KARACHI: Two Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan women lawmakers quit their party on Wednesday and announced joining the Mustafa Kamal-led Pak Sarzameen Party, saying the party they had served for decades had been destroyed by leaders’ internal squabbles and favouritism.

Speaking at a press conference at the PSP headquarters called Pakistan House, MPAs Naila Munir and Naheed Begum — two of the 14 MQM-P lawmakers who did not vote for their party candidates in the March 3 Senate election — said Mr Kamal was the “last hope of the people of Karachi” and his party was the best platform for them under the current circumstances.

Accompanied by Mr Kamal and senior PSP leadership, Ms Munir said she had been associated with the MQM since her student days, but the MQM of today represented “selfish thoughts” where only friends and favourites were given benefits.

Naheed Begum said that she belonged to the family of an “MQM martyr”, but she was disappointed with the party because the leaders were fighting among themselves only for their personal gains.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Kamal asked leaders and workers of the MQM-P’s Bahadurabad and PIB groups to join him and launch a joint movement against injustices to the city and its people.

Once again, he requested the army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, to give amnesty to “youth of Karachi and Hyderabad” as the government had given to insurgents in Balochistan and Fata.

He said that not a single person responsible for the Qasba-Aligarh and Pucca Qila massacres had been arrested in over three decades. “Anti-Pakistan elements had used these incidents to exploit youths and they can further exploit them,” he warned.

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2018