Defending Altaf: MQM leaders voice hurt over barbs

Former mayor says he only wished Altaf would tell the truth

KARACHI:

Less than 24 hours after former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal directed barbs against Altaf Hussain, loyalists of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement lined up the streets on Friday in support of the party’s supremo.

As MQM leaders expressed shock, hurt and disappointment, Kamal clarified he was not against any political party and that he only wished that Altaf would speak the truth.



Before the ex-mayor had started speaking on Thursday, his former colleague Nasreen Jalil thought he would discuss how to improve water resources and share his views about infrastructure and his expertise on how to develop the city.



But when the once blue-eyed boy of the MQM chief opened his mouth, Nasreen was left shocked and speechless: “I am so upset. The way he went on, it was venomous.” She, along with other party workers, was protesting at Hassan Square in Karachi. The MQM protested in 18 areas across the city.

“I couldn’t believe that he would stoop so low,” added Nasreen, who was deputy mayor during Kamal’s tenure as mayor. “The projection and the good name he had, he has destroyed all of that.”

She said Kamal had always been emotional but the way he spoke on Thursday was extreme. “Maybe he was getting blackmailed, some weakness of his being used.” Nasreen termed the news conference a ‘flop show’.



Standing by her side, mayor-elect Waseem Akhtar said he was deeply hurt as well. “He spoke all this about his leader. Whatever he is today is only because of Altaf bhai.” Calling Kamal ungrateful, Akhtar said the former mayor had forgotten that the MQM made him.

The mayor-elect later told a news conference that the ‘script’ was new but the ‘studio’ was old. Pitying ‘all these puppets’, he wondered why the media was promoting ‘people without any mandate’.

Meanwhile, Kamal on Friday made a general announcement for people to join his new party. Flanked by former MQM leader Anis Qaimkhani, the ex-mayor told the media that his party was for everyone who wanted to work for the betterment of the country. “Like common citizens, we also fear for our lives and security. But because of us, the city’s situation won’t worsen.”

Qaimkhani rejected the accusation that he was behind the Baldia factory fire. “I was a deputy convener of the party. My job wasn’t setting factories on fire.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 5^th, 2016.