‘Not-for-sale’ MQM-P reopens its doors to Kamran Tessori

Who would have thought in 2017 when Kamran Tessori was unceremoniously shown the door by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) over a dispute on the Senate elections that five years later, he would not only be inducted again into the party but would also become the Sindh governor.

Tessori had also brought the downfall of then MQM-P convener Dr Farooq Sattar who was adamant that he be given the party ticket for the Senate. As other members of the party rejected Tessori’s candidature, the convener tried to amend its constitution to get veto powers, which eventually resulted in the ouster of both Sattar and Tessori.

At that time, MQM-P leader Faisal Subzwari had remarked that the party was not for sale, insinuating that Tessori, a wealthy businessman involved in gold and real estate businesses, had been trying to use his money to influence the party’s decisions and get for himself the Senate ticket.

Interestingly, in 2013, when Tessori was in the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), he was blamed for rifts in the party on the same reason — trying to use his money to influence the PML-F’s political decisions.

After had had departed from the MQM-P, there were reports in 2018 that he was about to join or had joined the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP). However, after that Tessori disappeared from the political scene. His name made the headlines again in 2020 but not for political reasons. He was said to be involved in the construction of a multi-storey building Tejori Heights which had allegedly been constructed without fulfilling the legal requirements. It was the time when the Supreme Court hearings related to illegal constructions in city often made the headlines.

The newly appointed Sindh governor suddenly broke into the media scene in September this year when he was surprisingly inducted into the MQM-P again and made the party’s deputy convener. The development surprised many in the MQM-P ranks who openly voiced opposition to Tessori’s return. Senior MQM-P leader Dr Shahab Imam threatened to leave the party. After resigning from the party last week, he joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf on Monday.

As the opposition to include Tessori in the party grew stronger, MQM-P convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui called a meeting of the party to discuss the matter. However, the meeting was mysteriously put off and the MQM-P leaders opposing Tessori’s return became quiet.

Although some leaders of the MQM-P have denied that the governorship of Sindh was one of the demands of the party before it joined the current coalition government in the Centre, its convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui did sent five names, including those of Nasreen Jalil, Wasim Akhtar and Aamir Chishti, to the federal government for the Sindh governor. However, as those names were not approved for some reason or the other, the party sent the names of its two other leaders for the post. They included Tessori and former MNA Abdul Waseem.

Who is Tessori?

Tessori was not always involved in a gold business. Earlier, he worked as a money changer. In the 1990s, when his gold business was established, he decided to enter politics.

During former president Pervez Musharraf's tenure, Tessori became close to then Sindh chief minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim. There were reports that provincial ministers would contact Tessori to get their work done by the CM.

Some politicians from Sindh say Tessori was also the reason for the differences between Rahim and Imtiaz Shaikh, the incumbent energy minister of the Pakistan Peoples Party who at that time was the Sindh president of Musharraf’s ally Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam. When Musharraf’s era was over, the PPP formed its government in Sindh and Zulfiqar Mirza became the interior minister who instituted cases against Tessori on land grabbing in Badin and other charges, for which Tessori had to go to jail.