LONDON: In a video statement, MQM founder Altaf Hussain announced that his party would boycott the 2018 general elections, accusing the ‘establishment’ of manipulating the polls.

“I request all the democratic people to boycott such elections,” the MQM-London chief said, adding that “every single ‘millennial’ is requested to stop their elders from participating in the polls by keeping them in their homes”.

Meanwhile, MQM-Pakistan leader Farooq Sattar has also warned earlier that his party could boycott the forthcoming elections if their reservations were not addressed.

“Elections cannot guarantee our survival; the injustices done to us are in front of everyone,” Sattar said.

He feared that the elections in Karachi could be ‘fixed’. “A conspiracy is being hatched in Karachi. It was not only a minus-one formula that changed the political atmosphere of the metropolis; rather it was a minus-MQM formula that was in the process,” he said in a candid discussion.