KARACHI: Former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal on Monday announced that incumbent member of the Sindh Assembly from PS-127 Malir, Ashfaq Mangi, was the latest Mutahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM) lawmaker to have joined his newly-launched Pak Sarzameen Party.
Mangi was joined by dozens of member of the MQM in Sindh, who he said had held organisational posts in the party.
Addressing a press conference alongside Mangi, Kamal said: “I welcome Ashfaq Mangi bhai to my house.”
He added that several other high-profile MQM leaders were in contact with him to switch their loyalties.
Mangi said he decided to join PSP after revelations of the MQM's affiliation with Indian spy agency – RAW.
“We could not have imagined that a party we had been part of for almost 15 years had links with RAW,” he said.
“But then Kamal's presser in March, in which 'he unveiled the truth about the MQM,' and after scores of people joined the PSP as a consequence, my companions and I decided to move as well.”
Kamal's revelations
Earlier in March, when Kamal returned to Pakistan, the MQM dissident unleashed a salvo of bombastic ‘revelations’ against party supremo Altaf Hussain, accusing him of deception, addressing workers while intoxicated and poor running of the MQM.
Since then, the former mayor of Karachi has pulled former MQM heavyweights Advocate Anis, Raza Haroon, Anis Kaimkhani, MPA Dr Sagheer, MPA Iftikhar Alam, Waseem Aftab, ex-senator Mohammad Ali Brohi, and most recently MPA Bilquis Mukhtar, into his party.
The Pak Sarzameen Party's name was announced on March 23 and since then the party has opened offices in Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas.
Advocate Anis and Raza Haroon both have slammed Altaf Hussain, saying the MQM chief is the reason behind party members jumping ship. However, the MQM has denied all allegations regarding the 'minus-Altaf formula' and claims its workers are being 'forced to change loyalties'.
Kamal and his colleagues have not specifically denied these allegations or others that suggest the new party is being backed by 'certain quarters'.
A number of senior MQM members left the country suddenly around the time Kamal returned to Karachi, causing speculation as to the reasons behind their seemingly abrupt departure.
