MQM chief hands over party command to coordination committee

Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain today 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 statements made by MQM leader Farooq Sattar and other MQM 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 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, leader of Mutthaida-E-Qaumi Movement - the single largest party in Karachi, was accused of raising anti-Pakistan slogans at a protest rally that turned violent.

Several journalists of various media organisation 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.

Pakistan yesterday charged MQM chief Hussain with treason for his inflammatory speech that prompted his party members to distance themselves from him.

Senior MQM leader Farooq Sattar yesterday said: "From now onwards, decisions will be made in Pakistan. This message is for the London office as well as for Pakistan office-bearers; something which the Quaid won’t disagree with."

Dawn reported that Sattar, after being released from Rangers custody, spoke to party leaders, lawmakers, including some of those who were abroad, as well as the London-based members of the coordination committee, and communicated his decision to disown Hussain’s statement and take over the MQM.

Altaf Hussain has been running the day-to-day organisational affairs of the party over phone from the confines of his palatial London residence and the international secretariat for a long time, although he does not hold any office in the MQM, which is a political party registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan in the name of Sattar.