The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Bahadurabad has given party's PIB faction convener Farooq Sattar deadline of April 16 to return and work with them.
Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, the convener of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan Bahadurabad faction, remarked that if Sattar joins after April 16 then his status would be no more than that of a party worker.
While addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Siddiqui remarked that he hopes to resolve his differences with Farooq Sattar.
“I understand the predicament of Farooq bhai [brother]. We want to work with Farooq Sattar and move forward. We have to resolve our differences,” he added.
He remarked that he won’t allow Farooq Sattar to deface the party because of one person. “I sent a message to Farooq Sattar that if he comes to talk to us then I am responsible for his respect. However, I am not responsible for the respect of people who accompany Farooq Sattar.”
Siddiqui shared that he sent a positive message to Sattar despite all their difference. “Farooq Sattar should come and work with Bahadurabad,” he said.
He remarked that some forces are working together to weaken MQM.
On March 30, Dr Farooq Sattar, while addressing a joint press conference with Bahadurabad faction leader Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, remarked: "Bahadurabad is our joint home despite differences."
All workers in PIB and Bahadurabad are part of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, he added. Sattar also noted that the two groups shared an ideological bond despite their disagreements.
The conflict
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.
Sattar was elected as the party convener on February 18 after securing 9,433 votes an intra-party poll held in Karachi and Hyderabad. He, however, was deposed by the Rabita Committee on February 11.
Appeasement efforts by the Bahadurabad faction bore no fruition and the rift between splinter groups of the party worsened after the Bahadurabad group filed a petition challenging the intra-party elections held by Sattar.
On March 26, a five-member bench of the ECP, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Justice (retd) Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan, had ruled that Sattar could no longer serve as the convener of MQM-P.
But in a dramatic turn of events, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed the ECP's order after Sattar challenged the order in the IHC.
