Afaq denies merging Haqiqi into MQM-P

Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) chief Afaq Ahmed has denied media reports that his party was going to merge into Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan owing to “the pressure of isolation.”

Addressing a press conference at his residence in Defence on Thursday, Ahmed said the reports were based on “lies” and were a “drama”. He added that he had been meeting his rival politicians on different occasions but never talked about politics. “MQM-H and other political parties are working under their respective ideologies and they can hold talks but no merger,” he said.

The MQM-H chief added: “I support and am willing to talk with Mohajir politicians like Amir Khan, Farooq Sattar, Dr Salim Haider and Mustafa Kamal for the good of the community. However, if someone thinks that the talks should go through a merger then it is better to refrain because only those talks are better where all parties share an equal status and their core agenda is the betterment in Mohajir people’s problems.”

In a thinly-veiled reference to MQM-P, he said he knew who was behind the spread of this news and said that the party was itself in a crisis after losing its turf. He added that the MQM groups should instead come and join MQM-H because it was the “parent party”.

Replying to a question about the MQM founder, Ahmed said that if Altaf Hussain was willing to return to the country on his Pakistani passport, the security agencies give him a clean chit, and if he (Hussain) revived Mohajir politics, then he (Ahmed) could think of handing over the party to him.

The MQM-H chief said that since its inception in 1990s his party was working for the creation of a province in Sindh’s south. He added that the southern province should not be of a single ethnic group but of all 40 per cent living in there.