Acting MQM convener named

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) yesterday appointed an acting convener to lead the party – a day after its self-exiled supreme leader Altaf Hussain ordered a major organisational shakeup and suspended his deputy, Dr Imran Farooq.

Ishratul Ibaad Khan, a doctor in his mid-30s and former minister in Sindh provincial cabinet, has been appointed as party's acting convener in place of Farooq, who is under fire for his alleged poor performance and mistakes committed during the October 10 elections.

A meeting of the MQM coordination committee, held in London, took the decision, a MQM statement said. Hussain, who is living in self-exile there since 1992, has endorsed the move, the statement added.

Khan is also based in London and is wanted in several cases of violence and terrorism by the Karachi police.

Most of the senior leaders of the MQM left the country or went into hiding when security forces launched an unprecedented crackdown over the party in early 1990s.

The security forces accused the MQM of violence and bloodletting in Karachi. The MQM, which denies the charge, blames the security forces for the summary executions of hundreds of its workers and supporters.

The MQM statement said that the coordination committee members admitted their mistakes and asked for "pardon" from the party members for their poor performance.

"In a resolution they pledged not to repeat the past mistakes," the statement said.

The MQM won 13 general National Assembly seats in Karachi out of a total of 20. Its key members lost elections in Hyderabad and Karachi against candidates belonging to the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, an alliance of the religious parties.

Hussain, who addressed thousands of his supporters in Karachi over telephone from London on Thursday, had bitterly criticised the performance of the coordination committee. He asked the committee members to improve their performance within a month or be ready to go home.

Hussain's scathing criticism came in the wake of rumours of sharp differences within the party following its poor performance in the elections. The MQM candidates suffered defeats in neighbourhoods once considered the party strongholds.

The MQM sources say that the sacking of Farooq, considered the most powerful MQM leader after Hussain, are likely to sharpen differences within the organisation, which enjoys a large following among the Urdu-speaking people.

There is already a small dissident faction of the party, called the Mohajir Qaumi Movement. The militants belonging to the dissident faction doesn't allow the mainstream party to carry out its activities in many neighbourhoods of the city.

Farooq, considered an MQM hardliner and popular figure among its militants and radicals, remained in hiding during the crackdown over the party almost all through the 1990s, before resurfacing in public in London in 1999.

Following his suspension, there has not been any public statement from him.