Paving way for Mentor

Many say MQM-P needs Dr Farooq Sattar to rebuild its image as a popular political force

MQM Pakistan has held another meeting of its apex committee to consider the re-induction of the disgruntled senior leader, Dr Farooq Sattar, who left the party in 2018 over the so-called ‘Tessori factor’, Bol News has learned.

The meeting was held soon after Kamran Tessori was sworn in as Sindh Governor on 10 October, a month after he rejoined MQM-P. After assuming his office, Tessori announced that Dr Farooq Sattar, his long-time political mentor, would also rejoin the party shortly.

Soon after assuming charge, Tessori led an MQM-P delegation to Islamabad for a meeting with the Prime Minister. In the meeting, the MQM-P complained that the PPP party’s government in Sindh was procrastinating on fresh delimitations of constituencies, without which the pending local government elections would be meaningless. Also, the PPP government had not amended the laws to empower the local government institutions in line with a supreme court ruling issued in February, they complained.

The meeting was effective to the extent that soon afterwards, the Sindh Minister for Local Government, Syed Nasir Hussain Shah, visited MQM-P’s head office in Bahadurabad to discuss the required amendments to the local government law. However, a consensus draft of amendments is yet to be finalised.

Subsequent to the meeting, at a crowded presser, the MQM-P spokesman, Izharul Hasan said that MQM-P was working on proposed amendments, and it hoped that the “PPP will show seriousness on the issue and will act on it in letter and spirit.”

During the same presser, when he was asked about the prospects of Dr Farooq Sattar’s return to MQM-P, his response was lukewarm. “Our doors are open to everyone, including Dr Farooq Sattar,” he said. “But remember, whoever wants to rejoin the party, he has to follow the party’s rules and regulations.”

Insiders say that Kamran Tessori’s move to involve the federal government in Sindh’s affair was part of his strategy to pave the way within MQM-P for Dr Sattar’s return to the party. As things stand, he has done his bit, and now it is upto the MQM-P leadership to make a “respectful” offer to him to return to the party, they said.

“If the party leaders did not set aside their egos and pay respect to Dr Farooq Sattar, they might lose support of their nominated Sindh Governor in future,” one insider said.

It may be recalled that Kamran Tessori was the main reason behind Dr Farooq Sattar’s decision to quit MQM-P in 2018. Dr Sattar had asked the party’s apex committee to award Tessori a ticket for the senate seat, which the party leadership had declined.

This led to MQM-P’s split into Bahadurabad and PIB factions. The two did reunite four months later to contest the general elections in July 2018, but the party’s dismal performance in elections triggered further differences, leading to both Dr Sattar and Kamran Tessori quitting the party.

There were signs of a thaw ahead of August 2022’s by-elections in NA-245, when Dr Farooq Sattar announced his support for the MQM-P candidate, Moeed Anwar. But backdoor parleys crashed soon – yet again – and Dr Sattar himself entered the contest as an independent candidate. Both candidates lost, however.

But reports of a possible reunion continue to pour in. Bol News tried but could not establish contact with Dr Farooq Sattar so as to get his comments on the issue. But in an earlier chit-chat, it was found that his stance on rejoining PML-Q was very clear.

“What I want is this, that when I go to rejoin the party, there should be a general workers’ meeting where I and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui should hug each other, and deliver a joint narrative to the audience that we will apologize for our faults, accept our mistakes and promise not to repeat those mistakes in future.”

He emphasized the need to “mend the organizational mess in the party”, saying there should be intra-party elections, and rules should be made to ensure representation of youth in the party. This, he said, was essential to help overcome the negative image the party had developed during its four-year mayorship of Karachi.

Analysts say that now the ball is in the court of MQM-P’s leadership, and given the party’s recent political reversals, its future will largely depend on whether or not ground is prepared for Dr Farooq Sattar’s return to its fold.