MQM heavyweight Raza Haroon joins Kamal’s party

KARACHI: Mustafa Kamal, former Karachi Mayor, managed to rope Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) heavyweight Raza Haroon into his yet-unnamed party on Monday, Dawn reported.
Referring to the new party, Haroon said: “We are focused on the work we intend to do. Name, planning and branding come later.”
Kamal said the party would be named on March 23.
Following earlier MQM accusations that their workers’ loyalties are being ‘forcibly changed’, the former IT minister slammed Altaf Hussain, saying the MQM chief was reason enough for party members to jump ship.
Haroon pointed out that whenever a dissident left the party, “they (the MQM) claim it is a conspiracy against them. No conspiracy is needed. You (Altaf) are more than enough.”
The former MPA lamented the condition of the MQM, saying what used to be a party of literate people had now become a source of embarrassment.
Haroon joined MQM in 1987 and moved to London in 1994 after Karachi operation begun. In 2007, he returned to Pakistan and was elected a member of Sindh Assembly on ticket of MQM in 2008 general polls. He served as provincial minister of Sindh for information and technology in 2009.