Barrister Saif to replace Mustafa Kamal in Senate
03 December, 2013
KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has decided to elect Barrister Saif as a Senator following the resignation of Mustafa Kamal from the post.
Sources said Kamal was forced to resign and Barrister Saif, a new inductee in the MQM and former ally of Pervez Musharraf, will replace him.
Differences of Kamal and former deputy convener of the MQM Rabta Committee, Anees Qaim Khawani, with the party emerged in May when the entire committee was replaced with new leadership, ie, Maqbool Siddiqi and Amir Khan. Both the leaders distanced themselves thereafter.
The former mayor of Karachi began to end his contacts with party leaders in August 2013 and some leaders of the MQM even went to Dubai to convince him to participate in local government elections; but to no avail, added the sources.
According to people within the party, Kamal among others was manhandled by party workers at Nine Zero on the orders of the party chief Altaf Hussain in May 2013.
Meanwhile, MQM Rabta Committee has admitted that Senator Mustafa Kamal has tendered resignation from the Senate seat, but the party leadership did not approve his decision. In a statement issued, the Rabta Committee clarified that Kamal had been living abroad for the past several months citing personal engagements.
It said that Kamal had taken leave from party activities for attending his business related engagements and had also informed the party leadership about his decision to go abroad. It is pertinent to mention here that the MQM had earlier denied reports of the former mayor's resignation.
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