A former Karachi mayor has launched a political party to challenge the iron grip of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) on Pakistan's largest and richest city.
"Today we are laying the foundation of an organization -- you may call it a party,” Mustafa Kamal said on March 3 after returning home from self-imposed exile. “We are just two individuals."
Kamal was mayor of Karachi from 2005 to 2010. He had been living in Dubai since 2013, when he left Pakistan over reported differences with MQM head Altaf Husain.
The MQM dominates politics in Karachi but recently has been targeted with raids and arrests by security forces.
A court has issued an arrest warrant for Husain, who lives in self-imposed exile in Britain, for allegedly threatening a colonel of the paramilitary Rangers force.
