News Analysis |
Senior Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Farooq Sattar announced to dissolve the MQM Rabita Committee during the general workers’ meeting outside his PIB residence on Sunday. He announced that fresh polls for the positions of office bearers in the MQM-P will be held in February. The announcement came hours after the Rabita Committee removed Sattar from the position of convener of the party.
Sattar called it a gathering of responsible members and asked them if they wanted to see the Rabita Committee dissolved to which the gathering responded in affirmative. ‘I was overthrown through an organized conspiracy,’ Sattar responded to the Rabita Committee decision to oust him. He declared that the issue of Kamran Tessori’s nomination was used as an excuse to propagate their own (Rabita Committee’s) interests. He cited a section of MQM’s constitution to show his authority to sack all the conveners and deputy conveners.
Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed while speaking on a television show, Tonight with Moeed Pirzada, claimed that all parties in Pakistan are a one man show and the MQM is no different from them but he expressed his hopes that the qualified leadership of MQM will find a way around the crisis.
The deposed MQM chief asked the Rabita Committee that if he was such a bad leader then why did they waited for the Senate elections to remove him. He claimed that he was the force obstructing the selling of Karachi at the hands of ‘qabza’ mafia. Sattar accused the Rabita Committee of bearing ill-intentions and claimed that they never honestly sought a solution since the declaration of his ouster was signed on 7th February.
Earlier on Sunday, the Rabita Committee held a press conference at the MQM’s Bahadurabad office. Senior leader Kanwar Naveed Jameel announced that Farooq Sattar was removed from the post of the convener for breaching the Rabita committee’s trust. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui was made the new convener of the party and the power to nominate candidates on party tickets was also granted to him.
Read more: MQM in disarray
Jameel stated that there were many reasons for the removal of MQM as the convener. He alleged that the registration of MQM was canceled at the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) because of Farooq Sattar’s negligence. Sattar was constantly reminded by the MQM leadership to submit the papers declaring the assets of MQM members to the ECP but he failed to do so.
MQM claims itself to be a democratic party, one of the only few in Pakistan, the other being Jamat-i-Islami (JI) according to political experts but the recent showdown within MQM factions has shown that democracy is not the way that parties want to operate in Pakistan.
Jameel accused Sattar of intentionally sabotaging Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation (the welfare arm of MQM) by committing severe mismanagement. Nazeer Hussain University also became dysfunctional because of Sattar according to the Rabita committee since he failed to pay the employees for seven months. ‘Dr Farooq Sattar altered the constitution of the party for personal gains and took all powers for himself,’ alleged Jameel.
The MQM-P is now openly divided into two factions: the PIB group (lead by Farooq Sattar) and the Bahadurabad group (lead by Amir Khan). The status of Sattar in the party is unclear since the Rabita Committee has declared that he is merely a political worker now but on the other hand, the Rabita Committee itself has been dissolved by Sattar. The ball appears to be in the Rabita Committee’s court since the ECP has granted them the right to nominate candidates.
Read more: MQM fails to agree on candidates for Senate elections
A Returning Officer (RO) of the ECP told the media today that according to the constitution of MQM, the right to grant party tickets belongs to the Rabita Committee. Media analysts believe that Sattar has become a powerless leader within the MQM since he’s been stripped of all his power but he still holds the popular support among MQM workers so he’s cashing in on it. Some media reports have speculated that the move against Sattar might be payback for the ouster of Altaf Hussain from the party.
The debacle started on 5th February when a Rabita Committee meeting failed to agree on the candidates for the upcoming Senate elections. Sattar insisted on nominating Kamran Tessori on one of MQM-P’s Senate seats in the upcoming elections but other members of the Rabita Committee didn’t agree since Tessori was surpassing other senior members.
Sattar accused the Rabita Committee of bearing ill-intentions and claimed that they never honestly sought a solution since the declaration of his ouster was signed on 7th February.
Efforts were made from both sides to resolve the issue but they didn’t bear fruit. Sattar was earlier stripped off his powers without being removed as the convener by the Rabita committee but Sattar’s vehemence against the decision led to his complete removal from the top chair of the party.
Read more: Divide in MQM-P again: Ostensibly over senate tickets?
MQM claims itself to be a democratic party, one of the only few in Pakistan, the other being Jamat-i-Islami (JI) according to political experts but the recent showdown within MQM factions has shown that democracy is not the way that parties want to operate in Pakistan. MQM is in complete disarray with two factions announcing totally different decisions against each other.
Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed while speaking on a television show, Tonight with Moeed Pirzada, claimed that all parties in Pakistan are a one man show and the MQM is no different from them but he expressed his hopes that the qualified leadership of MQM will find a way around the crisis. Other media analysts were not so confident. They believe that the official divide in MQM is inevitable since reconciliation between the disgruntled leaders seems like a far cry now.