MQM’s Strong Reaction Over Anti-Muhajir Leadership Content at Thanksgiving Event in Dallas Organizers Clarify, Unease in the Community
By: Raja Zahid Akhtar Khanzada
London / Dallas: On May 23, 2025, a “Thanksgiving Day” event was organized in the city of Dallas, Texas, USA, in which Pakistan’s Consul General Aftab Chaudhry participated as the chief guest. The event was apparently held to demonstrate community unity and connection to the homeland. However, a controversial documentary shown at the end of the event turned the atmosphere serious and sensitive.
The documentary included some scenes related to Balochistan, along with an attempt to associate MQM’s founder and leader Altaf Hussain with India’s intelligence agency “RAW.” Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) strongly rejected this in harsh words and termed it an organized character assassination campaign against Muhajir leadership. Several attendees of the event also called the content inappropriate and expressed their disapproval.
MQM’s Position: “This is an insult to the Muhajir nation”
MQM’s Coordination Committee expressed severe reservations over the incident, stating that the act was not only a personal defamation of Mr. Altaf Hussain, but it also hurt the emotions of millions of Muhajirs.
In an emergency video briefing held by MQM USA, Deputy Convener Rehan Ibadat, Committee Member Syed Atif Shamim, Central Organizer Matloob Zaidi, and Joint Organizer Yousuf Saeed participated and declared the act an “open hostility toward Muhajirs.”
The leaders said that Mr. Altaf Hussain has always spoken about national unity, truth, and reconciliation, but government representatives abroad are using their positions to spread political hatred, prejudice, and character assassination of Muhajir leadership, which is not only an attempt to divide the community but also harmful to national harmony.
Organizers’ Clarification: “We were not shown the documentary content”
After this reaction, when Jago Times contacted the organizers of the event, they completely disassociated themselves from the documentary. They stated:
“This documentary was neither prepared nor selected by our team. Consul General Aftab Chaudhry brought the video himself and informed us that it was an informational video against Indian aggression. We were not made aware of its contents beforehand.”
The organizers further clarified that if they had known that any political party or figure would be targeted in the video, they would never have made it part of the event.
Debate and Unease in the Community
This incident has caused regret and unease not only for MQM but for many circles of the Pakistani community in Dallas. On one hand, the Muhajir community perceives it as an attack on their identity and leadership; on the other, the event organizers are calling it a misunderstanding that arose due to lack of prior knowledge.
MQM has demanded from the Government of Pakistan to take immediate notice of the incident and to investigate the role of Consul General Aftab Chaudhry, so that in the future, sensitive matters abroad can be handled with transparency and responsibility.
program report link by the jagotimes
