Jumping ship: MQM stalwart Raza Haroon joins ranks of dissidents

‘Minus-one formula’ coming from within the party, says ex-minister

KARACHI:

Karachi’s former mayor Mustafa Kamal managed to rope in another Muttahida Qaumi Movement stalwart on Monday as Sindh’s former minister Raza Haroon joined his unnamed, breakaway faction. A number of MQM leaders have also left the country on ‘official leave’ amidst a brewing crisis in the party.

Haroon’s name had been doing the rounds as one of the potential leaders of the new party since the arrival of Kamal and Anis Kaimkhani in Pakistan on March 3. The Kamal-led party now has six members, including two provincial lawmakers.

“The minus-one formula is being worked out from within the party. There is no conspiracy from outside,” Haroon said while speaking at a news conference at Kamal’s house in Karachi’s upscale Defence neighbourhood on Monday.

“MQM leaders are themselves happy about the media ban [on Altaf]. No important leader has been going to the court [to appeal the ban],” he added.



Without naming Altaf, the former IT minister said the MQM chief asked for help from RAW during his ‘happy hours’ and then apologised to the public in the morning. Initially, the ‘happy hours’ used to last for a night but now the mode was on 24/7, he said, taking another dig at the alleged drinking habits of Altaf.

Haroon, who joined the MQM in 1987, was elected to the Sindh Assembly in 2008 and later became the IT minister in the provincial cabinet. In 2012, however, he was forced to resign because of his dual nationality. He was then appointed as an adviser to the chief minister.

“My joining the MQM was not a mistake. I came aboard with my eyes open,” he said. “But the ideology for which I joined the MQM does not exist today.”

The former minister said he had left for London in 2013, where initially he continued working for the party, but distanced himself from the affairs when cases against the MQM supremo came up.

When the BBC did stories and documentaries against the MQM, the party never went to court against the broadcaster, he added. Haroon claimed there were no denials or replies on the allegations of Sarfaraz Merchant. MQM leader Tariq Mir in his statement to Scotland Yard had admitted four leaders knew about the party’s connections with Indian intelligence agency RAW, he added.

Asking more questions, he said when Altaf was detained in London, the party held a protest at the Numaish Chowrangi in Karachi instead of 10 Downing Street. “They couldn’t protest there as there they had given confessional statements,” he said.Speaking after Haroon, Kaimkhani said no evidence or document had been shared with the Federal Investigation Agency on RAW connections or money laundering so far. Kamal also announced his unnamed party would be named on March 23.

MQM reaction

Reacting to Haroon’s allegations, senior MQM leader Wasay Jalil wrote on Twitter that everything was scripted that too had not changed from the past. “There is nothing new in these allegations, they are just wasting the time of people,” he tweeted.

MNA Syed Ali Raza Abidi refuted Haroon’s claim that no MQM leader was attending court hearings against the media ban on Altaf, saying he was present in the last hearing.

“Another couple of names from the MQM will go to Kamal as per the script. But the best part is about to start, when leaders from PTI and PPP join them,” he tweeted.

Going on leave

Amid the looming political crisis and confusion in the MQM ranks, a number of party leaders have left the country on ‘leave’, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Faisal Subzwari, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Irtiza Farooqui and Khushbakht Shujaat have all gone abroad citing different reasons to the party.

MPA Subzwari, whose name has come up for being next in line to join Kamal’s party, left for the US early Monday morning. Rizvi is in Canada these days while MPA Farooqui is in London for treatment of his ailing son. Shujaat, who is also tipped to join Kamal, is said to be on an official trip to the United Nations.

The MQM has confirmed the absence of all these leaders, saying they have taken official leave from the party.

MQM spokesperson Aminul Haque said Subzwari was on a one-month break after officially informing the party.

Sources said Khawaja Izharul Hassan, the opposition leader in the Sindh Assembly, has also gone to Dubai. The MQM has yet to confirm his departure.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 15^th, 2016.