Jumping ship: PTI welcomes 36 members of rival MQM
Four members of PML-F's Malir chapter also join
Four members of PML-F's Malir chapter also join. PHOTO: ATHAR KHAN / EXPRESS
KARACHI:
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has welcomed with open arms 36 members of the party it considered most evil in Karachi - the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
In a surprising move, PTI leaders Dr Arif Alvi and Halim Adil Sheikh greeted the 36 MQM members who announced their decision to join PTI at a press conference at Insaf House on Saturday. Siyal and his team left the MQM nearly a month ago.
"The decision to join PTI was taken after deep consideration," said a former sector member of MQM's Malir sector, Masroor Ali Siyal, who led the delegation of newly joined PTI workers. "We did not want to waste our energy with parties involved in corrupt practices instead of serving the nation."
Siyal went on to explain why he left the MQM. "I left the party with other members as there was great discrimination within the party against people who were not Urdu-speaking," he claimed.
The new PTI members also included among others Abdul Sattar Sheikh, MQM's Gulshan-e-Hadeed joint sector incharge, and MQM's Malir sector member Ghulam Sarwar Dahri. Meanwhile, four members of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), including PML-F Malir general secretary Muhammad Ali Soomro and PML-F Malir's former vice-president Zahid Hussain Pathan, also joined PTI.
On questions of PTI allowing so-called criminal elements into their fold, Dr Alvi said that people have realised, just like they did in the 2013 general elections, that PTI is the only hope for survival for the city.
A recent addition to PTI's local leadership, Sheikh, made efforts to pull these workers into PTI's folds. The new additions will help PTI in the coming by-elections of PS-127, which were postponed after the retirement of members of the election commission, said Sheikh.
Moreover, the recent inclusion of District Malir's influential chieftain, Jam Abdul Karim Bajar, has made the PTI an even stronger political force in the constituency, he said. After meeting with PTI central leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Bajar joined the PTI on June 6 along with his eight district councillors.
Expressing joy over the addition of new party members, Sheikh added that, "These people have joined PTI since we are far away from the politics of ethnicity and religion. Our aim is to spread harmony among the people instead of dividing them for the sake of ethnicity."
When asked if PTI will allow criminals to take shelter in the party, Sheikh said that this is intolerable. Even if law enforcement agencies find any of our workers involved in crime, we will terminate him from the party, he assured.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2016.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has welcomed with open arms 36 members of the party it considered most evil in Karachi - the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
In a surprising move, PTI leaders Dr Arif Alvi and Halim Adil Sheikh greeted the 36 MQM members who announced their decision to join PTI at a press conference at Insaf House on Saturday. Siyal and his team left the MQM nearly a month ago.
"The decision to join PTI was taken after deep consideration," said a former sector member of MQM's Malir sector, Masroor Ali Siyal, who led the delegation of newly joined PTI workers. "We did not want to waste our energy with parties involved in corrupt practices instead of serving the nation."
Siyal went on to explain why he left the MQM. "I left the party with other members as there was great discrimination within the party against people who were not Urdu-speaking," he claimed.
The new PTI members also included among others Abdul Sattar Sheikh, MQM's Gulshan-e-Hadeed joint sector incharge, and MQM's Malir sector member Ghulam Sarwar Dahri. Meanwhile, four members of Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F), including PML-F Malir general secretary Muhammad Ali Soomro and PML-F Malir's former vice-president Zahid Hussain Pathan, also joined PTI.
On questions of PTI allowing so-called criminal elements into their fold, Dr Alvi said that people have realised, just like they did in the 2013 general elections, that PTI is the only hope for survival for the city.
A recent addition to PTI's local leadership, Sheikh, made efforts to pull these workers into PTI's folds. The new additions will help PTI in the coming by-elections of PS-127, which were postponed after the retirement of members of the election commission, said Sheikh.
Moreover, the recent inclusion of District Malir's influential chieftain, Jam Abdul Karim Bajar, has made the PTI an even stronger political force in the constituency, he said. After meeting with PTI central leader Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Bajar joined the PTI on June 6 along with his eight district councillors.
Expressing joy over the addition of new party members, Sheikh added that, "These people have joined PTI since we are far away from the politics of ethnicity and religion. Our aim is to spread harmony among the people instead of dividing them for the sake of ethnicity."
When asked if PTI will allow criminals to take shelter in the party, Sheikh said that this is intolerable. Even if law enforcement agencies find any of our workers involved in crime, we will terminate him from the party, he assured.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 17th, 2016.