Rabita Committee: MQM chief dismisses two party officials

The removed officials are Amir Khan and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain once again dismissed two joint-in-charge of the party’s Rabita Committee on Tuesday over an issue with their ‘timings’.

The two officials to be removed as co-heads of the party’s policy-making body were Amir Khan and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui. The third joint in-charge, Dr Nusrat, will continue to remain as the joint in-charge. Another MQM leader, Kaiful Wara, has been appointed as the temporary in-charge to fill in for the missing officials. He will be heading the committee’s Pakistan wing for one week.

According to party sources, Siddiqui and Khan were removed by the MQM chief during a meeting on Tuesday morning when Hussain expressed concern over their timings. He said that they were not giving enough time to their duties and had failed to come to the MQM headquarters on time. The two officials will, however, continue to serve as members of the Rabita Committee.

For the past several months, the committee has been undergoing changes. Earlier this month, the head of the Rabita Committee, Qamar Mansoor, was removed when workers complained about his attitude. The three joint in-charges were chosen to head the body in Pakistan after Mansoor’s dismissal.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2015.