According to sources, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui met Farooq Sattar at his residence last night during which he persuaded him to return to the party fold. The MQM-P has not officially confirmed the meeting.

Farooq Sattar, who was among the founder members of the MQM, told Aaj Digital that the MQM had offered him to contest the by-election for the NA-245 seat, which was vacated following the death of Aamir Liaquat Hussain.

Farooq Sattar told Aaj Digital that even if he rejoined the party, he would contest the NA-245 by-election from an independent panel.

Dr Farooq Sattar has already filed nomination papers as an independent candidate for the NA-245 seat.

A veteran politician, Sattar has served as a member of the National Assembly (MNA) on six different occasions. He was also the mayor of Karachi from 1988-92. He has also one stint in the provincial assembly of Sindh after the MQM boycotted the National Assembly polls.

He also had several stints in jail including during a crackdown on the party in the mid nineties and later on corruption charges after General Pervez Musharraf came to power in a military coup.

He was also charged over MQM founder Altaf Hussain’s incendiary speech of August 2016. He later distanced himself from Altaf and became the party head.

He was removed after the party broke into factions with Sattar leading the PIB faction while current convenor Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui heading the Bahadurabad faction.

Maqbool’s challenge to Sattar’s convenorship was accepted by the ECP and upheld by the Islamabad High Court in 2018, all but ending Sattar’s political career.