Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad came under fire from Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain for not defending the party. Referring to a recent meeting on law and order chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his visit to Karachi, which was also attended by Chief of Army Staff, ISI chief, DG rangers, the sources said that MQM chief took a strong notice of Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad's inability to stoutly defend the party when serious allegations were levelled against MQM in relation to Karachi law and order.
These reservations were aired by MQM chief Altaf Hussain during an interview to a private TV channel in which he complained that Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad remained silent when 'false allegations' were being leveled against MQM during the meeting. "This is why I am disappointed that Governor sahib was listening to all the false allegations against the party silently... whereas in the meeting, an impression was given that MQM is responsible for all the things that happened in Karachi," said a visibly upset MQM chief while admitting that "all his bank accounts have been frozen by the UK authorities".
The sources further said that the recent removal of Dr Farooq Sattar as the party's parliamentary leader in National Assembly was indicative of MQM chief's displeasure with his performance. Farooq Sattar was summoned to London and is reportedly explaining those of his actions/non-actions that have displeased Altaf Hussain with respect to his performance.
Dr Sattar has been replaced with Abdul Rashid Godil as the party's parliamentary leader in the National Assembly. MQM is the fourth largest parliamentary party in the Upper House of the Parliament with 24 members. MQM's senior leader MNA Syed Asif Hasnain told Business Recorder that differences within any political party is not anything new. "This is not an issue...democratic parties do have internal differences of opinion on various issues, which is not anything new," he said.
However, when it was pointed out that the differences are between the MQM chief and Governor Sindh, the phone line went dead. This is not for the first time that Governor Sindh has come under fire from within the party. He had to tender his resignation last year and flew to Dubai following serious internal differences that also led to the dissolution of the party's Co-ordination Committee. Ebad, however, later withdrew his decision. The situation also forced two senior party members including Senator Syed Mustafa Kamal and the co-ordination committee's deputy convener Anees Ahmad Qaimkhani to leave politics for what they claimed were 'personal reasons.'