• Expected return of Hammad Siddiqui after years of absence raises hopes of tanzeemi revival
• Aminul Haque says he was framed in fake cases, Muttahida will welcome him back into the party fold
KARACHI: While the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) is once again in the spotlight because of its internal rifts, senior workers are hopeful that the party’s organisational structure is set to receive a significant boost with the return of former Karachi Tanzeemi Committee (KTC) in-charge Hammad Siddiqui after a decade.
For several weeks, social media has been abuzz with rumours of Siddiqui’s impending return, as MQM-P workers, and even those sympathetic to MQM-London, have been posting their pictures with Mr Siddiqui on social media and expressing hope for his early return.
The whereabouts of Siddiqui, who left the country in 2013 on the directives of senior party leadership after London-based MQM founder Altaf Hussain disbanded the KTC, have remained unknown since 2016. In 2017, some media reports had suggested that he had been picked up in Dubai and handed over to Pakistani authorities. However, this was never officially acknowledged, and Siddiqui’s family also did not list him as a missing person or approach any court of law against his enforced disappearance.
Well-informed sources said that Siddiqui could have been resurfaced around two years ago had he not been facing certain legal troubles.
But now, a source said, his major legal trouble appears to have been resolved after the Supreme Court delivered its verdict in the Baldia factory fire case, acquitting two MQM workers and practically throwing out the charge of conspiracy by mentioning that the prosecution had failed to establish the alleged motive.
MQM-P insiders say that while the prominent figures of the current set-up have been busy washing their dirty laundry in public, the organisation lacks a leader who is connected to grassroots workers and the masses in the way that Mr Siddiqui was during his tenure as KTC chief from 2009 to 2013 in the then unified MQM.
They say that although the MQM-P’s central leadership will decide Mr Siddiqui’s role in the organisation whenever he resurfaces, his mere presence will be enough to make a difference.
“You see, workers have been expressing their affection for Hammad Siddiqui on social media. This is because they are disappointed by the infighting within the current leadership, and they know he was the most accessible person during his time. He was always ready to stand by them and help resolve any problems they faced,” an MQM-P source said.
When asked whether Siddiqui supports the Mustafa Kamal group or the faction led by Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, a source familiar with recent developments said: “He will follow party discipline and stand with whoever is in charge.”
It may be recalled that from 2009 to May 2013, the entire organisational structure of the MQM in Karachi reported to Mr Siddiqui, who was responsible for mobilising party cadres and the masses, organising public meetings, rallies and corner meetings, running election campaigns, and coordinating protest demonstrations.
However, his detractors accused him of using strong-arm tactics during his time as KTC in-charge but admitted that it was a different time.
“Time has already proved that he was irreplaceable, as no one has been able to fill his shoes over the past 13 years,” an insider said.
When contacted, senior MQM-P leader Syed Aminul Haque said that Siddiqui is a worker of the MQM who had been entangled in what he described as fake cases, including the Baldia factory fire case.
“MQM has been vindicated in the Baldia factory fire case after the Supreme Court quashed all charges and so has Hammad Siddiqui.”
“Hammad Siddiqui has given sacrifices [for the party], and the MQM-Pakistan will welcome him,” he said, adding: “We hope he will return [soon] to [strengthen] tanzeemi [organisational] work.”
Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2026
