Citing personal reasons: MQM’s Mustafa Kamal resigns from Senate

After his resignation, MQM’s possible candidates for the seat include Waseem Akhtar and Barrister Saif.

ISLAMABAD/ KARACHI:

Karachi former City Nazim and Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Rabita Committee member Syed Mustafa Kamal has resigned from the Senate,  MQMs Deputy Convener and Parliamentary Leader Farooq Sattar confirmed on Monday.

“He is on leave from the party because of domestic compulsions, while his family is in Africa,” Sattar said, while speaking to The Express Tribune. He said Kamal’s resignation had been submitted to the Senate’s chairman.

The MQM Senator Tahir Mashadi also confirmed the news, adding that Kamal’s resignation would be formally accepted by Tuesday.

However, an official at the Senate Secretariat confirmed that the resignation had been accepted by the Senate Chairman Nayyar Hussain Bukhari.

The former city nazim had submitted his resignation from the Senate in November 2013. However it was on Monday that the resignation was formally submitted and accepted by the Senate secretariat.

Kamal had distanced himself from the MQM after he left the country in August 2013 as the party cited ‘personal reasons’ and ‘medical treatment of his wife’, the motives behind his sudden departure from the country, as well as from party politics.

After Kamal’s resignation, MQM’s possible candidates for the seat include Waseem Akhtar and Barrister Saif. Once an active and vocal member of the party’s Rabita Committee, Kamal took oath as a senator in March 2012, and his term was due to end in March 2018. He was the city nazim from 2005 to 2010.

Kamal, who is currently in Dubai, is said to be not in touch with any party leader including the MQM chief Altaf Hussain.

According to sources, he was unhappy over the policies of the party, which introduced a new setup of the Rabita Committee last year.

Now that Kamal has officially resigned, it is unlikely that in the near future, he would be coming back to the country and become active in the party again.

In less than a week time, two senators from Sindh have resigned, the first being Faisal Raza Abidi of the Pakistan People’s Party.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 22^nd, 2014.