ISLAMABAD: The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on Monday removed Farooq Sattar as the convener of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P).
A five-member bench headed by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khan announced the verdict on a plea submitted by Farooq Sattar. He also annulled intra-party elections of PIB wing and dismissed objections of Farooq Sattar.
The ECP admitted for hearing the applications of MQM-Bahadurabad leaders Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Kanwar Naveed Jameel challenging the intra-party elections organised by Sattar.
Sattar, chief of his own faction of MQM-P had earlier this month challenged the jurisdiction of ECP to hear petitions filed by rival MQM-Bahadurabad faction involving internal matters of the party.
On February 27, the ECP had given two days to Sattar-led PIB faction of the MQM-P to submit replies to petitions filed by the Bahadurabad group led by Siddiqui against it.
One of the petitions asked the ECP to replace Sattar with Siddiqui in its record. It pleaded that Sattar had been removed as convener by a two-thirds majority of the party’s Rabita Committee. Another petition challenged the February 18 intra-party elections held under the leadership of Sattar — an election that he won by a heavy margin.
MQM-PIB leader Ali Raza Abidi while speaking to reporters after the verdict was announced said the ruling was “injustice” with the Sattar-led group.
He said he will urge Sattar to challenge the verdict because the ECP is a “repository of information and not a trial court”. The ECP which cannot hold a trial does not have the jurisdiction to pass such judgments, he claimed.
Talking to media after the hearing, Farogh said that 95 percent party takes Khalid Maqbool as convener while Babar Sattar said that 12,000 members had expressed confidence on Farooq Sattar.
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