Relief for Altaf, setback for MQM-Pakistan in £10m properties case

• Judges overturn decision in MQM-P's favour that deprived Altaf of assets.
• Altaf had appealed the single judge’s decision before the Court of Appeal.
• Judges send matter back to court, direct it to probe change in MQM’s constitution.

LONDON: In a huge relief to Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain and a big setback to MQM-Pakistan, three judges of the UK's Court of Appeal have accepted Altaf’s appeal against the judgement handed down over a year ago by the Insolvency and Companies Judge Clive Jones — depriving Altaf of six London properties worth around £10 million, in favour of the Pakistani faction.

Altaf had appealed the single judge’s decision before the Court of Appeal, arguing that the judge failed to take into consideration basic facts of how his party was hijacked by Dr Farooq Sattar and other MQM leaders in Karachi who didn’t let him return to the MQM after his August 22, 2016, speech and then his voluntary relinquishing of powers to Dr Sattar and the Central Coordination Committee (CCC).

ICC Judge Clive Jones had declared that the MQM leader and former federal minister Syed Aminul Haque was right to bring a claim for the Trusts properties; that the real and legitimate MQM was the one based in Pakistan and therefore a beneficiary of the six London properties.

Court of Appeal judges Lord Justice Arnold, Lord Justice Moylan and Lord Justice Nugee have overturned the High Court Judge Clive Jones’ 13th March 2023 ruling that MQM-P is MQM and that Altaf and his supporters do not have a valid defense as trustees to challenge the unconstitutional acts of MQM-P on August 31/September 1, 2016.

MQM’s chief Altaf challenged the judgement of the High Court’s judge and the Court of Appeal heard the matter for two days on 23rd and 24th of April 2024 and reserved the judgement.

The Court of Appeal has now overturned the decision of the High Court judge on two, out of three, grounds of appeal by MQM led by Altaf. The judges dismissed Altaf's appeal on the third ground that the Judge misconstrued Article 9 (a) of the 2016 constitution and ought to have held that it required a 2/3 majority of the entire Committee.

The judges have stated that there is no dispute that Altaf is the founder and the leader of MQM and that he has been living in exile because of threats and danger to his life in Pakistan.

The ruling mentioned the incident of grenade attack on Altaf in Karachi in 1991 and that Altaf has been in exile in London and leading his party from here.

In the unanimous decision, the judges decided that Altaf's appeal is accepted and that the actions of MQM-P on August 31/September 1, 2016, cannot be called constitutional as there is evidence of different contextual scenes behind it, including but not limited to, the crackdown on MQM and sealing of its headquarters and the statement of then-spokesman of prime minister Musaddik Malik who warned MQM to dissociate itself from its chief Altaf or suffer the consequences.

The Court of Appeal has accepted Altaf's ground that without deciding the constitutionality of MQM-P acts, the High Court judge erred in deciding that MQM-P is the real MQM.

The Judges also accepted the arguments of Altaf that he did not step back from his role in MQM but was asked by Dr Sattar to temporarily step back until the situation in Pakistan calms down but was later ditched by Dr Sattar and his allies by bringing Article 6 (treason) resolution against Altaf in Sindh and National Assembly.

The Court has further stated that without having evidence on the backgrounds of the events unfolding to that announcement, it cannot be said that he stepped down as the party chief of MQM and that the High Court must investigate the claims of violence on August 22, 2016, on MQM workers.

The three judges have sent the matter back to the court with the directions to the High Court to investigate the change in MQM’s constitution.

The Court of Appeal rejected MQM-P’s claim that the English court cannot revisit the actions commenced in Pakistan. The Court held that the notion is rejected as Claimant himself has come to the court for the properties in London and against the trustee residing in London, hence the Claimant cannot now go back on its position in denying the jurisdiction of the English Courts.

ICC Judge Jones had ruled that the lawyer acting for Haque of MQM-P had established that the MQM's April 2016 Constitution was adopted and "it has not been established that the 2015 Constitution was adopted and on the balance of probability it was not."

ICC Judge Jones said in his judgment: "As on 23 August 2016 Mr Altaf Hussain stood down from any role in or involvement with MQM-P. Whether temporarily or permanently that did not alter before his expulsion from MQM-P when he formed a new association operating from London."

The case was launched around four years ago at the UK High Court by MQM-P's Haque (the claimant, representative/member of MQM-P unincorporated association) against the party's founder Altaf and other trustees/defendants (Iqbal Hussain, Tariq Mir, Muhammad Anwar, Iftikhar Hussain, Qasim Ali and Euro Property Developments Limited) for the control of the trust that controls the following six properties: 12 Abbey View house in Edgware (where Altaf lives), High View Gardens first house, High View Gardens second house where Iftikhar Hussain lives with his family, Whitchurch Lane first house which is used as a lodgers house, Whitchurch Lane second house, 53 Brookfield Avenue house (where Saleem Shazad lived with his family) and the MQM 1st Floor Elizabeth House office (once known as International Secretariat).

Tariq Mir, Muhammad Anwar and Iqbal Hussain didn't fight MQM-P's claim and stood aside, in agreement with the MQM-P. Former MQM veterans Nadeem Nusrat, who runs his own party called the Voice of Karachi, Dr Farooq Sattar and former Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar supported MQM-P's case and appeared in court against Altaf, openly confronting their former leader they once called “bhai” and spiritual leader.

The MQM-P argued in the claim that Altaf and other defendants had failed to keep the books and records required of them as trustees and had failed to account for their use of the properties including the income received from them and the net proceeds of the sale, and there has been a misuse of trust assets for personal use and/or for the use of third parties.

The case of Altaf and his associates was that MQM was registered as a political party in 1987 but from August 2016 its registration was prohibited by the "military establishment" and the MQM-P was hurriedly created after the speech in August 2016 as a result of a "military crackdown" on MQM "to enjoy the patronage and protection of the military authorities whilst masquerading as the same organisation as MQM to the outside world".

Altaf's defence argued that the MQM-P for the purpose of its registration as a political party wrongly notified the Electoral Commission that MQM had changed its name to MQM-P.

The MQM-P and Haque are represented by Barrister Nazar Mohammad and Altaf and his colleagues are represented by Richard Slade KC.