News Analysis |
Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) leader Mustafa Kamal on Friday announced that former MQM-P lawmaker Salman Mujahid Baloch would be joining his party. The MNA was expelled from the MQM-P in October for violation of party discipline after he revealed the party’s internal rifts by confirming the existence of two groups within the MQM-P.
Mujahid joins a long list of disgruntled MQM-P party leaders who have left their party for PSP. Mustafa Kamal’s PSP was formed on 23rd March 2016 and it consisted mainly of mid and low level MQM party leaders and workers. At that time, the Altaf led MQM held sway over Karachi and PSP was expected to dissolve into MQM or disintegrate. However, the events of August 2016 and the separation of MQM-Pakistan from London, gave PSP a new life.
PSP is also expected to make gains in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur at the expense of MQM-P in the next general elections.
After this sudden split between MQM, tens of its prominent leaders joined Mustafa Kamal and pledged to rid Karachi of ‘terrorist wings’ of political parties.
Read more: MQM & PSP: A one night stand
MQM has alleged that PSP is financed by the establishment. They also accused the party for working under the patronage of Sindh Rangers in order to threaten MQM workers to join PSP. Several Pakistani newspapers have also published stories of paramilitary forces threatening MQM workers to either join PSP or face arrests.
PSP’s founder Mustafa Kamal has stated that he has recovered MQM’s missing persons but MQM alleges that those missing persons were arrested by paramilitary forces of Sindh Rangers.
Despite these accusations, in November 2017 Dr. Farooq Sattar brokered a short-lived agreement with PSP without taking major leaders of his party into confidence. How this came to happen remains a mystery, but Mustapha Kamal insists the establishment organized the brief alliance.
However, pressure from within MQM forced Sattar to retract from his commitment with PSP and their ‘one night stand’ ended in disarray.
Read more: MQM-PSP Merger: Will it last and what does it mean for…
PSP’s founder Mustafa Kamal has stated that he has recovered MQM’s missing persons but MQM alleges that those missing persons were arrested by paramilitary forces of Sindh Rangers.
Analysts believe that this fiasco damaged MQM-P more than PSP since it was Farooq Sattar’s initiative to join hands with Musatafa Kamal and his dissolution of the short-term alliance with PSP exposed divisions within his party.
They also predicted that some prominent MQM-P leaders would join PSP before the next general elections. Mujahid’s entry into PSP solidifies these apprehensions.
Moreover, PSP is also expected to make gains in Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur at the expense of MQM-P in the next general elections.