Intra-party politics: Nasir Jamal, Sagheer Ahmed removed from MQM’s rabita committee

Party claims it wants the two leaders to focus on other engagements.

KARACHI: Two prominent members of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) Rabita Committee [Coordination Committee], Nasir Jamal and Dr Sagheer Ahmed, have been relieved from their responsibilities in the committee, the party announced on Sunday.

Jamal was the deputy convener of the RC while Dr Ahmed, who is also the provincial health minister, was a member. According to the statement issued by the party, both leaders have been directed to concentrate on ‘other’ responsibilities assigned by the party.

Jamal’s services have been handed over to the central information committee. The MQM said that Jamal’s removal was due to his various personal engagements while the party wants Dr Ahmed to focus on his ministerial responsibilities. The decision has also been endorsed by the party’s chief, Altaf Hussain, the statement added.

On July 20, the committee had suspended 19 of its members over ‘negligence’ in their responsibilities.

The suspended members had included Kanwar Naveed, Nasreen Jalil, Haider Abbas Rizvi, Mumtaz Anwar, Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Kahaful Vohra, Amin-ul-Haq, Ahmed Salim Siddiqui, Abdul Rasheed Godial, Ashfaq Ahmed Mangi and Adil Siddiqui.

This suspension had, however, lasted hardly around 12 hours as the party had issued another statement later, reinstating the leaders to their former posts.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th,2014.