Farooq Sattar threatens to quit as party convener

Dr. Farooq Sattar. (AFP)

• Sattar dubbed the post a “powerless office,” saying he could not remain in a position that had no power
• Earlier this year, the MQM-P held intra-party elections in an attempt to end the rift over Senate candidates between the Sattar-led faction and the Rabita Committee-led Bahadurabad group

KARACHI: Dr. Farooq Sattar, Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Chief (PIB faction) has threatened to quit as convener of the party, describing it as a “powerless office”, according to a news report.
Addressing workers at Karachi Municipal Corporation ground, Sattar added that he would not contest the next general elections, according to the Dawn News report.
He was reported as having said that he did not want to remain leader as “charity” without power. “I will remain in the party as a common worker,” he said.
Expressing fears of being criticized if the party did not perform well in the next general elections, he said: “Let me also clarify that I don’t want any office or position and for that I would not even contest in the elections. 
“I cannot remain convener any more as this office doesn’t have any power. But if anything occurs in the general elections all criticism would be against the convener. I don’t have any power, but I know that I would be held responsible for any [negative] result in the elections.”
Earlier this year, the MQM-P held intra-party elections in an attempt to end the rift over Senate candidates between the Sattar-led faction (now PIB faction) and the Rabita Committee-led Bahadurabad group (now the Bahadurabad faction). The Bahadurabad faction, however, has declared the polls that elected the former chief as the party convenor as illegal because they had refused to participate.
In November 2017, with the re-emergence of ex-mayor of Karachi, Mustafa Kamal, as party chief of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), Sattar announced his decision to quit politics. This was retracted after party workers persuaded the MQM-P chief to stay.