KARACHI: Senior leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Haider Abbas Rizvi has returned to the country after a gap of more than two years, party sources said on Monday.

They said Mr Rizvi’s mother was not well for quite some time.

Before MQM founder Altaf Hussain’s Aug 22, 2016 incendiary speech, he had gone to Canada around five years ago. He returned to Karachi in June 2018 — a month before the July 25 general elections — and the MQM-P made an announcement to let people know he stood with them. But Mr Rizvi had to leave the country in a matter of a few hours due to unexplained reasons.

This time the party did not make any official announcement regarding his return or provide any other details.

Mr Rizvi, a former student leader and fiery orator, was twice elected member of the National Assembly. He was also part of the 17-member Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Reforms that prepared the draft of the 18th Amendment which was passed in 2010.

He is a recipient of Nishan-i-Imtiaz as then president Asif Zardari had in 2011 conferred the prestigious civil award on all the 17 members of the parliamentary committee.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2020