MQM London tells parliamentarians to resign

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement parliamentarians in Pakistan have received phone calls from the London secretariat asking them to resign from their positions, sources said.

The phone calls demand resignations stating that the parliamentarians had won elections based on the MQM founder’s mandate. They ask the parliamentarians to run for a re-election.

An MQM parliamentarian who is in London Sufyan Yousuf has sent his resignation to the National Assembly speaker, sources said.

MQM Pakistan parliamentarian Khawaja Izharul Hassan has called a meeting of all MQM parliamentarians to discuss a plan of action.

MQM Pakistan parliamentarian Faisal Sabzwari, speaking to Geo News said that the August 22 mandate was never given to them. "If elections had occurred after the founder's speech our voters would have hit us with shoes."

A visible split has emerged in the party after the two factions MQM Pakistan and MQM London disowned each other.

On Wednesday a resolution presented by MQM parliamentarians was passed in the Sindh Assembly where action against the MQM founder under article 6 was called for his anti-state speech on August 22.

MQM leaders including Faisal Sabzwari, Rauf Siddiqui and Khawaja Izhar ul Hassan spoke against the founder’s speech.

Earlier this week MQM Pakistan expelled key leaders from MQM London including Nadeem Nusrat and Wasay Jalil.

Their expulsion came after Nadeem Nusrat, one of the founding members of the party based in London, said in a press statement that MQM was nothing without the founder.

A speech by the MQM founder on August 22 instigated workers to attack a media house office. At least one person was killed in the violence which followed.