Not divided: Sattar lambasts PPP at ‘united’ MQM’s power show

Claims the party’s vote bank is intact, increasing

The Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) on Saturday staged a big rally in Liaquatabad, its stronghold in the heart of Karachi, as Dr Farooq Sattar claimed there is no more fragmentation in the party.

The MQM-P – which practically split into Farooq Sattar’s PIB and Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui’s Bahadurabad groups on the issue of party tickets for Senate elections – witnessed a rapprochement after the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) held a rally at the same venue, Tanki ground, last week.

In his speech, PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had fired a broadside at the MQM-P and vowed to ‘liberate’ the citizens of Karachi from the clutches of the MQM, saying that the PPP’s support in the city had been stopped by force during its rule.

Referring to the party and its founder Altaf Hussain, Bilawal had also called the MQM ‘Mustaqil Qaumi Museebat’ [permanent national calamity].



Kamran Tessori at Liaquatabad rally. PHOTO: ONLINE

Responding to the comment, MQM leader Farooq Sattar also declared the PPP a party run by Puppu, Papa and the Phuppo [kid, dad and aunt].

He said the public gathering is just a beginning and his party will pull larger crowds in the future.



“Those who said the MQM has been divided into small parts should see that the vote bank of the party is intact. The MQM will stay united,” he added.

Sattar said the promise of August 23, 2016 – when the MQM parted ways with its founder after his anti-state speech – that the MQM would be made a party of educated people had been fulfilled. He also invited all those who had left his party to come back.



PHOTO: ONLINE

He claimed that the vigour and energy of the crowd at the rally could end the problem of load-shedding. “The suppression is affecting the poor classes across Pakistan and, therefore, the MQM-P is not demanding a separate province,” he added.

Sattar said the PPP played a role in the East Pakistan debacle, and Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report testified to this.

“People of Karachi ask the PPP leadership as to why the killers of the PPP slain leader Benazir Bhutto could not be arrested. PPP leadership should hold trial of the killers of their leader.”

He said quota system breeds in justice in Sindh and it should be stopped. He said the amounts provided to Karachi Municipal Corporation (KMC) were smaller than one gives as charity.

Sattar said the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) NAB should also take action in Sindh just like it is pursuing the former premier Nawaz Sharif and other minsters.

“It will not take long that [former SSP] Rao Anwars’ challan will be presented before the court. The killers of our children should also be brought to book as the killers of Naqeeubullah Mehsood,” he demanded.

 

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