MQM-P dissolves coordination committee over ‘audio leaks’

Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui has dissolved the party’s decision-making coordination committee, and appointed an ad hoc body to oversee reorganizing within their ranks.

The ad hoc body comprises Siddiqui, Mustafa Kamal, Dr Farooq Sattar, Nasreen Jalil, Anis Qaimkhani, Kaiful Wara and Rizwan Babar, read a statement issued from the central election office of the party, Pakistan House, which is former headquarters of the Pak Sarzameen Party, then spearheaded by Kamal and Qaimkhani.

The statement added that the decision was made in a meeting of the coordination committee chaired by the convener on March 6, just a day after the party, citing “intelligence agencies’ reports”, accused one of its MNA on minority seat, Mohan Manjiani, for being a foreign agent.

The meeting discussed reorganizing the party and decided that in the first phase the coordination committee would be dissolved, followed by other departments of the party to the UCs level.

Geo News reported that the committee was dissolved because of the recent audio leaks of Kamal and Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori speaking to the February 25 meeting of the committee about their negotiations with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz over government formation.

Confirming the audios as true, Kamal had said that there was someone within the party was working for the party founder Altaf Hussain-led MQM-London, He claimed that the leaks pinpointed who exactly the person was, but he did not name anyone. He had said that the audio leak circulating on social media was indeed his but insisted that there was nothing new about his party’s rivals claiming that their mandate was fake.

“An audio attributed to me has gone viral on social media. I endorse it,” Kamal, who served as Karachi’s mayor and was elected as an MNA in the general elections, said in a short video statement.

In the leaked audio clip, Kamal started by explaining to his party’s Rabita Committee about the situation that took place when an MQM-P delegation went to meet the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders.

“We were called late at night to meet the PML-N people. It felt like [...] they were not in the mood of meeting us,” Kamal was heard in the audio as saying.

“But they told us two things: The PPP is saying that the MQM-P’s mandate is 100% fake. The second is that the PPP’s claiming that the PML-N and the PPP have complete numbers [for government formation], so the MQM-P should be sidelined.”

In the las week of February, after the emergence of Kamal’s audio, Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori’s spokesperson admitted that an audio clip allegedly featuring the governor’s voice is real but “it has been taken out of context”.

In the latest audio, Tessori — who is a also member of the MQM-P’s committee that has been tasked with negotiating with other political parties — could be heard saying that the party is paying the cost of becoming part of the Shahbaz Sharif-led coalition.

“We were part of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government when PML-N and PPP were in the opposition. We supported the PDM [Pakistan Democratic Movement], which angered our voters,” Tessori said in the audio which could not be independently verified.

“The MQM-P got seven seats despite all the hurdles [in 2018 elections] which was our vote bank. We didn’t get the vote today [in the 2024 polls]. The party is being offered one ministry [Information Technology] as part of government and they are bringing their own governor in Sindh as well.”

Tessori further said that the party would face severe consequences if they entered into an alliance. In the alleged audio that appears to be of an MQM-P meeting, the Sindh governor said that the PPP is pressurising the PML-N to sideline the party.