MQM is not up for sale, ashamed of party members: Faisal Sabzwari

KARACHI: Just days after suffering a setback in the Senate elections, senior Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM-P) leaders Faisal Sabzwari and Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan said they were disappointed by party voters and activists, and that show cause notices have been issued to parliamentarians who did vote for the party.

Addressing a press conference at their head office in Bahadaradabad, Sabzwari said that they have issued ‘show cause’ notices to those renegade members who did not vote for the party in the Senate elections and thereby inflicting severe loss to the party’s position in the upper House of Parliament.

Explaining the reasons for the party’s setback, he said in the 2013 elections they won several reserved seats after coordination with several parties. However, this time around the party wasted the opportunity due to internal rifts and conflicts.

“Those activists and public who were thinking that the MQM is up for sale, this is not so. In the present scenario, the MQM is ashamed of its voters and members,” said Sabzwari.

He said that out of the MQM’s 51 members of parliament, four are out of the country while nine others have defected to other parties.

“The defenders of democracy have spoiled democracy,” he said taking a jibe at the Pakistan People Party alleging it luring their party members. “PPP’s attitude is not democratic, but the MQM is not up for sale.”

Responding to question, Sabzwari said that the rift within weakened the party  and benefited their opponents, and called for the rival Bahdaurabad and PIB factions to reunite to make the party functional as it suffers further political and organizational losses.

“PIB and Bahadurabad should come together make the party functional again, so that the political and organizational losses can be reclaimed,” he said adding that political opponents will take full advantage of their weaknesses.

Leader of the Opposition in the Sindh Assembly Khawaja Izhar-ul-Hasan said those vulnerable can be easily tempted and lured away, and that the disgruntled party members voted for their opponents who use state power to quash them.

He said that party members who objected to their nominated candidates should have rather refrained from voting rather than voting for their opponents.

Responding to a question, he said that horse-trading was rampant in the Senate elections, not just in Sindh but rather in all four provinces. He said the rigging and horse-trading was rife in the elections, and that real strength of the MQM does not lies in its coordination committee or parliamentarians, but rather its activists.