STP officials blame Magsi for poor performance during elections

Party chairperson Dr Qadir Magsi remains unfazed by the desertions.

HYDERABAD: Only a few weeks after a drubbing in the May 11 elections, in which it failed to win any seat, the Sindh Taraqi Pasand (STP) party has been jolted by defection of the party’s higher officials.

Those who have decided to part ways with the party include vice chairperson Hyder Shahani, deputy general secretary Hoat Khan Gadahi, finance secretary Qadir Channa, press secretary Muzaffar Kalhoro, Karachi division president Gulzar Soomro and two member of the central committee.

The seven men blamed the STP chairperson, Dr Qadir Magsi, for failing to lead the party during the elections. “He handed over a victory to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) on a silver platter,” Shahani said. “He didn’t lead the election campaign and refused to seriously take up the issue of rigging after the elections.” The defectors refused to divulge their future course of action when contacted.

The STP contested the elections under the umbrella of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led 10-party alliance. Except for the PML-N, PML-Functional and National Peoples Party, the other seven also failed to win any seat.



But there is more to the story than what meets the eye. According to a source in the PPP, Magsi was negotiating terms to join the PPP. He was offered Senatorship and other positions for his party colleagues, he told The Express Tribune.

He cited a statement by Magsi in which he said that the 10-party alliance has failed to win the mandate from the people of Sindh. “He later withdrew from the alliance and this was a tacit acceptance that PPP has won the mandate,” he added.

Magsi termed the speculations as nothing more than propaganda against him by the PPP. “I will rather go the graves of the martyrs to admit my failure in continuing their mission and quit politics. But I will never join the PPP.”

Only time will tell whether it was him who was after power or the deserters, he said, adding that he was confident his party will take this episode in its stride as it did in the past.

“In 1999, too, office bearers and members of the central committee resigned en bloc but the party survived and came out stronger. This incident has infused me with a renewed vigour to strengthen the party.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2013.