MQM chief hands over party command to coordination panel

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain on Wednesday handed over powers of reorganisation, policy-making and decision-making to the central coordination committee, a day after senior party leaders sidelined their London-based supremo. 

“Keeping in view the statements made by MQM leader Farooq Sattar and other party members, I hand over powers of reorganisation, policy making and decision making to the Rabita Committee,” Hussain said in a statement.

“I will continue to focus on improving my health in line with the Coordination Committee’s suggestions,” the statement shared on Twitter by MQM spokesman Wasay Jalil quoted Hussain as saying.

The MQM chief claimed that he was “under acute stress” due to back-to-back ‘incidents’, upsetting news and working on party business day and night, Dawn reported. The party chief also apologised for hurting the sentiments of Pakistanis due to his earlier anti-Pakistan remarks.

Hussain was accused of raising anti-Pakistan slogans at a rally that turned violent. Several journalists were attacked by the activists of the MQM. The protesters pelted stones and resorted to heavy aerial firing that killed one person and wounded others.

Jailed leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Pakistan, Waseem Akhtar, was on Wednesday elected as Karachi’s new mayor by a big margin with his party sweeping the local municipal elections. The MQM nominees grabbed the Mayor and deputy Mayor’s positions in the two major cities of southern Sindh province, Karachi and Hyderabad by big margins and also grabbed sizeable seats in the municipal corporations in other districts of the province underlining the party’s strong roots and popularity among the Urdu-speaking population in Sindh.