KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan chief Dr Farooq Sattar said on Sunday that his party was not going to be merged with Mustafa Kamal-led Pak Sarzameen Party or Afaq Ahmed-led Mohajir Qaumi Movement.

“Neither the MQM-Pakistan, PSP and Mohajir Qaumi Movement are merging with each other nor any alliance is being formed between them,” said Dr Sattar, adding: “However, a dialogue process [between the three parties] for resolving issues will continue.”

Dr Sattar’s assertion came against the backdrop of reports that the powers that be are trying to forge an alliance between different factions of the MQM, excluding the one being led by founder Altaf Hussain.

He was speaking to a group of reporters at the party’s temporary headquarters in Bahadurabad along with senior leader Amir Khan and Amin-ul-Haq.

Says his party will not seek disqualification of turncoats

Dr Sattar said his party was not going to file references for the disqualification of those lawmakers who had quit the MQM-P and joined the Mustafa Kamal-led PSP.

Eight members of the Sindh Assembly and one member of the National Assembly belonging to the MQM have so far switched their loyalty and joined the PSP.

Five MPAs — Muhammad Dilawar, Bilquees Mukhtar, Irtiza Farooqi, Shaikh Ibrahim, Nadeem Razi — and one MNA — Asif Hasnain — are still members of the Sindh Assembly and National Assembly, respectively, despite quitting the party they represented in parliament.

He agreed that it was the moral and ethical responsibility of such lawmakers to submit their resignations from their respective seats and not to take perks and privileges being a parliamentarian.

“However, we are not filing references against them...maybe today they left us because of some pressure but it is quite possible that tomorrow they will quit [their new party] and return to us,” he said.

Regarding reports that the MQM-P was mulling replacing those elected local government representatives whose performance was not up to the mark, he said the party was reviewing their performance, but so far no one was being replaced.

To a question, Dr Sattar said that there was a need of a transparent procedure for taking action on allegation of treason on anyone. It was the responsibility of the state to bring allegations of treason against any specific person or party before courts, he added.

He said that the party was not being given a political freedom despite its unprecedented step of Aug 23, 2016 when it ousted its founder for making an anti-Pakistan speech on Aug 22.

He repeated his claim that the MQM-P had no connection whatsoever with the MQM-London. “Our politics is for Pakistan and our survival is in the continuity of our Aug 23 policies.”

Dr Sattar clarified that his party was doing national politics and not the politics for “Mohajir cause”.

About the provisional results of the sixth population census in the country, he said that the MQM-P was not satisfied with the results of the Sindh’s urban areas and it had filed a petition in court.

He stressed the need of a national dialogue between political and military leadership for the sake of the country.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2017