London MQM Rabita Committee restored hours after suspension

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Murtaza Ali Shah

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain reinstated the London Rabita Committee hours after it was suspended on Friday afternoon.

The MQM chief had disbanded the London Rabita Committee, including its senior Acting Deputy Convener Nadeem Nusrat, earlier on Friday. Even the party’s senior leaders did not have any clue about the development.

Sources claimed that it was certainly an issue of some unsatisfactory performances that resulted in the disbandment. They said the reinstatement of the members must have been the result of their having tendered apologies.

Soon after disbanding the Rabita Committee, Altaf Hussain had asked Manzoor Ahmed to assume responsibilities, but a few hours later he asked the committee members, including Nadeem Nusrat, to resume their duties and responsibilities.

This was not the first time Altaf Hussain had dismissed a body to reshape his party’s structure. In July last year, all except three members of the Rabita Committee had been suspended over ‘lack of performance’.

In February of last year, Hussain had dismissed heads of the Rabita Committee in both Pakistan and London.This time, credible sources within the MQM said, the senior leadership was suspended over the alleged “violation of discipline of the party”.

“Altaf Bhai called at the International Secretariat early on Friday morning and was shocked to find out that not a single Rabita Committee member was present in the office. He became very angry and decided to take the extreme step of showing door to everyone,” said the source seeking anonymity.

The MQM chief named an unknown party worker, Manzoor Ahmed, as acting head of the Rabita Committee, London. He was to look after the key party affairs after suspension of Nadeem Nusrat. Altaf Hussain publicly told the party workers not to contact Nadeem Nusrat, who headed the International Secretariat, or the sacked former RC members.

Those who have been suspended included Wasay Jalil, Nadeem Nusrat, Qasim Ali Raza, Mustafa Azizabadi, Qasim Raza, Saleem Danish and Imbisat Mallick. Veteran MQM politician Muhammad Anwar remains suspended from the RC but he remains engaged in the party affairs as always and has been seen at the party meetings and in the office throughout. The suspended members have pleaded that they remained very busy with the latest phase of the local bodies (LB) elections and were relaxing after the results were over but that justification had not been entertained by Altaf Hussain.

The source said while the suspension of the MQM RC members was a routine matter as it had happened soon after the 2013 elections in Pakistan, it’s the suspension of Nadeem Nusrat which was highly significant because only in mid-November 2015 he was appointed as the MQM’s new convener, a key post in the party that was held by Dr Imran Farooq, prior to his suspension and murder in London in September 2010.

The source said that the suspension from the highly senior party position meant that Altaf Hussain was either having second thoughts about his original decision or he had lost trust in Nadeem Nusrat. “This is a very serious development and raises many questions about various affairs,” said the source.

Another credible source said that there were serious differences between the MQM RC committees of London and Pakistan which had developed in the aftermath of MQM’s resounding victory in the recent LB elections.

“The differences are so deep that the party leadership has been unable to name the mayor and deputy mayor for Hyderbabad. Also no decision has yet been made on the Karachi District Chairman and Vice Chairman and for Mirpurkhas because of these differences within the party. London and Pakistan chapters haven’t been seeing eye to eye on these crucial posts and that has made Altaf Bhai upset,” said the trusted source.