Switching loyalties: Five MQM leaders join PSP

KARACHI: Five local government (LG) representatives elected on the ticket of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in December switched their loyalties on Sunday to the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP).

Those who joined the former MQM Senator and Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal-led party are union council (UC) chairman Faizan Ibrahim, councillor Aqeel Ahmed, female councillor Khalida Bibi and youth councillor Ubaid from Korangi district’s UC 36, said a statement issued by the PSP.

Another female councillor of UC-22, Shazia Bibi, and ‘more than a hundred MQM workers’ from Landhi and Korangi also joined the PSP along with the aforementioned, the statement added.

The statement quoted the new PSP workers as saying that “[they] will work for the prosperity and progress of Pakistan under the leadership of Kamal and Anis Kaimkhani.”

Formed in March this year by the MQM’s dissident leaders, the PSP has attracted politicians and workers from different parties. Recently, more than a dozen members of former military ruler Pervez Musharraf-led All Pakistan Muslim League, including the general’s former spokesperson Aasia Ishaque, joined Kamal’s party.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2016.