Sattar warns of MQM-Pakistan lawmakers resigning en bloc

Frustrated at repeatedly losing elected representatives to the rival Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) chief has warned that if more of his party’s members are “forced” to switch loyalties, then the MQM-P’s senators, MNAs and MPAs will resign en bloc.

Addressing a news conference at the party’s headquarters in Bahadurabad on Sunday, Farooq Sattar claimed that the MQM-P’s elected representatives, particularly MPAs, were being forced to jump ship to former city mayor Mustafa Kamal’s PSP in a bid to affect their seats in the senate.

Sattar said that as a counter-political strategy, resignations of all the MQM-P’s elected and selected representatives had been submitted to the party’s coordination committee, warning that they would be moved to their respective forums if necessary. “Another switch will directly affect us in the senate election due next March.”

He claimed that a conspiracy had been set in motion to give away their sole senate seat to the Pakistan Peoples Party, perhaps as part of a deal to push the MQM-P out of the federation. “The PSP is being used for dividing the mandate, and it will be responsible for the loss that the Urdu-speaking community could suffer in the senate’s upcoming election.”

The MQM-P has lost one MNA, Asif Hasnain, and around 10 MPAs – Iftikhar Alam, Ashfaq Mangi, Khalid bin Wilayat, Bilqees Mukhtar, Irtiza Khalil Farooqui, Nadeem Razi, Abdullah Shaikh, Mehmood Abdul Razzaque, Muhammad Dilawar and Dr Sagheer Ahmed – to the PSP since Kamal founded the party on March 3, 2015.

Sattar said that he made no claim on the elected representatives who joined the PSP in its early days, but he expressed apprehension over those still jumping ship after he parted ways with party founder Altaf Hussain to lead a separate faction with the support of like-minded leaders.

Earlier in the day, the MQM-P had convened a meeting with its elected representatives in which, according to Sattar, the coordination committee asked them if they were unhappy with the party policy, had a reservation over it or were being pressurised into quitting.

He said the representatives were assured that their concerns would be addressed, they would be protected from those trying to influence them, and the issue would be raised with the prime minister and the army chief. “If someone still quits, then it would be fair for us to draw our conclusions from it.”

He claimed that not only the MQM-P’s MPAs but local bodies’ representatives and party workers were also being threatened and pressurised into switching loyalties to the PSP. Kamal’s party, however, rejected the allegations levelled by Sattar, insisting that it was a failed attempt to cover up his losing grip over the MQM-P. “Sattar should focus on his party that is heading downwards and should not hold others accountable for his own failures,” read the PSP statement. Meanwhile, Sattar has also announced that his party would stage a rally on November 5 to protest the “controversial” results of the recent population census in the city.