Minus-one: MQM publicly disowns Altaf

We will not take dictation from London or elsewhere, says Farooq Sattar

SUKKUR/ KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Dr Farooq Sattar has publicly disowned Altaf Hussain and his London-based aides in an attempt to dispel a media guessing game about the ‘ambiguities’ created by an earlier announcement.

Sattar held a news conference in Karachi on Saturday along with party colleagues Khwaja Izharul Hassan and Dr Khalid Maqbool to clear the air amid a relentless crackdown against the illegal offices of the party.

Perhaps for the first time, Sattar referred to the MQM supremo as ‘Altaf sahib’ at the briefing rather than the usual ‘Quaid-e-Tehreek Altaf Hussain bhai’ as done by everyone in the party ranks, from a general worker to a leader, for decades.

“I being the leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan announce disassociation from Altaf Hussain and London leadership,” Sattar said while speaking outside his residence in PIB Colony, as the party headquarters Nine Zero has been sealed since the anti-Pakistan diatribe of Altaf on Monday.

“Speculation about the party’s functioning should end now,” he said, pleading the media to stop worrying about the party’s future or its structure.

Without naming anyone, the MQM leader also criticised the policymakers and television anchors and analysts for ‘fuelling speculations’ about the party, saying his announcement should suffice to clear the picture.

“Those trying to put their words in my mouth are going to mislead [people]. They should get [help from] some Urdu language experts to interpret the meaning of disassociation,” he added.

“MQM-Pakistan will not take dictation whether it comes from here [the establishment] or from there [London office],” Sattar asserted, saying the decision-making process now rested with the MQM leaders in Pakistan.



He added the Karachi leadership wanted political ownership as it was their due right. “The Constitution guarantees this to us, for we contested elections in the party’s name,” he said.

About the ongoing crackdown against MQM offices built illegally on amenity plots, Sattar said the timing of the operation was surprising, but he stopped short of either opposing or condemning it.

“Had we been asked, we would have razed these offices ourselves,” he said, promising that when Karachi mayor-elect Waseem Akhtar takes charge of his office on August 30, he would first order the removal of political encroachments on parks and amenity plots. “Give us some time and let us do this ourselves,” he added.

The MQM leader also called for removing the ‘unconstitutional ban’ on the party’s political activities.

While the leaders have used Ghanchi Hall in PIB Colony for meetings over the past week, Sattar said the area SSP had sent a notice stating that no political activity could take place in a wedding hall. Opposition Leader in Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izhar also strongly criticised the arrest of party’s female activists for their alleged involvement in the attack on ARY News offices.

He said he had contacted nearly all female legislators of the party to address the issue and also called upon Maryam Nawaz Sharif and Aseefa and Bakhtawar Bhutto to take notice of the arrest of female activists.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah threw his weight behind Sattar on Saturday, saying the MQM leader should be trusted if he was claiming to have left Altaf Hussain’s group. Talking to the media in Sukkur, he also said the questions should now stop since the MQM has already distanced itself from its chief. Criticising India, Shah said New Delhi was playing a dirty game with Pakistan as whenever the Kashmir issue was raised, India created trouble either in Balochistan or Karachi. “Kashmir is our lifeline and our stance over Kashmir will always remain the same,” he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2016.