KARACHI, Nov 20: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement  (MQM) announced on Sunday names of the members of its central executive council.

The council was appointed in March this year to spread the party’s message across the country, but names of members were not released.

Addressing a press conference at the Lal Qila Ground near MQM’s Nine Zero headquarters on Sunday, senior MQM leader Dr Farooq Sattar said that members of the council hailed from Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

He said the MQM ensured people from all communities, religious minorities and different spheres of life were represented in the council.

He said the council would help the MQM’s coordination committee organise the party’s structuring, make policy issues, propagate the party’s policies and hold programmes.

Flanked by members of the coordination committee, Dr Sattar said the council would meet the coordination committee on a quarterly basis to exchange views and advise it on national issues.

He said the MQM had announced the formation of the council on March 27 and “today, we are announcing the names of the members of the council”.

The members of the central executive council are: senior journalist Ajmal Dehlvi, former cricketer Sarfaraz Nawaz, Pir Farzand Ali Shah, Pir Ghulam Mujaddid Sarhindi, Hakim Khan Hathi Khel, Senator Babar Ghouri, MNA Haider Abbas Rizvi, member of Gilgit-Baltistan Legislative Assembly Raja Azam Khan, Nighat Zehri, Barrister Habibur Rehman, Anwer Iqbal Baloch, MNA Khushbakht Shujaat, Azad Kashmir MLA Tahir Khokhar, Dr Laila Perveen, Syed Shamshad Jafri, Senator Tahir Mashhadi, Senator Ahmed Ali, Senator Abdul Haseeb, MNA Khawaja Sohail Mansoor, MNA Wasim Akhter, provincial ministers Adil Siddiqui, Rauf Siddiqui, Syed Sardar Ahmed, Nisar Panwhar and Faisal Sabzwari, MNA Dr Ayub Shaikh, Ghulam Haider Rahu, Syed Shaheen Anwer Gilani, writer Ghazi Salahuddin, Ahmed Salim Siddiqui, Advocate Ponjomal Bheel, Rasheed Maseeh, MPA Hir Ismael Soho, Dr Arshad Hussain Vohra, Capt. Hadi Hussain, journalist Zahid Awan Malik, Dr Shahzad Ali Shamshi, Bisma Asif Sukhaira, Loang Khan Channa, Dr Noor Mohammad Shah, former MNA Tahira Asif and Shahid Hassan Shahsawar Toori of Parachinar.