KARACHI: The former convenor of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P), Dr Farooq Sattar, on Sunday said the ongoing rift within over the Senate names was, in fact, a conspiracy to take over the party leadership.
Following the decision of party’s Rabita Committee to sack him, Dr Sattar told journalists in a presser that “they haven’t [just] sacked me — they have deprived every deserving worker of the party of their due right.”
“First we will contest the party election and then 2018 general elections,” he said, urging all the workers to show up at the KMC Ground on February 17.
He urged the workers to stay united and not to fall prey to the propaganda of Bahadurabad faction of the party.
“APMSO is also with us,” Sattar said, asking activists to make a final decision what is to be done of the other faction. “We will not opt for a collision, but struggle peacefully.”
He said that the ones under the propaganda of Bahadurabad faction should come on Saturday and express their opinion in the [intraparty] election.
The latest episode of infighting between two factions of the party started over the issue of distribution of party tickets for next month’s Senate elections, with the Bahadurabad group opposing Sattar’s nomination of relative newcomer Kamran Tessori over seasoned party leader.
But, speaking to the media on Sunday, Sattar said the issue was not over the distribution of Senate tickets but a conspiracy had been hatched to ‘seize control’ of the party.
“My naive colleagues have proven that the issue was not about the nominations for Senate election, it was about the party leadership,” a spirited Sattar told the journalists.
“The conspiracy has been revealed and the cat has come out of the bag now,” he said. “The issue was not over tickets for Senate seats, it was about taking control over the party itself.”
Commenting on the allegations of amending the party’s constitutions without informing the Rabita Committee and taking, in his control, other rights, Sattar questioned how a ‘powerful leader’ like him was removed with such ease.
“If I am the powerful leader that I was alleged to be, how did [they] remove me so easily,” he said.
A dispute between the PIB Colony and Bahadurabad factions had emerged on February 6 after both parties had taken different positions on the nominations of party members for the upcoming Senate elections.