amazing I think I worked that was about
five pounds in value between an English
uniform lupa circa 1914-18 and the
American suave gabardine and I thought
of everyone to give them five grinning
got off got a dick the under list
competition would probably would not
have happened you know it was never to
be the case but I you say silent day
because no one knew about a day people
wake up to the news that morning that it
was under way what they woke up to
silence because that you had a something
like a hundred and thirty thousand men
suddenly left overnight or adorned and
so these great camps which is described
at one point by Harry patch who was the
last survivor of the First World War he
was a plumber and he turned up as he'd
been doing every day to this camp in
Devon and there was no one there the
gate was swinging the three thousand men
had gone there was coffee still boiling
on the stove and eating breakfasts and
they've gone so this man who they could
have told you know the man from the last
man from the person we think Brett's we
tell Harry you know no on you when you
think of the thousands upon thousands of
sailors soldiers and airmen you had to
keep us in and the civilians and their
wives and in one marvelous case is a
story of this chat still giving out
invitations his wife sending out
invitations to wedding on the a
wow wow and she didn't know and he
couldn't tell her that he wasn't gonna
be turning up on the day hikes soic
strongly that secrecy among so many
people it was the largest amphibious
operation ever until now no still is oh
yes it's probably never houses it's
never wouldn't have thousands of ships
now this is the middle thousands of
ships on the water and vast air fleet as
well you know of course we had the air
superiority by that time was that one of
the things they were waiting yeah no no
not really no I think we had the energy
we just needed the timing cuz it was jus
on the 5th and there was these poor boys
thousands of men 130,000 warning about
in in landing craft not the most
comfortable of her things are beautiful
yeah they holding up to 700 men you know
all desperate to get on to the beaches
all vomiting all over the place and they
cancelled it someone that she set off
already so they had to be brought back
so come you know that dawn of that day
they just wanted to get there do the
task because the momentum had built up
you know let's get this done and it was
a rough raw attack really it almost
every man was screaming to get off the
landing craft cuz they're all sick over
the side they thought I don't give
there's one marvelous the Ghouta he said
he didn't care he did get shot what he
wanted to do is get off the bloody
landing craft you know get onto the
beach do something um meet the beaches
that we landed on weren't anywhere near
as horrific as Omaha that radio the
Americans sacrifice yes ya li to
yong-jae yes way over two-and-a-half
cells and men killed on that on that
beach and as the London as they landed
no I've gotta make this point not
because this is Russia today but because
this is my own politics shining through
these um casualty figures that we're
talking about as awful are of course a
drop in the ocean to
the figures being suffered on the
Eastern Front and as you know men of the
left like me were campaigning in Britain
at the time demanding a second front to
take the pressure of the red army that
was breaking the back of the Nancy war
machine as mr. Churchill gallantly
conceded and throughout why did they
wait so long I think they had it was
almost a psychological aspect to this
and the detachment is still remains to
in our selves and Russia they were our
allies but slightly distant allies it
was too far away as the German Germans
used to chant on the way back it's a
thousand miles from Moscow to Berlin
that was their marching and it is
exactly a thousand miles and that
distance makes quite a bit in our
history so it was it was them getting on
but Stalin is exerting great pressure on
us to get this second front going I
think the reason why we didn't do it was
bit of defiance of Stalin but equally
the we're not going to we're ready and
they took that time of training and
everything else getting everyone
assembled getting the units ready
preparing to launch his thousands of
ships thousands of aircraft get him into
the right place the right time not
something you can do in a few days and I
think that it was the right time at the
right place with the right amount of
momentum going so at law books from the
Russian side of course know in there
they were engaged in real total warning
we weren't actually engaged in total war
a time we'd seen off the danger of
invasion we could have I suppose sat out
the the duration some would say we only
or at least the Allies Western Allies
only actually did it at all because they
could see that the Red Army was winning
and was on its way to Berlin which
happened anyway but might keep on going
yeah
and they needed a Western Front if there
was going to be any division of Europe
what he said to that thesis I'd say look
at the texts between Churchill Roosevelt
and Stalin and the organization that
must have gone in their minds of what is
it going to be like when we had peace
we're going to win this war I didn't
hear was any much doubt about it even at
that point how is this going to find the
unit through your own political
expediency let's make a calm front
afterwards let's make some for there
must be some agreements somewhere along
the line so in which case the British
just and Americans and allies fitted
into that and we could have suffered we
could have lost it Normandy you know had
they managed to counter-attack which
they did very quickly and when you think
that four months later abba Stein they
had almost overwhelm the American troops
yet again drove them back 60 miles it
was still perilous uh and lot of
casualties all the way through our
french casualties lot of french
casualties thousands of french people
died in just in the detail what they
really palms in their own houses if I
products yet boy else it thousands far
more than were killed on the beaches you
know but we were getting to you know
there weren't exactly out there it was
the liberation of France it wasn't sure
I think grateful for maybe a little shy
about it but grateful for it and of
course the commemorations this weakening
quite moving oh very mood queen they are
maybe for the last significant
anniversary I said in the introduction
it was the most important day in
European history as a hyperbole on my
partner not all change the face of the
world what world would we have had your
book captures it I must say wonderfully
the aspect of it that not many people
calculate now the total silence yes the
total secrecy in which it was done that
is something that definitely could not
be
no no ax Arthur will be it's been a
pleasure my pleasure living d-day with
you thanks very much indeed and now it's
your turn to tell us what you think
through the portals of social media
what's rattling gayatri on the art of
Hussain arrest my shirt says that 99% of
Pakistani politicians are corrupt they
saw ask randall correct they fear news
around them and salman shah argues that
how much do you get from pakistani
establishment george to sell out your
conscience nothing from anybody don't
judge everybody else by your own
rat-like standards that's clear I guess
on the DJ anniversary sash anna says DJ
anniversary should be a commemoration of
shame of West for not opening it until
USSR broke the back of Nazis and
defeated them oh I think that's going
too far I don't think you couldn't
describe an operation of that scale of
that heroism and sacrifice as being
something to be ashamed of yeah we
should certainly be ashamed of the fact
that it didn't happen earlier but the
men who mounted the biggest amphibious
assault in his military history until
this day have a lot to be proud of and
we should be proud of them that's why
we're celebrating here to speak and
that's it for them which sadly means
that's the end of the show do please
keep in touch with us on twitter at RT
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can like us on Sputnik on Russia today
it's goodbye from me Gayatri and from me
George Galloway it's been marvelous
you