The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) London on Friday announced a 12-member interim coordination committee — nine members of which are based in Pakistan — in an attempt to regain organisational control which it almost lost following the Aug 22 incendiary speech of party founder Altaf Hussain.
Nadeem Nusrat will be the convener of the main decision-making a body of the party which has faced large-scale desertions in ranks and files after Altaf Hussain’s August 22 speech. The decision came a day after London police decided to drop money laundering case against Mr Hussain.
The much-relieved leadership is now focussed on fighting back to show its detractors, including the Dr Farooq Sattar-led MQM-Pakistan, that the “minus-one” formula would not succeed.
According to reports, a formal announcement on the formation of a new Rabita Committee was expected shortly.
According to a statement released from London, the new committee includes Prof Dr Hasan Zafar Arif, Advocate Sathi Ishaq, Kanwar Khalid Younus, Amjadullah Khan, Ismail Sitara, Advocate Idrees Alvi and Momin Khan Momin, a Hyderabad-based senior politician who recently joined the MQM, as its members.
Two other Pakistan-based members are Ashraf Noor and Akram Rajput, who were recently expelled from the Dr Sattar-led MQM.
The names of other office-bearers, including members of the central executive committee, labour division, 26 towns of Karachi and organisational set-up of Hyderabad would be announced later, it said, adding that the organisational set-up of other zones in Sindh would remain unchanged.
Read more: MQM leader asks party MPs to get a fresh mandate
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Dr Sattar-led MQM had dissociated itself from the party founder, removed his name from the constitution and flag and expelled the London-based convener Nadeem Nusrat and certain key leaders.
In retaliation, Mr Hussain had dissolved the coordination committee and all organisational wings and “appealed” to party legislators to quit their assembly seats and contest the election afresh since they had been elected in his name.
However, no parliamentarian belonging to the party, except MNA Sufyan Yousuf, paid any heed to the MQM supremo’s repeated calls to quit.
Later, Nusrat sacked Dr Sattar and recently he also announced terminating the basic party membership of Amir Khan, Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khwaja Izhar-ul-Hasan, MPA Faisal Subzwari and MNA Kishwar Zehra, who are now part of the MQM-Pakistan.
