Change of command: MQM dissolves London-based Rabita committee

Manzoor Ahmed appointed caretaker of International Rabita Committee

KARACHI:

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has suspended its international coordination committee operating out of London with immediate effect.

MQM chief Altaf Hussain announced his decision on Friday, directing the party’s office-bearers and workers to contact Manzoor Ahmed instead of the London-based Rabita Committee or Nadeem Nusrat for further coordination.

The MQM spokesperson in Karachi said the suspension of the coordination committee was according to party policy and considered as a final decision. He added he was not in a position to comment on the reasons for the suspension of Nadeem Nusrat. “The situation will become clear in the morning,” he said.

Manzoor, who has been made the caretaker of the International Rabita Committee, is an important member of the MQM’s London Secretariat.

This is not the first time Altaf has dismissed or suspended the body in London or Pakistan. In July last year, the MQM Rabita Committee Pakistan was suspended except for three members because of their inability to perform.

Earlier on February 2, 2014, the heads of the committee in both Pakistan and London were also dismissed. They had been appointed the heads only a couple of month earlier, when Altaf had suspended the entire Rabita Committee over their unacceptable reaction to the killing of party leader, Bao Mohammad Anwar in Sialkot.

The charge of Rabita Committee in London was given to senior leader Mustafa Azizabadi after the suspension of Irshad Hussain in February 2015. In Pakistan, the committee affairs were handed over to three joint in-charges – Amir Khan, Dr Nusrat and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui – after the suspension of Qamar Mansoor.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 2^nd, 2016.