Daily Times

KARACHI: Over 400 Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM-Altaf) loyalists have joined Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) after complete disappointed from their former mother party (MQM-Altaf) in the metropolis.

PML-N Sindh’s Information Secretary, Asad Usman told Daily Times that about 400 workers have so far joined PML-N in Shah Faisal Colony only and there are so many more workers of MQM who are willing to join our ranks. There are many workers of MQM-Altaf who keen to join PML-N, but we are getting them filtered through the law enforcement agencies.

As PML-N’s mandatory membership requirement for such workers who have been the part of any political party in the past to be properly checked by the officials of LEAs, Asad said, “Only clean workers whom FIRs have not been registered in any police station or they have never been involved in any criminal activities can join PML-N.”

“If we would not have conducted such scrutiny procedures, about 5,000 to 7,000 MQM-Altaf workers could have need joined our ranks in the area of in Shah Faisal Colony, Gulistan Jauhar, Gulshan Iqbal and Azizabad, but our policy has delayed their joining us .

“We have worked very hard in the Shah Faisal Colony for last few months and so far 90 percent of area is supporting PML-N. “We have opened three unit offices and we are going to open a centralized party office (Provincial Assembly Seat Constituency) of PML-N soon,” Usman said.

Different tiers of former MQM loyalists are in contact with the party’s senior provincial leadership at different levels, he added.

There is disappointment among the MQM workers regarding their party leadership and former Altaf loyalists looking for other options to continue in a positive political struggle in the metropolis.

“We are also working in Gulistan Jauhar where a big group of youths who were the former voters of MQM-Altaf are willing to join PML-N and we are working on it to schedule their joining as lots of new memberships have been made in the area.

We are also working on PML-N formation in Gulshan Iqbal and Azizabad and as soon as we will finalize it an announcement will be made in this regard, he added.