KARACHI - Dr Farooq Sattar led group of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) held ‘intra-party election’ on Sunday for fresh appointment of the organisational slots - including party convener.

As many as 45 candidates were in contest for 25 seats of Rabita Committee (coordination committee), while 51 members were candidates for 25 slots of Central Executive Committee of the party. Voting was also done for the positions of party convener, senior deputy convener and deputy conveners.

Only the names of Sattar-led PIB Colony group were mentioned on the ballot papers and none of the leaders from the rebellious Bahadurbad camp was there as a candidate.

The Bahadurabad faction led by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui termed the election illegal. Addressing a press conference, Kanwar Naveed Jameel accused Sattar of dividing the loyal activists of MQM and said that only the Coordination Committee holds the authority to take any policy decision and hold elections.

Separate polling stations were established for women and men at two places: PIB Colony’s KMC ground in Karachi and party’s zone office in Hyderabad, where members from interior Sindh also cast their votes.

Polling started with a delay of one hour at 2pm and continued until 6pm without any break. Later, the voting time was extended by one hour as many workers could not cast their vote on time. The counting of votes was underway at the time of filing of this report.

Sattar, former convener of the party, had ‘dissolved’ party committees and announced election to form new party structure after he was sacked by the coordination committee over a row about party tickets for Senate elections.

Earlier on wee hours of Saturday, Sattar in a video message appealed party activists across Sindh province to assure their participation in the election. He said that voting would be held in Karachi and Hyderabad from 1pm to 6pm.

The discredited leader quoting his political career of 35 years in MQM said that being the head of party he was asking the party members to trust him and promised that he will not disappoint them. “We will fix the situation and it is the time to get ready for the upcoming general elections. It the time to win back our all constituencies with pride and honour,” he said.

In the video message, Sattar also mentioned that on August 23, 2016, MQM-P announced disassociation from MQM founder Altaf Hussain over his anti-Pakistan slogans to save the party. Being head of the party, he said, he had once again made an attempt to save the party by announcing intra-party election on February 18.

As mentioned earlier, this was in fact a one-faction election as the names of MQM-P Bahadurbad group including Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, Amir Khan, Nasreen Jalil, Waseem Akhter and others were not there on the ballot papers.

The Sattar led group leaders contesting for different slots included Kamran Tessori, Khawaja Sohail Manzoor, Qamar Manzoor, Muzzammil Qureshi, Syed Ali Raza Abidi, Shahid Pasha, Sajid Ahmed and Salahuddin Sheikh.

Addressing his supporters at the KMC ground on Sunday, Dr Farooq Sattar said that today’s election was not an election but a referendum and it was held to bring the party out from the crisis.

Through this, it has been made clear that party structure and constitution only exist as long as workers remain attached to the party; if there is no worker then there is no decision making body, said Sattar said. He added that this ‘referendum’ had ended the chapter of the feudal mindset in the party ranks.

Vowing to save MQM-P from further division, Farooq Sattar said that “our doors are open for all”, as he encouraged leaders from Bahadurabad faction to rejoin him.

Illegal election

Bahadurabad faction leader Kanwar Naveed Jameel in his press conference rejected the elections held by Sattar group, calling those illegal and unconstitutional.

Declaring that only the coordination committee has the mandate for intra-party polls, he criticised Farooq Sattar for ‘violating’ and changing the party constitutions to his favour.

Jameel maintained that under the party constitution, two-third majority of coordination committee was required to make a policy decision and hold party election.

After the incident of the August 23, 2016 [when Altaf was ousted], no individual was authorised to take party decisions, he added.

Sattar was being misled by some of his companions while following the party constitutions was the only way to resolve the differences, he said.

Jamil also informed that party’s ‘decision making body’ [Coordination Committee] has dissolved Hyderabad Zonal Committee over serious violation of party discipline.