MQM-P says not to contest by-polls

Coordination Committee decides to focus on general election

KARACHI:

The Coordination Committee of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement- Pakistan (MQM-P) has decided not to contest the upcoming by-elections considering the country's poor economic situation.

The committee has also decided that the party will focus its attention and resources on the general elections to be held a few months later.

The Coordination Committee met at the MQM-Pakistan's temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad on Sunday.

Senior Deputy Convenor Nasreen Jalil presided over the meeting which was attended by Senior Deputy Convener Mustafa Kamal, Deputy Convener Abdul Waseem, Anis Kaimkhani and Khawaja Izharul Hasan, Federal Minister Aminul Haque and members of the committee.

The meeting debated whether or not to participate in the by-elections and also thoroughly reviewed the current economic and political situation of the country.

The participants said that the reasons for PDM's decision on the recent by-elections were different from the situation in Karachi.

Similarly, the non-participation of PML-N and PPP in the by-polls is their own stand, with which the MQM-Pakistan may not necessarily agree.

The participants said that seats on which the by-elections are scheduled to be held in Karachi traditionally belong to the MQM-Pakistan and the party could easily win back these constituencies.

The committee members said that a few months later general elections would be held in the country, as a result of which a new government would come to power for the next five years.

The committee heard the views of all the members and later came to the conclusion that holding the by-elections before the general elections would not only be an economic burden for the country, but in a limited period of a few months, the sure elected representative of MQM-Pakistan would go to this house but they would not be able to come up to the expectations of its constituents.