Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) Chairman Syed Mustafa Kamal announced on Thursday that his party would join the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
He made the announcement at a press conference held at the Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan’s (MQM-P) temporary headquarters in Karachi’s Bahadurabad alongside Farooq Sattar, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqi, Amir Khan, Waseem Akhtar, Anis Kaimkhani, Nasreen Jalil.
The announcement also comes a day after, the MQM-P staged a power show in Karachi to protest against the holding of Jan 15 local government polls on current delimitation and threatened to leave the ruling coalition if its demands were not met.
Almost all estranged leaders belonging to different factions participated in the demonstration outside the provincial headquarters of the Election Commission of Pakistan against the LG elections being held in Karachi and Hyderabad.
The MQM-P leaders warned Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to take a clear stand if he had any respect for the rights of the people of urban Sindh or let the party “decide about its future” as a member of ruling PDM coalition.
Addressing the press conference, he said that Karachi was not liberated from Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) only for PPP Chairman Asif Ali Zardari to take over and “think of it as his”.
He announced that the PSP would be “migrating to the MQM-P”, adding that they would work under Khalid Maqbool, who is the MQM-P convener.
“Zardari thinks Bilawal will be the prime minister. He wants to make Bilawal the premier,” he claimed, adding that there were no universities, and no jobs for the youth.
“Yes, we had differences. We openly expressed differences,” he conceded but said that the people of Karachi would have to “leave their comfort zones”.
“Karachi feeds the entire country. The PTI didn’t do anything. The PPP hasn’t done anything,” he said, adding that Karachi and Sindh would soon witness the results of today’s announcement.
He asserted that Karachi was not just for Muhajirs, noting that other ethnic groups also resided in the metropolis. “If anything bad happens with Muhajirs, then bad will happen to Pakhtuns and Sindhis too.”
“Today is a very big day,” he said.
Meanwhile, former federal minister and founder of MQM Organisation Restoration Committee Dr Farooq Sattar said that the people of Pakistan see hope in the MQM. “We have kept all our differences aside. This is a message for the entire Pakistan. We are presenting a united MQM.”
He said that if MQM is given a chance, the $10bn raised by Pakistan at a climate conference in Geneva, could be generated in Karachi.
“We don’t want to dig up the past,” he said, adding that political maturity was the need of the hour. “People should know what the ground reality is. We are making a reformed MQM, a rebranded MQM and we have to let go of the past.”
He said that the MQM had been separated from its past reputation, to transform into a part of intellectuals and educated persons. He noted that the country was increasingly polarised, saying that Karachi should be “given one chance”.
“MQM should be allowed to fulfill their national responsibility.”
He also lambasted the upcoming local government polls in Karachi and Hyderabad. “MQM will give the biggest dharna on Sharae Faisal. We will see how Jan 15 elections will take place.”
He noted that political rivals were saying that the party was taking Karachi back to the past. “We vow to have zero-tolerance for crime, for militancy, for anti-state activities, for violence,” he said, adding that the youth would take the country towards development.
Sattar said that there had been an uptick in terrorist attacks by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “MQM faced TTP is urban areas. Let us united and we will defeat the TTP throughout the country.”
More to follow