MQM-P expels Farooq Sattar, warns workers to cut off ties with him

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Friday expelled senior leader Dr Farooq Sattar from the party, warning the workers to cut ties with him or face disciplinary action.

The decision was taken exactly nine days after a show-cause notice was issued by the MQM-P to Sattar, which he denied receiving, over forming a group called Organisation Restoration Committee (ORC) within the party.

A statement issued by the party read: “A meeting of the coordination committee chaired by convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on November 9, 2018, discussed the show-cause notice and the subsequent reminder issued to former convener Sattar and his non-compliance. “After considering all the details, the coordination committee unanimously decided to revoke the basic membership of Sattar over his serious breaches of party’s discipline and constitution, making groups within the party and others organisational violations.”

The MQM-P also issued a direction to the workers forbidding them to keep any ties with Sattar and warning that those who did so would face “stiff” action. The extreme step has been taken after Sattar, who had already been at loggerheads with the leadership publicly since earlier this year, formed the ORC in October last week in a bid to take over the reins of the party.

Sattar had opined that the ORC would work to reform the party from top to bottom by reviving the older organisational structure of electing a chairman and general secretary in lieu of the current coordination committee setup and by inducing new leadership through workers’ polls.

Keeping a room for negotiations in the meantime, he had asked his colleagues at the helm to rather accept his demands and restore the pre-February 5 position in the party when he was the convener.

The MQM-P leadership, however, did not accept. A spokesperson for the party told The News that a delegation tasked with settling the issue had called on Sattar on November 4. “However, things did not go well in the meeting,” he said, adding that the decision was taken with a heavy heart but to protect the party.

Having been through ‘minus Altaf’, a term that denoted the removal of founder Altaf Hussain from the party, the MQM-P met another challenge on February 5 this year when then convener Sattar and senior deputy convener Amir Khan quarreled over the party tickets for the Senate elections.

The fight followed the creation of two camps within the party, PIB led by Sattar and Bahadurabad led by Khan, until the General Election 2018, before which they reunited to disseminate a gesture of unity to convince their voters to stay with them. The camping apparently dealt a major blow to the party as it lost its sway of nearly three decades over the city and was reduced to being the second largest political party in the city.