Farooq Sattar removed from MQM-P convener post

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan's (MQM-P) Rabita Committee on Sunday removed Dr Farooq Sattar from the party convener's post. The action came at a time when Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) allowed MQM-P Deputy Convener Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui to hand out party tickets for upcoming Senate elections.

"The Rabita Committee has decided to remove Dr Farooq Sattar as the party's convener," senior party leader Kanwar Naveed Jami announced at a press conference here today. He said Sattar could however be restored on the same position if he reforms himself.

He alleged Sattar also did not file the party workers' wealth statements with the ECP and also sabotaged Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation. He further alleged that Sattar had controlled the rights to select and remove party members without informing the coordination committee. Jamil also accused him of changing the party's constitution for his interests.

Sattar and the party’s coordination committee were at loggerheads over the award of Senate tickets. The differences intensified after the party’s coordination committee wrote a letter to the ECP on Friday, informing it that the authority to issue party tickets rests with it but not with party chief Sattar.

The coordination committee on Friday delegated the authority to deputy convener Siddiqui to nominate party members for the upcoming Senate elections on March 3.

In a reaction to his removal, Sattar told media that the conspiracy had surfaced now and it had become clear that the issue was not over tickets for Senate seats, but it was about taking control over the party.