Daily Times

KARACHI: Two more MQM-Pakistan leaders, including an MNA, have left the party.

Shabbir Ahmed Qaimkhani, a rabita committee member from Bahadrabad faction, and MNA Muzammil Qureshi announced their decision on Wednesday.

Qaimkhani said he had resigned from the party’s basic membership as well the coordination committee position. “We have lost dear and loving colleagues due to the ongoing infighting,” he said.

Qaimkhani has yet to announce his future plans. While Qureshi, who was a part of the PIB faction, has joined Mustafa Kamal’s Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP). He was elected as a member of the coordination committee of the Farooq Sattar group in the recently-held intraparty polls, later declared null and void by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP).

In 2013 elections, Qureshi was elected to the National Assembly from NA-253. Before that, he remained a member of the provincial assembly from 2008 to 2013. “We need to solve all the problems of the Urdu-speaking community,” he said, adding, “We wanted to strengthen Farooq Sattar bhai. Whatever happened to him was because of the Bahadrabad-led rabita committee.”

Referring to media coverage of the party’s internal affairs, Qureshi said the media should stop using phrases like ‘kites’ and ‘wickets’ to refer to people leaving MQM-Pakistan. “We are not kites or wickets. We are people who have made our decisions on our own accord. We want to work for the betterment of our community.”

Last week, MQM-Pakistan received back-to-back setbacks as on April 1, MQM-P MNA from Hyderabad Waseem Hussain joined the PSP;

On March 29, lawmaker Dr Fouzia Hameed left the party and joined PSP.

Earlier, two women provincial lawmakers – Naheed Begum and Naila Munir – had switched loyalties and joined Kamal’s party.

Published in Daily Times, April 5^th 2018.