Farooq Sattar’s return to MQM on cards

Farooq Sattar’s return to MQM is on cards!

The dissident Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leader Dr. Farooq Sattar, who has been leading the Organisation Restoration Committee (ORC), hinted that he would ‘soon’ be rejoining the ranks of MQM.

Speaking about the recently held Karachi’s NA-245 elections, the veteran politician said he would have joined MQM at the time but Khalid Maqbool told him that he was forbidden to do so by the elders.

Farooq Sattar said his return to the organization is on the cards as “Now the elders have realized the importance of MQM.”

“Workers pressured the leadership to bring him back following the return of Muhammad Kamran Khan Tessori,” Dr. Farooq said.

The dissident MQM leader said that no one is voting for the party in local bodies elections because of its poor performance when it was granted mayorship of Karachi in 2016-2020, as he commented on the decline in popularity of MQM in Sindh’s provincial capital.

Taking a jibe at the rulers of Sindh, Farooq Sattar added that Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) is making everyone a fool with respect to local government elections.

Disgruntled Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) leader Dr. Farooq Sattar was stripped of his basic membership of the party in November 2018 over the violations of party discipline.

Differences within MQM had emerged over the distribution of tickets to party candidates for the Senate elections. Dr. Sattar, then convener of the party, insisted on giving a ticket to Kamran Tessori despite strong opposition.

The rift caused MQM Pakistan to split into Bahadurabad and PIB factions. Dr. Sattar was removed from the post of convener and Dr. Maqbool Siddiqui took his place. Four months later, both factions reunited to contest the July 25 elections.

On September 13, Dr. Sattar resigned from the membership of the coordination committee and on October 12, 2018, he held a press conference and demanded intra-party elections and warned that he would work for an MQM-Nazriati [ideological] if his demands were not met.

After Farooq Sattar’s October 12 presser, the MQM-P contested in general elections and lost all three by-elections on NA-243, NA-247, and PS-111.