- Quits NA-255 seat
- Says many other MQM members will join PSP in coming days
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Asif Hasnain on Sunday joined the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), saying after anti-Pakistan slogans of party supremo Altaf Hussain it was hard being part of the MQM.
Hasnain, while addressing a press conference along with Mustafa Kamal at the PSP office in Karachi, also rejected MQM Deputy Convener Farooq Sattar’s earlier announcement that the party was distancing itself from London-based chief Altaf Hussain.
“Farooq Sattar is not capable of disconnecting himself from London and Altaf,” he added.
Hasnain implied that Sattar received ‘instructions’ over Skype from the MQM supremo as party members conferred at a local hotel prior to Tuesday’s press conference, during which Sattar first announced the party was ‘sidelining’ Altaf Hussain.
Hasnain further said he would also quit his membership of the National Assembly (NA-255 Karachi).
Hasnain was also of the opinion that the MQM may experience more defections in the future.
“Party members who came to Karachi Press Club on Aug 22 after finding out I was there, many of them will join the PSP in the coming days,” he speculated.
Kamal, on the occasion, welcomed Hasnain to the PSP folds, and urged other MQM leaders to follow the suit.
Kamal said that other leaders of MQM should also distance themselves from the party founder. He alleged that after Azeem Tariq and Imran Farooq, Farooq Sattar’s life was also in danger.
He was also critical of Sattar’s announcement that the MQM had completely dissociated itself from the party’s London-based supremo. “If a disassociation announcement has been made then MQM assembly members should leave the mandate too,” he added.
“This is a fixed match,” Kamal claimed. “There is an understanding between Farooq Sattar and Altaf Hussain,” he alleged.
The PSP chief rejected the MQM’s earlier statement that the party chief was handing over party affairs to the Coordination Committee and focusing on improving his health.
“Altaf is making speeches in the entire world… Farooq Sattar said he was resting, but he’s making more phone calls than Sattar is,” Kamal claimed.
“They are lying even today…..we know Altaf’s DNA well. He will never, as long as he is alive, let anyone else lead his party. He killed whoever was capable of doing so,” Kamal claimed. “He killed Azeem Tariq. He killed Imran Farooq,” the PSP chief alleged.
“Farooq Sattar now takes guards everywhere with himself and goes and sleeps in a hotel after he is done with work. Who is he hiding from? The Taliban? He’s hiding from Altaf,” he said.
People who are still part of the MQM are there “because they’re trying to save their jobs”, Kamal said. “They are afraid they’ll lose all their perks and privileges.”
Several MQM leaders, including Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Anis advocate, Raza Haroon, Iftikhar Alam and Waseem Aftab, have already joined the PSP.
Farooq Sattar on Saturday asked the establishment not to doubt the party’s intentions and allow them to freely resume their political activities as MQM offices continued to be sealed and bulldozed and party workers detained in the wake of an Aug 22 attack on the ARY News office by suspected MQM workers.
“We have completely dissociated ourselves from Altaf Hussain sahib and the London [office],” Sattar said, without calling the MQM supremo bhai or Quaid. He added that MQM-Pakistan would make its own policies and decisions which would have nothing to do with the London secretariat.
Following the violence that ensued after MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s speech, a crackdown began against the party’s offices and its leaders. On August 25, Asif Hasnain was detained by the paramilitary Rangers from the airport as he was trying to catch a flight to Islamabad. After hours of his detention, Hasnain was released by the Rangers and since then he has never appeared on the media.
Sattar had in an interview claimed Hasnain was not in contact with the party since.
Wait and see. who is who/
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