Pakistan faces Islamic State threat

Islamabad:Pakistan's Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief, Altaf Hussain, has said that the Islamic State (IS) is the new threat to Pakistan, media reported.

Addressing a press conference in Karachi via telephone from London Friday, the MQM chief said that Taliban militants were joining IS ranks, The News International reported.

He said that IS flags were visible from the south of Punjab all the way to the federal capital of Islamabad, adding that the IS, which was formed by its chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by merging different militant groups, is far more dangerous than the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

Altaf Hussain told journalists that the US asked Pakistan to create the Taliban following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. He added that Pakistan, the US and Saudi Arabia along with many other countries supported the Taliban Mujahideen in their fight against the Soviet Union.

Hussain also said that he had voiced concerns about rising Talibanisation. He highlighted the fact that while Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri were speaking about empowering the middle class and lower middle class voters, it was MQM that had actually empowered the middle class by sending representatives from this class to the assemblies, the report said.