Farooq Sattar

Muhammad Farooq Sattar Peerwani (Urdu: فاروق ستار پیروانی) is a Pakistani politician and member of the parliament.^[1] He was elected a member of National Assembly of Pakistan on a ticket of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) from Constituency NA-257 (Karachi) in the Pakistani general election, 2013.^[2]

He is parliamentary member of the MQM and founder and chief of new forward bloc MQM Pakistan. He has also served as Provincial Minister in the Sindh Cabinet for Local Bodies and is one of the senior Members of the MQM Co-Ordination Committee. Sattar also headed the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate.^[3]

On 16 March 2008, he was nominated as a candidate for the seat of the Prime Minister of Pakistan by the MQM.

On October 2nd, 2016, MQM terminated basic party membership of Farooq Sattar citing repeated treason against the party^[4] although Farooq Sattar still retains his parliamentary seat.

Education

He received his degree in medicine from Sindh Medical College in 1986.

Personal life

He belongs to a Gujarati Memon tribe. He and his family lives in Pir Ilahi Buksh Colony in Gulshan Town of Karachi, a middle to lower-middle income area. Married, he is the father of two daughters.^[5]

Controversy

On August 22, 2016, Farooq Sattar and Khuwaja Izhar ul Hasan were taken into custody by Sindh Rangers after the attack on media houses by MQM workers.^{[6][7][8][9][10][11][12]}

On August 22nd, 2016, Farooq Sattar announced disassociation from MQM founder and leader Altaf Hussain, run the party affairs separately, named his faction as MQM-Pakistan and changed constitution of MQM to incorporate himself as the new chief and convenor instead. While the main MQM leadership including Altaf Hussain rejects re-branding of MQM and has since told him to resign, form his own party and get re-elected on his own mandate and party constitution as MQM mandate derives from Altaf Hussain and terming his constitutional changes as illegal and invalid.

On 2nd October 2016, he was kicked out from the party on grounds of repeated party violations and treason, but he retains his parliamentary seat and keeps self proclaimed convenor and chief of MQM post with the support and many MQM parliamentarians and leaders.

Political career

MQM

When the MQM was formed, he joined along with other APMSO leaders, and to date he holds the position of deputy convener in this party. He is also a senior member of the MQM Co-Ordination Committee and the parliamentarian leader of MQM in national assembly.

He was the youngest mayor in its history when he was elected at age 28, and served from 1987 to 1992.

Also served as:

• MNA 1988-1990.
• MNA 1990-1992.
• MPA Sindh assembly 1993-1996.
• MPA Sindh assembly 1997-1998.
• Provincial Minister in the Sindh Cabinet for Local Bodies.

He is one of the senior Members of the MQM Co-Ordination Committee. Sattar is heads the Foreign Relations Committee in the Senate.

He is a doctor and wanted to become a plastic surgeon but could not achieve his aim due to involvement in politics. He is from a middle-class family. His Party's aim is to bring the middle class and the poor into the political structure of Pakistan.

He was a candidate for Prime Minister of Pakistan in 2008.

On March 16, 2008, he was nominated as Prime Minister of Pakistan by the opposition parties in Pakistan.

Mayorship of Karachi

In 1987, he was elected mayor of Karachi, and held the office until 1992. At the age of 28, he was the youngest person to hold this position.^[13]

National Politics

In 1988, while still the mayor of Karachi, he was elected as a member of National Assembly until its dissolution in 1990. He was re-elected in 1990.

MQM Pakistan

He announced his forward bloc in the name of MQM Pakistan on 22nd of August 2016 after Altaf Hussain's controversial speech. As a deputy convener he along with his forward bloc parlimentarians introduced certain amendments in the party which the top tier leadership of Muttahida Qaumi Movement considered as transgressional and unauthoritative since top authority was Nadeem Nusrat as the Convener of the party. MQM has since terminated basic party membership of Farooq Sattar and also has dissolved MQM's infrastructure including Rabita Committee of MQM Pakistan.

References