KARACHI: Senior leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) Dr Farooq Sattar has invited former finance minister Miftah Ismail to join the ranks of MQM-P.
According to an Express News report on Sunday, MQM-P leader Dr Farooq Sattar extended the invitation to Miftah Ismail during a meeting that took place at the residence of the latter two days ago.
Discussions during the meeting covered a wide range of critical topics, including ongoing economic and political crises, with particular focus on the situation in Karachi and the forthcoming general elections.
Miftah had previously stepped down from his role as the General Secretary of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Sindh and relinquished all subsidiary party positions in June this year.
Miftah was openly critical of PML-N’s economic policies, particularly after Ishaq Dar, a close confidante of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, assumed control of the finance ministry, with the backing of the party’s top leadership, including Senior Vice President Maryam Nawaz.
Reportedly, this replacement was prompted by dissatisfaction with Miftah Ismail’s performance as finance minister in the coalition government led by PML-N.
Miftah Ismail expressed his grievances on various current affairs programmes and penned columns in leading newspapers. He offered comprehensive insights into the nation’s economic affairs while criticising policies spanning the past 75 years, including the tenures of previous PML-N governments, though he refrained from directly implicating the party.
Miftah Ismail found like-minded individuals in former Pakistan Peoples Party leader and Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Together, they organised seminars and conventions aimed at proposing solutions to the tense political situation, fuelling speculation of a potential new political party formation.
Dr Sattar emphasised the need to assemble a team of capable and committed individuals to address the challenges facing Pakistan, underlining that the nation’s present circumstances require a unified national agenda to effectively tackle the country’s issues.
