Farooq Sattar moves SHC against expulsion

KARACHI: Farooq Sattar on Monday moved the Sindh High Court (SHC) against his expulsion from the MQM Pakistan faction.

In his petition, the disgruntled politician said his expulsion is against the Election Act and party laws. The code of conduct for the expulsion of any member was not completed, he further said in his plea. Sattar said his expulsion document only has Kunwar Naveed’s signature although approval is necessary from two-thirds of Rabita Committee members to expel any member. The Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui-led group had removed Sattar as party convener last year following rifts within the party.

Further, in November last year, MQM-P expelled Sattar for violating party discipline. MQM-P leader Khawaja Izhar ul Hassan had said that the party’s rules and regulations are known to everyone and someone flouting rules could not stay in the party.

Differences between Sattar and another leader of the party, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, had intensified prior to the 2018 General Election held on July 25, following which MQM-P was split into two groups – Sattar’s PIB and Siddiqui’s Bahadurabad faction. Following August 22, 2016 violence in Karachi, Sattar had taken over as the chief of Pakistan faction of the party and severed ties with the leadership in London.