ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) ruled on Monday that Farooq Sattar will no longer serve as the convener of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
A five-member bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, announced the brief verdict in the case pertaining to the intra-party dispute on the position of the party convener.
The bench also dismissed Sattar’s petition challenging the jurisdiction of ECP in the case and nullified the intra-party elections of MQM, in which Farooq Sattar was elected as the party chief.
The dispute between party members over nominations for the upcoming Senate elections had earlier resulted in the emergence of splinter groups – Dr Farooq Sattar led PIB Colony faction and the Bahadurabad group consisting of Amir Khan, Nasreen Jalil, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui among others.
Responding to the verdict, another leader of MQM’s Bahadurabad faction Syed Ali Raza Abidi remarked that ECP’s verdict is unjust. “ECP is not a trial court. How can ECP give a verdict when it can’t conduct a trial,” he questioned while speaking to media outside the ECP.
Abidi remarked that no one from the Bahadurabad group appeared in ECP. “The election commission bench wasn’t even present, the verdict was announced by a reader,” he remarked.
Later on, he shared on social media that Dr Farooq Sattar will announce next course of action after meeting with members of Rabita Committee.
