MQM makes inroads into tribal areas

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), once referred to as 'Karachi centric party', has begun to have a presence in far-flung areas of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), especially the Kurram Agency, where the party's chief Altaf Hussain is likely to address a public meeting of the tribesmen via telephone from London soon after the Lahore rally.
After opening its offices in Azad Jammu and Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, the MQM has also set up its unit office in Parachinar, the headquarters of Kurram Agency, where the party is actively engaged in membership campaign. Kurram Agency is the only region in the eight tribal agencies where the MQM has opened its offices and plans to contest the next general elections from two constituencies - NA 37 Upper Kurram and NA 38 Lower Kurram.
Fata Reforms Regulations have not yet been implemented as announced by President Asif Ali Zardari in his first address to the joint sitting of Parliament, which besides other legal and administrative reforms in the tribal areas also included the extension of Political Parties Act. But the MQM was hopeful that the Political Parties Act would soon be extended to the tribal areas to help bring the tribesmen into mainstream politics.
Talking to Business Recorder, MQM's central media cell in-charge and member of Co-ordination Committee, Wasay Jalil, while confirming the MQM's presence in Kurram Agency, said that the party's branches would soon be opened in all parts of the country including the rest of the tribal areas. He further said that the MQM would issue party's tickets to its candidates from across the country in the next general elections.
When approached MQM in-charge for Kurram Agency, Rana Waladat Hussain, revealed that a delegation of the MQM's central leadership headed by Allama Abbas Komaili would soon visit Kurram Agency to prepare the ground for arranging a public meeting, which would also be addressed by Altaf Hussain besides other central leaders of the party.
Rana Waladat Hussain, who is younger brother of Rana Rafaqat Ali, MQM's leader in Punjab, said that the public meeting in Parachinar would be held soon after the Lahore rally on April 10.
He claimed that currently the MQM has 1700 active members in entire Kurram Agency and the membership campaign would be further expedited in the next couple of days. Waladat claimed that tribesmen were joining MQM in large numbers due to the party's people-friendly policies.
MQM's media in-charge for Kurram Agency, Azmat Ali said that the party's local chapter was actively taking part in political as well as social activities in Kurram. He further said that the party was also making efforts to bring peace in the war-stricken Kurram Agency by holding talks with different warring tribes to restore peace in the region.