KARACHI: The divide in the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) further widened on Thursday when both factions — colloquially being referred to as the ‘Bahadurabad’ and ‘PIB’ wings — stayed firm on their respective stands and separately pitched candidates for next month’s Senate elections.

The chaotic events of the last few days have showed that the party that once held a tight grip over Karachi’s electoral politics may be on the verge of disintegration if it continues to air dirty laundry publicly.

The gulf between the two sides was particularly visible at the Election Commission of Pakistan office, where the leaders from each side took to the rostrum separately to address the media after filing nomination papers of their candidates. Though the leaders from both sides insisted that the latest differences were not serious in nature and would be resolved sooner or later, they constantly argued in favour of their stand and critiqued the other side.

47 file nominations for 12 Senate seats from Sindh

First it was party chairman Dr Farooq Sattar, seen to be heading the PIB wing, who tried to underplay the crisis being faced by the party. But while replying to one of the queries in a lighter vein, he criticised the other faction for raising issues in the media instead of settling them through dialogue.

“I think there are always differences in parties and these differences are signs of debate or democracy,” he said. “But when these differences are shared with the media and discussed on the media, it gives an impression that these differences cannot be resolved. I think the situation is not like that. We have filed nominations separately but we still enjoy coordination and good relations. I think we should focus more on the end results than on the process.”

However Faisal Subzwari of the MQM-P’s coordination committee or Bahadurabad faction turned emotional while meeting and hugging Dr Sattar at the ECP office. Earlier, at the party’s Bahadurabad office he had said the “hunger of power” had emerged in the party ranks during the last one year had actually been damaging its organisational structure and grip on the city’s political hierarchy.

“We are political workers, who always want to resolve the issues through dialogue,” he said. “We still want Farooq Sattar to head a meeting of the coordination committee. The situation has left hundreds of party workers and hundreds of thousands of party voters confused and under mental stress. We should think about the larger interest and about interests of those who pin their hope on the MQM-P.”

However, the cordial and warm thoughts did not last long when the MQM-P’s coordination committee’s candidate and law expert Barrister Farogh Nasim hinted that Dr Sattar’s leadership might be in question.

“Under the defined constitution of the party, the party convener doesn’t enjoy any veto powers. I don’t think that the coordination committee elects him and he’s bound to lead the party according to the set rules and principles,” he said.

More nomination papers filed on last day

Meanwhile, 24 more aspirants filed their papers with the election commission on Thursday, the last day for filing nomination papers to contest for 12 Senate from Sindh, making a total of 47 candidates initially in the field. The polling for the election of 12 senators from Sindh would be held on March 3, 2018 on the provincial assembly premises.

The scrutiny of the nomination papers would be carried out by Feb 12 while appeals against the acceptance and rejection of the nominations could be filed by Feb 15 which would be disposed of by an appellate tribunal by Feb 17, followed by publication of the revised list of candidates on Feb 18. Candidates could withdraw from the contest by Feb 19.

The polling would be conducted in the Sindh Assembly building on March 3, said Provincial Election Commissioner (Sindh) Muhammad Yousuf Khan Khattak.

According to the details of the nomination papers received by the ECP, of 47 nominations 23 were filed against the seven general seats, nine for the two seats reserved for women and 11 against two technocrat/ulema seats while four aspirants were against one seat of the minorities from the province.

Of the total 23 candidates against seven general seats, 10 were from PPP, seven from MQM, four from PSP, one from PML-F and one from PML-N.

Against the two seats reserved for women, nine candidates were in the field, four from PPP, four from MQM and one from PSP. Similarly, of 11 candidates against the two seats of technocrats, four candidates are from PPP, five from MQM, one from PTI and one from PSP while against the one seat of the minorities, initially two non-Muslim candidates — one each by MQM and PSP — have been fielded.

On the general seats, the following 23 candidates have submitted their nomination forms: Raza Rabbani, Moula Bux Chandio, Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Syed Muhammad Ali Shah Jamote, Imamuddin Shauqeen, Ayaz Ahmed Mehar, Murtaza Wahab, Dost Ali Jessar, Muhammad Qasim and Jawed Nayab Laghari from PPP, while Muhammad Kamran Khan Tessori, Syed Amin Ul Haque, Farhan Chishti, Muhammad Farogh Naseem, Amir Waliuddin Chishti, Ahmed Chinoy, and Sarfraz Khan Jatoi from MQM, Syed Mubashir Imam, Dr Sagheer Ahmed, Hassan Sabir and Anees Ahmed Khan from PSP, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah from PML-F and Muhammad Asif Khan from PML-N.

Against the two seats reserved for women the following candidates have submitted their nominations: Quratulain Marri, Humera Alwani, Keshoo Bai and Nida Khuhro from PPP; Nasreen Jalil, Mangla Sharma, Nikhat Shakeel Khan and Kishwer Zehra from MQM, and Sofia Saeed Shah from PSP.

For the two seats of technocrats, the candidates in the field are: Sikander Ali Mandhro, Rukhsana Zuberi, Dr Yunis Hyder Soomro and Taj Haider from PPP; Dr Abdul Qadir Khanzada, Muhammad Farogh Naseem, Ahmed Chinoy, Syed Ali Raza Abidi and retired Justice Hasan Feroze from MQM; Muhammad Najeeb Haroon from PTI and Sofia Saeed Shah from PSP.

On the lone seat for Non-Muslims, Anwar Lal Deen and Anthony Naveed from PPP while Sanjay Perwani from MQM and Mohan Manjiani from PSP have filed their nomination papers.

Published in Dawn, February 9th, 2018