KARACHI: After being practically sidelined for about two months, Muttahida Qaumi Movement leaders Aamir Khan and Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui on Monday regained power when MQM supremo Altaf Hussain assigned them the task of overseeing the party set-up in the country.

In yet another reshuffle of his party’s top brass announced on Monday, Mr Hussain appointed London-based Mustafa Azizabadi as the head of the MQM’s coordination committee and named Dr Siddiqui, Mr Khan and Dr Nusrat Shaukat as his three deputies to oversee the political, organisational and administrative affairs of the MQM in Pakistan.

Also read: MQM organisational fault lines exposed in 2014

With the latest shake-up, Qamar Mansoor and Arshad Hussain, the acting head of the coordination committee in Karachi and London, respectively, were relieved of their posts but they would continue to serve as members of the MQM’s top decision-making forum in which two more members — Kanwar Naveed Jameel and Abdul Haseeb — were included on Monday.

It was on Dec 10, 2014 when the MQM chief suspended all members of his entire coordination committee in Karachi and London and accused them of involvement in corruption and land grabbing.

Previously, Dr Siddiqui was the deputy convener of the MQM’s coordination committee, while Mr Khan oversaw the all-powerful sectors and units of the MQM’s organisational structure. They were part of a coordination committee formed by Mr Hussain in May 2013 after the dissolution of the previous body led by Anis Kaimkhani.

After Mr Hussain sent the coordination committee packing in December, Dr Siddiqui, who is a member of the national assembly from Hyderabad, was told to devote his time to his constituency, while Mr Khan was told to report to his area office of the party. Later, on Dec 21, they were again included in the coordination committee as its members, but Mr Mansoor continued running the show.

MQM sources told Dawn that Mr Mansoor was effectively running the party and Mr Hussain was apparently quite satisfied with his performance.

While Mr Khan is said to have gone to London a couple of days ago, the announcement of a new set-up, according to the sources, was also linked to a recent bitter encounter between Mr Mansoor and a former provincial minister of the MQM, who is said to be very close to Mr Hussain and his family.

The MQM sources said the new set-up was yet another example of the status quo in the party.

“No one knows who [in the previous coordination committee] was involved in land grabbing, who sold parks and playgrounds or who sold government jobs,” said a senior MQM leader referring to the charges levelled by Mr Hussain on his own coordination committee. “And the return of old faces suggest either the charges were wrong or the culprits are so powerful that no one could even name them.”

They said that frequent changes at the party’s top organisational level caused instability within the rank and file.

“Instead of our politics, the organisation of the MQM has become the focus of public attention,” said an MQM leader. “We have been seeing these drastic changes for the past two years and let us see how long this set-up will last.”

Meanwhile, Mr Hussain advised the coordination committee to issue its statements with great care.

According to an MQM press release, former industries minister Rauf Siddiqui informed Mr Hussain of concerns of the business community over a controversial MQM statement for traders and industrialists.

Mr Hussain told Mr Siddiqui that S. M. Munir, Siraj Kassam Teli, Mian Zahid and other business leaders always gave him appropriate suggestions and should be respected accordingly.

The coordination committee should be careful regarding issuance of statements, he added.

Published in Dawn, February 3rd, 2015

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