KARACHI, Dec 1: The unexplained absence of Syed Mustafa Kamal from the country and the MQM headquarters in Karachi has prompted his party to ask him to quit his Senate seat, it emerged here on Sunday.

The former Karachi nazim, who got elected to the upper house of parliament in 2011, left the country in mid-August this year. His whereabouts have since been unknown and he remained in touch with some senior MQM leaders through internet/email. It is learnt that he did not call even Altaf Hussain over the last three months.

Sources told Dawn that in one of the email messages he had sent to some leaders of the party, he informed them that he was out of the country because of some problems pertaining to his family life and involving his foreign wife. Therefore, he was unable to say anything about his return.

The sources said that Altaf Hussain was worried about his continued absence particularly because of the upcoming local government elections. They added that at a meeting of the party’s coordination committee in early November he severely criticised senior MQM leader Anis Kaimkhani who he believed was in touch with the former nazim.

Mr Kamal and Mr Kaimkhani are known to be close to each other.

According to the sources, Mr Kaimkhani told Mr Hussain that he had not been in touch with Mr Kamal and even if he was he could not persuade him to return. Mr Hussain asked the coordination committee to send an email to Mr Kamal asking him to quit his Senate seat since his membership had been suspended for not filing the statement of assets and the MQM might lose one vote in the upper house during voting on a bill.

“Mustafa Kamal took only 15 minutes to email his resignation,” said a senior MQM leader, requesting anonymity.

He said that the MQM decided not to send his resignation to the Senate secretariat since the party would not be in a position to win the seat again in the event of by-election. “We do not have a majority in the Sindh Assembly and without PPP support we cannot win the seat.”

A dejected Kaimkhani also left the country the day after the meeting. “He switched off all his cellphones and he was not in contact with us anymore,” said the MQM leader.

Mr Kaimkhani, Mr Kamal and several others, including Dr Farooq Sattar, were removed from the party’s coordination committee in May this year. Later, Mr Hussain took them back in the party’s supreme decision-making forum as members.

On Sunday evening, the MQM coordination committee issued a statement confirming that Mr Kamal had sent his resignation, but that the party had so far not decided to accept it.

The statement said that Mr Kamal had gone abroad because of ‘personal and family problems’ and he had formally informed the party leadership before his departure.

It described all news reports about Senator Kamal having developed differences with the MQM as ‘baseless and fabricated’ and said that he had sent his resignation to the party leadership in the first week of November citing personal problems as the reason.

The MQM statement praised Mr Kamal and said he had done a tremendous job as Karachi’s nazim. “Everyone has appreciated his great work. The MQM also recognises and appreciates his work and pays great tribute to him.”

It recalled that after completing his tenure as city nazim in 2009, Mr Kamal had requested for leave from political work because he needed time to establish his business and the party granted him leave.

The statement said Mr Hussain, the coordination committee and all members of the MQM prayed to God for the solution of his personal problems so that he might again be able to actively participate in the party’s activities.