KARACHI: The London-based leadership of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement expelled Dr Farooq Sattar from the party for what it called his “constant betrayal”, a day after he appointed himself as convener of the coordination committee of the MQM-Pakistan.

However, the Karachi-based leadership remained indifferent to the announcement that came on Sunday in the form of a statement from “four very senior members of the MQM”, as Dr Sattar left for Islamabad in the evening to attend a meeting of the heads of parliamentary parties at Prime Minister House.

Following MQM founder Altaf Hussain’s Aug 22 controversial speech, an overwhelming majority of the party cadres and almost every parliamentarian parted ways with their London-based supremo and expressed confidence in the leadership of Dr Sattar, under whose name the MQM was registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan.

The MQM-Pakistan has not only written Altaf Hussain out of the party constitution but also expelled convener Nadeem Nusrat from the coordination committee. The London-based leadership hit back by dissolving the coordination committee and asked MQM parliamentarians to resign and contest elections afresh independently.

On Saturday, Mr Nusrat issued a statement asking every leader and worker who had dissociated himself from the MQM founder to submit an apology and rejoin Mr Hussain’s caravan.

The MQM-Pakistan did not pay any heed to Mr Nusrat as it made key changes in the party’s supreme decision-making forum under which Dr Sattar was appointed convener of the coordination committee.

The Sunday statement issued by the “four very senior members” — Wasay Jalil, Mustafa Azizabadi, Qasim Raza and Muhammad Ashfaq — said that Mr Nusrat was the only elected convener of the MQM.

“Today, all workers of the MQM are informed that Farooq Sattar’s basic membership of the party has been revoked and he has been expelled from the party on charges of selling the blood of Haq Parast martyrs to the establishment,” the statement added.

For a third time, the London-based leaders asked the elected representatives of the MQM to tender resignations as they had been elected in the name of Mr Hussain.

“A disciplinary action will be taken against any elected representative who will not obey convener Nadeem Nusrat’s directive and the people will boycott them,” the statement warned.

When asked why the decision to expel Dr Sattar was not announced by the convener, London-based Wasay Jalil said that the statement, which also lacked the MQM founder’s endorsement, was issued on the instruction of Mr Nusrat.

However, MQM-Pakistan leader Faisal Subzwari told Dawn that Dr Sattar was the convener of the MQM as per the party constitution.

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2016