Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hassan dismissed rumours that General (retd) Pervez Musharraf was going to head the party.
“These are all rumours that there will be a change in leadership in the party,” Khawaja Izhar said on Wednesday.
“There are no vacancies in the MQM-P leadership. This is not the mechanism we follow,” he said, adding that if there is a change in leadership it will be from within the party ranks.
He said that doors of the party are open for everyone, including former president General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf and former Sindh governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad.
He said that all of Pakistan wants development in Karachi and for giving powers to local bodies was essential. “If local bodies’ representatives do not get rights, we will hold protests and also approach the court.”
He added that they were not considering joining the Sindh government unless they were given the slot of the chief minister.
Earlier, MQM-P Chief Dr Farooq Sattar also dispelled rumours that Musharraf will lead the party.
Mysterious banners supporting an alliance between former president Pervez Musharraf and MQM-Pakistan chief Farooq Sattar appeared on Monday in Karachi, days after plus-one formula — addition of Musharraf to MQM-Pakistan — came to the surface.
The banners put up by unknown people were visible outside Karachi Press Club under the ‘Muttahida Qaumi Jirga Pakistan’.
The banners depicted Musharraf and Sattar together, displaying slogan ‘MQM-Pakistan and Musharraf are brothers’. The banners also stated ‘Jaag Muhajir Jaag’.
Senior politician Ahmed Raza Kasuri suggested that if Musharraf becomes MQM-Pakistan’s leader, the party would dilute the allegations of links to Indian spy agency RAW or being pro-India, and if the party continues its existing policies there remains a possibility of ‘minus-twenty’.