Daily Times

KARACHI – Muttahid Qaumi Movement (MQM) MPA Bilquis Mukhtar joined on Wednesday Mustafa Kamal’s newly-formed Pak Sarzameen Party.

The announcement comes days after a former senator of the MQM, Muhammad Ali Brohi along with 11 members of the party’s Sindh Tanzeemi Committee and zonal heads joined Kamal’s political crusade. Mukhtar was a member of the Standing Committee on Minorities Affairs, Standing Committee on Women Development and Standing Committee on Social Welfare.

“Thousands of people have joined our party,” Kamal said while addressing a press conference in Karachi. Announcing her joining of Kamal’s party, Mukhtar said she has taken the decision after much deliberation. “I have for a month been listening to Kamal’s speeches for over a month. After thinking hard I have made my decision and today I have joined the Pak Sarzameen Party,” she said.

“We are not here to breed enmity against any specific person,” she said, adding that “I have handed in my resignation in the Sindh Assembly.” Brohi had joined the MQM in 2002 and worked as senator between 2004 and 2009. He said he joined the MQM thinking he would promote unity among Sindhi-and-Urdu-speaking communities but, he added, that the party adopted a policy of causing enmity among Sindhis and working against the country.

Monday’s press conference, which lacked the usual explosive remarks and accusations, was dominated by Kamal, who shed light on the way MQM used the Muhajir card. “When they want ministries, they put pressure on the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), play the Muhajir card and talk of breaking up Sindh,” said Kamal. “And when they get the ministries, [Altaf] shuns the demand. He doesn’t care about the hatred he sows between Urdu-speaking and Sindhis.”

Upon returning home from self-imposed exile on March 03, Kamal launched a blistering attack on MQM chief Altaf Hussain and challenged the ‘iron grip’ of the MQM on the city by forming a new party.

Kamal — who won wide support as mayor of Karachi from 2005 to 2010 for his efforts to ease traffic and improve public services — accused Altaf of working for India’s premier spy agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), destroying two generations of Mohajirs (Urdu-speaking people) and issuing threats under the influence of alcohol.