HYDERABAD: Election for members of three advisory committees of Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (HMC) council on Friday made cracks in Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) more visible when senior party activists did not turn up in the house to cast vote.

MQM-P members are dissatisfied with the way nominations for committees have been fina­lised and, therefore, members like Salahuddin, Siraj Rajput, Aslam Pervez, Faisal Adnan Khanzada and some others preferred to stay away from voting.

“We, as a party, are going through a phase of transformation from having a system of authoritative rule to a consultative one post-Aug 22, 2016. That’s why the party within and in HMC is facing such problems,” admitted a party activist who wished not to be named.

Of 43 advisory committees, MQM-P members won 38 committees unopposed with one PPP member each in a seven-member committee. MQM-P would soon get its chairmen of the committees elected.

Sources in the party contended that the local leadership had already handed the important committees to those who were close to it.

“Our grievance is that it has already been decided who is to head which committee. For instance, tax committee is to be headed by Deputy Mayor Suhail Mashhadi, workshop by Arshad Malik (close associate of MNA Wasim Hussain), land by Imran Bashir, finance by Dr Ayaz Arain and works and services committee is to be headed by Majid Majeed,” said a council member who abstained from voting.

Another member asked why chairmen were being handpicked and why no consultation was being made over their election. Despite having huge experience, former MNA Pervez Qureshi, former MPA Aslam Pervez advocate, former taluka nazim Javed Jabbar, former MNA Salahuddin, are not being accommodated by the party, he said.

“We are aware of these issues and are trying to sort them out because we are not accustomed to such intricacies. Our party cadre has remained under a structure with strict discipline. After Aug 22, 2016, we are facing an entirely new situation we had never been used to,” said a local party leader. He explained that the council members who were showing disagreement over some issues were in fact uncomfortable with HMC officer and “PPP government is not willing to transfer any officer despite his unsatisfactory performance”.

Several council members of MQM-P are not satisfied with the performance of Mayor Syed Tayyab Hussain. They believe the mayor lacks capacity to handle issues in and out of the house and has been unable to assert himself so far.

Besides MQM-P, the committees’ election also witnessed divisions within PPP with one group led by Pasha Qazi and another by Abbas Khan and Manthar Jatoi.

Within the structure of PPP Hyderabad district, Abbas and Manthar are considered to be from the camp of Sindh Local Bodies Minister Jam Khan Shoro, which opposes present party office-bearers appointed by the party chairman. PPP members’ inclusion in the 38 committees dominated by MQM-P is interesting due to the party’s internal rifts.

Pasha Qazi, who leads the other group, challenged the committees’ election in the Sindh High Court on Friday. He contends that the committees are being formed after lapse of a whole year and the entire process is fraught with legal hitches.

“The PPP members who have become part of MQM-P dominated committees are those who do not care to adhere to the party discipline in Hyderabad district and are close associates of Sindh local bodies minister,” he said.

He said that Imran Bashir of MQM-P had family ties with PPP’s council member Abbas Khan and claimed he had used all available links in the council to ensure win in the committees’ election.

MQM-P will help PPP get its chairmen elected in five committees. The members in two out of five committees have already been elected unopposed. Election for three advisory committees on food examination, employees’ performance and Sindh government development coordination was held today and 91 members cast their votes.

Published in Dawn, November 4th, 2017