Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Tuesday gave Muttahida Qaumi Movement-P PIB faction leader Farooq Sattar till March 1 to submit his response in a petition filed against him by the Bahadurabad faction in the party.

During the hearing, Bahadurabad faction lawyer Farogh Naseem argued that the intra-party election conducted by Sattar-led PIB faction was declared illegal by the coordinating committee.

The proceedings were adjourned after Babar Sattar, Sattar’s lawyer, sought time from the commission to submit his reply on the matter.

Speaking to the media outside the court, Babar Sattar said two petitions were filed against his client. “The ECP has given us limited time to file the response,” Sattar said, adding that he will give a detailed response on the next hearing.

Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui of the Bahadurabad faction told the media that the faction was open to negotiations. He invited Sattar to visit Bahadurabad office and take over the party’s leadership.

“This is like a discussion on a few issues between brothers,” he said, referring to the ongoing crisis in the Karachi-based party.

Siddiqui further said that the ECP’s decision would be final and acceptable to all parties to the petition.

According to recent developments, the Bahadurabad group refused the PIB faction’s demand to dissolve the coordination committee. The former responded to the demand by asking the PIB group to form a parliamentary board.

Talking to the media on his arrival at the ECP headquarters earlier in the day, Bahadurabad group leader Amir Khan said that he was hopeful that the decision would come in the group’s favour as it was following constitutional limits in its actions. “If the decision does not come in our favour then the doors of courts of appeal will still be open for us,” he said.

Responding to a query regarding Kamran Tessori’s visit to Bahadurabad, Khan said it was a tradition of his people to treat guests with respect, adding that suggestions were given to them [Tessori] for improving the ongoing crisis and now the ball was in their court.

Talking to the media, Tessori expressed his hope that the ECP would decide the matter on merit.

Published in Daily Times, February 28^th 2018.