KARACHI, April 11: Defections from the Muttahida Qaumi movement (MQM) mounted further on Monday as senior party worker Mohammad Raza and former APMSO leader Waheeduz Zaman joined former Karachi mayor Mustafa Kamal’s Pak Sarzameen party (PSP).
“There is no other worker of the level of Mohammad Raza here or in London,” said Kamal, announcing the newest additions to his fledgling party during another press conference at his DHA residence.
Kamal said that Raza was such a senior worker that he was a sector in-charge for the MQM when Kamal was a common party activist on the streets, and then rose up the ranks to join the party’s central leadership in London.
“I have come back to Karachi after 16 years. I am here only because of promises made by Pak Sarzameen,” said former senior MQM worker Mohammad Raza.
“What Mustafa Kamal says is the truth,” said Raza. “I went to London in the 80s and saw all of this happening in front of my eyes. But I remained silent. Now I am back in Karachi after 16 years only to be
part of the ideology of Pak Sarzameen Party.” Zaman, a former chairman of the All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organisation (APMSO), said it was difficult for them to speak the truth while being part of the MQM. “Students of APMSO were used to control rallies and collect animal hides during Eid-ul-Azha. They were asked to prioritise the party over their education,” alleged Zaman, adding that it was not an easy call for them to join Kamal’s party. At the press conference today, Mustafa Kamal – once a senior MQM leader and said to be Altaf Hussain’s chosen men – continued his searing criticism of the party chief, accusing the MQM supremo of assigning ‘target-killing’ tasks to party workers at a meeting the previous day. – Agencies
