Operation overhaul: MQM dissolves Rabita Committee

‘Organisational deficiencies in elections’ have led to changes, says Sattar.

KARACHI:

Failure to secure votes from young voters was one of the reasons why Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain dissolved the MQM Coordination Committee in both Karachi and London, according to Dr Farooq Sattar.

Earlier this week, Altaf disbanded the Karachi Tanzeemi Committee as well.

‘Organisational deficiencies in the elections’ have led to sudden changes in the party set-up, MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar told The Express Tribune.

“We should have gotten more seats. We got relatively few votes from new and silent voters,” admitted the former deputy convener of the dissolved Rabita (Coordination) Committee.

However, Sattar said the party did not lose its mandate and secured 2.5 million votes.

“We could not campaign because of terrorist attacks. Then the media started the MQM vs PTI battle,” Sattar said. “We did not get a level playing field. Obviously, Altaf Bhai is upset.”

The move to dissolve the committees comes at a time when MQM workers turned violent during Altaf’s address last week. They manhandled members of the Coordination Committee after Altaf criticised them.



The Coordination Committee, which is the party’s policy making body, had a total of 37 members; 28 members in Pakistan and 9 in the UK. Apart from Sattar there were four deputy conveners, including: Nasreen Jalil, Anees Qaimkhani, Dr Nusrat Shaukat and Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.

Muhammad Anwar, who was looking after international affairs in the UK, has also been relieved of his duties.

A temporary 12-member committee has now been formed to look after the party affairs till Saturday, when new members will be announced in a general workers meeting at Jinnah Ground.

According to party sources, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Amir Khan are likely to gain important positions in the restructured committees.

Dr Khalid has recently won NA-219 from Hyderabad, while Amir Khan who was the co-founder of the Muhajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi, rejoined MQM in 2011 after his release from jail, and has since then kept a low profile.

MQM also seems to be sidelining its new workers, who assumed front-line positions over the past few years. News channels reported on Thursday night that Raza Haroon has been sent to London.

Altaf has made a ‘passionate’ appeal to senior workers, asking them to rejoin the party. He said he’s started the process of cleansing unwanted elements from the party in order to return the party to its original manifesto and ideology, and has asked workers to do serious soul-searching.

On Tuesday, Altaf dissolved the Karachi Tanzeemi Committee, and a day later expelled the committee’s head Hammad Siddiqui on charges of misconduct after receiving complaints from workers about his inefficiency.

Altaf has issued strict instructions to workers to not indulge in land grabbing and extortion.

Sattar also said that there are reports of their men being involved in such issues, and that inquiries will be initiated against them.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2013.