Refusing to join MQM, Afaq lays speculations to rest

He asserts he would, however, work with anyone willing to strengthen the Mohajir community.

KARACHI: Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) chief Afaq Ahmed has laid speculations to rest by announcing that he would not join the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) but, at the same time, he asserted that he would support anyone willing to work for the Mohajir cause.

“I never had any association with the MQM and will never have any relations with them in the future,” said Ahmed at the Karachi Press Club, where he was speaking with the media after years.

The MQM-H chairperson, who is leaving for Umrah, said that he would also be travelling to the United States, Canada and London. “I will meet former party workers, Pakistani community and those working for the cause,” he said, adding that he would also be meeting MQM leader Altaf Hussain’s legal counsel in London.

The once close aide of Hussain had left the party and formed his own faction in 1992. Ahmed accused the MQM of being responsible for the murder of former MQM chairperson Azeem Ahmed Tariq and former MQM convener Dr Imran Farooq.

He was of the view that if Hussain was sincere towards Mohajirs, he should discard his British passport and settle in Pakistan. He alleged that the MQM chief and his parliamentarians had looted the wealth of their community. In order to make up for this, these persons should give fifty per cent of their wealth and set-up a Mohajir Welfare Trust, he suggested.

The composed and confident Ahmed, who arrived at the KPC in an armoured personnel carrier of the Sindh police, questioned his community if he should join hands with those who rejected the sacrifice of two million ancestors by claiming in India that Pakistan was “wrongly created”. He further asked if he should forget the killings of their activists, the May 12 incident and the victims of Baldia factory fire - who he alleged were killed due to extortion activities. He said that though the MQM had distanced itself from two murder suspects of Dr Farooq caught by the agencies upon their arrival in Karachi, a car belonging to the Governor’s house was present at the airport.

Ahmed said that Hussain may have more influence and wealth, but his party was on the right path. The MQM-H leader said that he would meet the widow of Dr Farooq the day his murderers are behind bars.

Regarding the ongoing violence, Ahmed said that there should be a surgical operation against those who don’t want to hold dialogue.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2014.