Pakistan Party's US branch leader arrested over 'slaughter' threat

Virginia: The head of a Pakistani political party based in Maryland has been accused of threatening to ‘behead’ and ‘slaughter’ a man and his family in their Virginia home, according to Virginia police.

The accused named, Qaiser Ali, aged 53, from Maryland was arrested on Thursday and is facing a felony charge of promising to kill the unnamed victim and his family via a text message and video in Urdu which was posted on Twitter in November, police said. Police declined to reveal the exact reason that prompted Ali to give these threats.

Ali heads the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, or MQM party which is based in Maryland. The party has a record of creating violence in Pakistan and Pakistani authorities are trying to bring the party down. The human rights group are also very critical of the organization. The party has a strong support in Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi. The founder of the party, Altaf Hussain, fled Pakistan in the early 1990’s and now resides in London.

“We are Brother Altaf Hussain’s loyalist workers, God willing, we will storm through and kill you in the house,” read the tweet which was translated by police in Fairfax County.

The victim told police that he feared for his and his family’s survival because in the past he knew of people being executed on MQM leader’s insistence. Police also informed that Ali and the victim knew each other.

Detective Chad Mahoney, in a detailed mail to The Washington Post said that there was no indication that the suspect made any plans to carry out the threat that was communicated. Mahoney also wrote that police had not uncovered any evidence that Ali had weapons or knew the victim’s address.

Ali did not immediately respond to messages sent to him on Twitter. His phone number is not listed. Messages to the MQM and the national organization were not returned either.

A thorough investigation was launched in November after the victim saw the Twitter message, which was then filed to obtain information about Ali’s IP address, according to search warrant. The victim and his two witnesses told police that they were convinced that Ali was responsible for the post. Detectives eventually tied all the threats to Ali, according to the search warrant.

In 2016, Ali was charged in Baltimore with second-degree assault and for having dangerous weapons with intent to harm. Though these charged were eventually dropped.

Ali is due for trial in Fairfax County on Thursday.