- Bahadurabad group terms the polls ‘illegal’
In the intra-party elections on Sunday, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan’s (MQM-P) Farooq Sattar-led group elected former chief Sattar as the party convenor.
The MQM-P held intra-party elections in a bid to put an end to a rift that had emerged following the disagreement over Senate candidates between Sattar-led faction and Rabita Committee-led Bahadurabad group; however, the Bahadurabad faction terms the polls ‘illegal’ as they refused to participate.
According to initial reports, Kamran Tessori, Ali Raza Abdi, Muzamil Qureshi, Abdul Waseem, Shaikh Salahuddin, Sohail Mansoor, Shahid Pasha, and Qamar Mansoor were elected as members of the party’s coordination committee.
The polling — to elect the party’s convener, deputy convener, Rabita Committee, and Central Executive Committee — started at 1 pm, and continued until 6 pm. The positions fell vacant after the committee removed Sattar as the party’s convener, who later dissolved the party’s coordination committee.
In a bid to woo party workers hours before the intra-party polls, Dr Farooq Sattar released a video message, urging everyone to take part in the Sunday elections.
آج 18 فروری بروز اتوار ایم کیو ایم پاکستان کا انٹرا پارٹی الیکشن ہو رہا ہے۔
ملک بھر میں موجود ایم کیو ایم پاکستان کے کارکنان اپنی تحریک کو اس مشکل وقت سے نکالنے میں اپنا قردار ادا کرتے ہوۓ ہے اس انٹرا پارٹی الیکشن میں بھرپور حصہ لیں اور اپنی قیادت کا خود انتخاب کریں۔ pic.twitter.com/ijYRTUFKfw— Dr Farooq Sattar (@DFSMQM) February 17, 2018
The MQM-P chief stressed that the only solution for internal crisis is intra-party elections.
“I have an unblemished 35-year-long political career. I put this fact before you and ask you to place your trust in me. I will not disappoint you. We will be ready for the 2018 general election, we will mend this rift between the party and will never look back. We will win back all our seats with pride and honour,” he claimed.
While referring to the day when he announced to part ways with party supremo Altaf Hussain over his anti-state rhetoric, Sattar said: “The polls of February 18 will save the party once again as the way we saved it on August 23, 2016.”
He appealed to party activists across Sindh to participate in the elections for Raabita Committee (RC) and Central Executive Council (CEC) happening in Karachi and Hyderabad.
POLLS ‘ILLEGAL’:
Meanwhile, a statement issued by the Bahadurabad faction alleged that the party polls — announced by Dr Farooq Sattar — were a ‘condemnable effort to divide loyal party workers.’
“The Rabita Committee, alone, can make policy decisions,” the statement said.
The Bahadurabad-faction, that comprises of senior party leaders including Amir Khan, Nasreen Jalil and Farogh Naseem, stated that none of the party members were allowed to single-handedly make decisions pertaining to party matters following August 23, 2016, — when Sattar took over the party’s command following an incendiary speech by the party’s founder.
The infighting between MQM-P’s two factions — Sattar-led PIB and Rabita Committee-led Bahudarabad — started over the issue of distribution of party tickets for next month’s Senate elections. The latter had strongly opposed Sattar’s nomination of the relative newcomer Kamran Tessori over seasoned party leaders.
