MQM-P groups hold separate rallies on 34th foundation day

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Sunday marked its 34th foundation day, with its Bahadurabad and PIB factions holding separate rallies in the city.

The Farooq Sattar-led PIB faction held its rally in Liaquatabad, where Sattar was accompanied by party leaders Syed Sardar Ahmed, Kamran Tessori and others. “We tried a lot to make the foundation day happen at one location but no one listened to me,” Sattar said in an address to the gathering.

I suggested that both Rabita Committees should come together, he added. Tessori, addressing the gathering, said that he was ready to tender his regination to Sattar if it means ensuring the rights of Mohajirs and an end to a division between the community.

On the other hand, the party’s Bahadurabad faction held its rally to mark the day at the Nishtar Park, which was attended by Faisal Subzwari, Khawaja Izhar, Waseem Akhtar, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and others.

Izhar, addressing the gathering, said that as long as the MQM-P has its name and election symbol, it cannot be divided. Mayor Karachi Waseem Akhtar said the faction will elect Sattar as the convener with two-thirds majority if he decides to join them. If anyone thinks they will be given complete authority, they are mistaken, he said.

The MQM, since its inception, has been celebrating its foundation day on March 22 every year, the MQM-Pakistan chief Farooq Sattar designated March 18 as the foundation day after it split with the MQM founder.

In an extraordinary turn of events, MQM leaders in the country distanced themselves from the London-based party chief following an inflammatory speech by him on August 22, 2016 and the ensuing violence in Karachi.

The MQM-P saw another split when a group of members voiced their opposition to Tessori for being given the party ticket to contest in Senate elections, held on March 3. The split led to the PIB and Bahadurabad factions and Sattar was removed as the party convener by the Rabita Committee. However, Sattar continued to lead the PIB group and announced to dissolve the Rabita party.

The two factions finally came together to announce candidates agreed upon by both for the Senate elections. Zubair Ashraf adds: The PIB and Bahadurabad groups of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement celeberated the MQM's 34th foundation day on Sunday, cementing their split and dividing the public support to the party. The Farooq Sattar-led PIB group organized the event at the Liaquatabad flyover while theKhalid Maqbool Siddiqui-led Bahadurabad group held it in Nishtar Park. Neither of them were able to collect a considerable number of people that could justify their strength to reclaiming their current mandate in assemblies and Senate.

The leaders from both the sides made speeches asserting their claim on the MQM. And they traded allegations, blaming each other for the split and causing political damage to their voters and supporters, like the Senate setback.

Mentioning the offer by Sattar to reconcile on the condition of a power balance in the decision-making coordination committee, the Bahadurabad group convener, Siddiqui, said that he could let Sattar to become all in all in the party but the party constitution and principles did not allow him so.

"You're dividing the party [even more]," Siddiqui said referring to Sattar, "No one but the party consitution and its general assembly (general workers meetings) is supreme." He accused Sattar of upholding his "friendship" with Kamran Tessori over the party and succmbing to "his demands" of becoming MPA, senator and even chief minister. "Tessori is not even a worker of the MQM yet we respect him because he is your friend for the past 20 years."

Simultaneously, addressing the gathering in Liaquatabad, Sattar said that the "ideological" workers of the party were with him and even the families of the "martyrs" of the party, Imran Farooq and Aftab Ahmed, to name a few.

He called the split "making of Haqiqi-II" and said that the designs of disintegrating the MQM will fail and by the upcoming general election there will be one MQM only. At the end of the PIB event, a mob of party workers attacked journalists, including Geo News reporter Qaseem Saeed, to discharge them from performing their duties. Journalist associations and bodies have condemned the incident demanding strict action against those involved in attacking the press.