Mohajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H) Chairman Afaq Ahmed on Friday announced that he would step down as party’s chief due to abysmal performance in July 25 elections.
Addressing a press conference in Karachi, Afaq said that it is now time for MQM-H to choose a new leadership. His announcement met severe opposition from workers present at the presser, but Afaq refused to budge, saying: “I am not among those who change their decisions”.
He asked the workers of the party to form a managing committee and democratically elect a new leadership. Afaq, whose party did not win a single seat in the centre or the province, added that he had warned Mohajir politicians that the city was being taken away from them but they did not pay heed.
Afaq himself received just over 14,000 votes to come fifth in the race for NA-240 according to preliminary results.
MQM-H Spokesperson Khalid Hameed said Afaq had accepted the “moral responsibility” for the loss, but the workers felt that their mandate was stolen by the manner in which elections were held and would not hold him responsible.
Afaq, who has enjoyed support in Karachi’s Landhi area, was among the founding members of Mohajir Qaumi Movement, along with Altaf Hussain, but had parted ways with him in the early 1990s. With another dissident Amir Khan, he had formed MQM-H in 1992.
Published in Daily Times, July 28th 2018.
