KARACHI: Unfazed by the cold response from two key parties on his proposal for a grand ‘Mohajir alliance’, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan leader Dr Farooq Sattar insisted on Friday that the unity of Mohajirs was the need of the hour and he would approach all parties and intellectuals in the coming days for it.

Speaking at a rally in Landhi the other day, Dr Sattar had asked Pak Sarzameen Party leaders Mustafa Kamal and Anis Qaimkhani, Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi chairman Afaq Ahmed, MQM-P Bahadurabad convener Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Mohajir Ittehad Tehreek chief Dr Saleem Hyder to form a grand “Mohajir alliance”.

He said the MQM-P would foil a conspiracy aimed at dividing the Mohajir vote bank. “The MQM-Pakistan will complete the grand alliance of Mohajirs in 2018,” he had said.

Bahadurabad group, PSP had given cold shoulder to proposal

On Friday, Dr Sattar told reporters at a rally in the Old City Area that he would approach “everyone for the sake of Mohajir unity”.

“I have taken a decision to make a Mohajir alliance. In a day or two, a delegation will approach all political parties and intellectuals [in this regard],” he said. “The Mohajir alliance is necessary for the solution to all of their problems. With the alliance we along with the oppressed people of Sindh will get our legal rights.”

Dr Sattar, who heads the PIB group of the MQM-P following the Feb 5 split, also said that his party had found the way out of the present “organisational crisis” and he would soon make an announcement in this regard.

But, the Bahadurabad group does not share his views of a Mohajir alliance for the 2018 general elections.

MQM-P leader Aminul Haq, who represents the Bahadurabad group, told Dawn on Friday that his party had taken a principled decision that it would never be part of an electoral alliance and contest election in the urban areas of Sindh on its election symbol, kite.

“We may enter into seat adjustment agreements on those seats which we have not won before,” he said, without making a direct comment on Dr Sattar’s alliance offer.

When pressed, he said “back-door diplomacy” to persuade Dr Sattar was going on and his group had time and again asked the estranged leader to come and take the reins of the party. He was hopeful that the reconciliation efforts would bear fruit soon.

Earlier on Thursday, the PSP while terming Dr Sattar’s offer to form a Mohajir alliance “non-serious” said that the MQM had been practically disbanded and “lost its place and popularity [with] the people of Karachi and Sindh”.

In a statement, PSP secretary general Raza Haroon, however, told Dr Sattar that PSP doors were open for negotiation.

The MQM-H and the MIT had not commented on Dr Sattar’s proposal.

Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2018