August 27, 2006	Sunday	Sha'aban 2, 1427

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LAHORE, Aug 26: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement plans to put up its candidates on all seats of the National Assembly in Punjab as well as the provincial legislature, hoping that voters’ response will be much more than being expected by the rival parties.

The party has already started preparing itself for the 2007 general elections.

Party sources said on Saturday the MQM was very serious for having its presence in the country’s largest province and for this purpose a Punjabi was being appointed head of the organizing committee. The man being tipped for the job is a 34-year Lahori who has worked with Mr Altaf Husain in the party’s London office. He is also author of two books.

He has already reached Lahore with necessary instructions from the self-exiled MQM chief.

The committee is expected to comprise some 20 members, all from Punjab.

So far, the MQM has had a “reorganising committee” for the province and many of its members were from Sindh. The new committee for Punjab will comprise leaders from this province alone, sources said.

It is not clear who would be the rivals or allies of the MQM in the next elections. “A decision on the subject will be taken keeping in sight the ground realities,” sources said.

The MQM had been a coalition partner with the PPP of Ms Benazir Bhutto and the PML-N of Mian Nawaz Sharif.

The ruling PML, headed by Chaudhry Shujaat Husain, is the third party with which the MQM is working. However, it has a better understanding with President Musharraf than the leadership of the PML.

The MQM is a Sindh-based party, whose support is confined to some cities of that province. However, the party won two seats from Karachi of the AJK Legislative Assembly in the recent elections.

Answering a question, the sources said it was wrong to assume that the MQM was opposed to the Chaudhrys of Gujrat. In fact, the sources said, the party was working against the feudal system and the MQM would treat everybody supporting this system as its rival.

“When we speak against Chaudhrys, we don’t mean the family of the Punjab chief minister. Instead, we target the feudals and waderas of Punjab.”

The sources said the workers of other parties who were not given due respect by the leadership were joining the MQM.