KARACHI: Addressing a convention of party workers at the KMC ground in Karachi’s PIB colony on Sunday night, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Farooq Sattar revealed that he was handing charge of the party over to the Bahadurabad faction, and would not contest the upcoming general elections.
Sattar claimed that he did not wish to receive the MQM-P’s leadership as ‘charity’, and claimed that he would be held responsible if any issues arose during the elections.
He further said that there was no point in having a leader who held no real power.
The party’s Bahadurabad faction, however, expressed dismay at Mr. Sattar’s statements, and claimed that it had made all efforts to dispel the notion that a division continued to exist in the party.
The faction’s spokesperson claimed that the Rabita committee would not respond to Sattar’s remarks so as to not further exacerbate any hostility.
A divide first occurred in the MQM-P over the awarding of tickets for the Senate elections that were held in March. The MQM-P ended up splitting in two groups, with one led by Farooq Sattar, and the other by Amir Khan.
As tensions escalated, the Bahadurabad faction ousted Sattar from the position of the party’s convener, who in turn dissolved the party’s Rabita Committee and called for intra-party elections.
Sattar eventually managed to regain the position of the party’s convenor following the elections.
