MQM - A Pressure Group?

The circumstances that provoked Altaf Hussain and other Mohajir student leaders to raise a platform for voicing the issues of Mohajirs in Karachi were such that a ferocious and animated approach was required. When All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organization (APMSO) was formed, it represented itself as an iconic institution for the rights of Mohajirs. The slogan was so attractive that all the migrants of 1947 either joined the movement or had empathy with its cause. Seeing its strength and the impact it could create in Karachi, General Zia ul Haq picked Altaf Hussain to raise a proper political pressure group in the name of Mohajirs that could neutralize the strong hold of Pakistan Peoples’ Party and Jamat Islami in urban areas of Sindh. This became the main motivation of creation of MQM.

As MQM came into being, it started to play the role of godfather of Mohajirs, especially Urdu speaking community in Karachi and Haiderabad. Since it was assigned the role of a pressure group, MQM used all fair and unfair means to spread its say in the public. For the first time people of Karachi came across the incidents of sporadic firing at public places, anonymous killings, intensive incidents of sectarian violence, kidnapping for ransom, and Bhatta Khori (illegal collection of money by threats of murders or by assurance of protection against other pressure groups) from businessmen. Incidents of killings of non-Urdu speaking inhabitants of Karachi like Punjabis, Pashtoons and Sindhis also increased manifold. These acts certainly created terror of MQM in general masses but also made them a hateful cadre amongst public and establishment.

Since this policy of MQM bore fruit and it became major pressure group in urban areas of Sindh, their leadership adopted this modus operandi as a universal constitution for their movement and they are following the same till date. They have literally seized Karachi and Haiderabad and have established a state within the state. Following are some of the features of their pressure tactics to keep urban Sindh under their control: -

• Establishing no-go areas in the cities where even law enforcing agencies could not enter without the permission of MQM.

• Controlling media through murder and death threats to journalists. If any TV Channel telecasts any criticism on the leadership or policies of MQM, their telecast is blocked in the urban areas.

• Words of Altaf Hussain are taken as a revelation from God and are considered as final and executive order.

• Blackmailing majority ruling provincial government, sometimes by supporting them and sitting on treasury benches in Provincial Assembly while withdrawing their support and sitting on opposition benches on the other. 

•  Taking strong political position on a certain issue on one day and opposing the same with same strength the other, to their own suiting. MQM has mostly failed to stand for the just cause; instead they justify all the actions they take to suit their own political advantage. 

•  Invented the curse of “Military Wing” in political parties of Pakistan. To tackle this, other political parties also established such wings and politics moved from table talks to street violence.

• xploitation of Central and Provincial Governments in their own advantage since they control Karachi, the main port of Pakistan and hub of economic activities. If their demands are not met, they tend to block the economic activities by closure of markets and mills through terror and use of force.

• Mass scale money collection in the name of “Donations” from factory, mills, shops and business owners. Major share of this money is sent to London to meet the expenditures of Royal living of Altaf Hussain who is residing there as a result of self-proclaimed exile for more than 25 years without any job or work. London Police has registered cases of money laundering against him as they found solid evidences against him.

• Promotion and support of bhatta and land mafia for financial gains and to strike terror in the hearts of innocent public.

• Collection of Zakat (Islamic tax on wealth), Fitrah (annual charity after fasting), skins of slaughtered animals on Eid al Azha (Celebrations of slaughtering animals in the cause of Allah) etc. These all charities and give-aways are on voluntarily basis and no one can forcefully collect these but MQM collects these by use of life threats or at gun point.

In the recent past, due to adverse unrest and overall turbulent situation in Karachi, MQM demanded proper military operation against the trouble creators. This demand was once again acceded to and Rangers were given special powers to launch an “across the board” operation against everyone involved in disrupting the peace of the city. During the operation Rangers arrested the criminal irrespective of their political affiliation. No other party had any objection on such arrests but MQM - the main initiator of such operation - always made hue and cry as and when any of their worker was arrested.

This policy was adopted to pressurize law enforcing agencies and to show that there are criminals all over the city but every member of MQM is absolutely free of any evil. On the night 24-25 September Rangers raided the office of MQM Gulshan e Hadid Sector and arrested few miscreants who were hiding in MQM’s office after firing on the vehicle of law enforcing agencies. As usual, MQM wanted their men to be released and they have resolved to sit-in at different places of Karachi thereby seizing the economic activities in the city and causing blockade to public routine like schooling, movement of ambulances and people moving from their homes to work places.

 

MQM must understand that if they want to gain popularity and have their influence over other parts of the country they must stop the policy of blackmailing, pressure politics and threats of life to all quarters. They must adhere to the law of the land and if law enforcing agencies have started operation for restoration of peace in Karachi, they must allow and support such operation even if it is against their own people. Use of Mohajir card and spreading hate amongst different segments of social fibre in the country they must send message of harmony and unity. Rule through terror does not last long and has short lived impact whereas rule through winning the hearts is everlasting and bring laurels in the longer run. MQM needs to review their policy if they truly want to be in the mainstream of politics at national level.

Dharnas - What Next

Irrespective of the conspiracy theories of "London Plan" and "Script Writer", credit goes to PTI - Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf (Pakistan Justice Movement) and PAT - Pakistan Awami Tehrik (Peoples' Movement of Pakistan) for the longest sit-in in the history of Pakistan. Starting 14th Aug 2014, its been their 55th day on 24 Sep that they are present at D Square right in front of the Parliament House in Islamabad.

These protestors are out for so long demanding purification of corrupt political and electoral system in Pakistan which is a legitimate demand. There can be difference of opinion; on the method they have adopted, for demanding such reforms but no one can deny the fact that there is a dire need of these reforms to curb the dynastic, corrupt, elitist, and non-participatory "democracy" in the country.

Both the sit-ins are led by their respective leaders i.e., Imran Khan of PTI and Dr. Tahir ul Qadri of PAT who have been successful in bringing handsome amount of crowds with them for the sit-ins. Although basic demands of both the parties are different in nature as PTI is demanding electoral reforms for conduct of free and fair elections in future and PAT is of the view to rehash the entire political and administrative system in the country to provide justice and basic human rights to people in the light of first 40 articles of the constitution yet their immediate demands are similar in nature. These demands include: -

• Resignation of Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Shareef - Both PTI and PAT are of the view that no free and fair trial of corruption in election can be held as long as Mr. Nawaz Sharif is in the chair.
• Resignation of Chief Minister of Punjab along with other federal and provincial ministers as they are involved in Model Town debacle where minimum 14 people died due to brutal use of state police allegedly under direct orders from the Chief Minister.
• Dissolution of National and all Provincial Assemblies as these consist of members who do not fulfil the basic criteria of being just and truthful as is required vide article 62 and 63 of the constitution.
• Holding of re-elections in the country after electoral reforms (in case of PTI's demand) and after reforms in the entire democratic system under a national government of technocrats (as demanded by PAT).

Both leaders have used all their cards by adopting following possible measures: -

• Public processions and addresses to big gatherings.
• Long march towards Islamabad and sit-in near Aabpara.
• Move to D Square near Parliament building (although initially both had given to understand that they will not enter in the sensitive areas).
• Move towards Presidency and Prime Minister House which also resulted in heaviest use of tear gas by the law enforcing agencies, killing minimum 3 and injuring about 30 people.

Government, on the other hand has its own reasons for rejecting the demands. Basic plea taken by the government is that they have been elected by majority votes and have the backing of 11 different parties (allies of government as well as opposition parties) in the parliament so why shall they accept the demands of few thousand people.

This dilemma has put the situation in stalemate and no one is ready to withdraw from their stances from both the sides. This has become the game of waiting and war of nerves. Government knows that as the time passes, these sit-ins will die their own death because of following factors: -

•  People in sit-in belong to lower, lower middle and middle class and they cannot leave their jobs/ businesses and other economic activities for very long time.
• By every passing day the weather in Islamabad is getting colder and as it gets severer, people will tend to move back to their native places.
• It will become a routine activity and all the adventurism and charisma in the personalities of Imran Khan and Dr Tahir ul Qadri will become part of routine and result into boredom.
• There will be no meat left in the speeches of leaders as they will not have nothing new to offer to their supporters.
• Government's propaganda will come into play that both these leaders have diverted the attention of the nation from other important issues like floods in Kashmir, Punjab and Sindh, and operation in North Waziristan by Pakistan Army.

PTI and PAT have put everything in their kitty on stakes and if they return without their demands been accepted, their political fame and future political activism will end forever. They, therefore have to look for some solid measures where they can exert pressure on government and force them to resign. As they have already exercised their options of big processions, addresses to masses present in the processions as well as listening to them live through the courtesy of electronic media, peaceful sit-ins as well as violent display of force, they must devise some other means to pressurize the government. 

The extremist method can be raid over the sensitive national buildings like Parliament House, Presidency and Pakistan Secretariat etc but this will entail brutal action by state law enforcing agencies and may also engage Pakistan Army (which will be the worst action).

A better and peaceful step they can take is spreading their sit-ins in other cities and block the economical and routine social cycle in the country. That will force the government to review its policy about dealing with these protesting forces. The only issue is that how will these parties manage to bring more people on the roads and sit there for few weeks. If they can manage that force of general public, that is the only viable peaceful option left with PTI and PAT. 

The Art of Possibilities

In the modern world, politics is known as the art of possibilities thereby understood as the art where a politician is "officially" permitted to tell lies and mold the situation to his/ her own benefit. This type of political practice allows a politician to take a U turn if the situation gets against his stand on any issue, permits him to play with the words and interpret any of his own statements as it suits the situation. 

The question is that is this type of politics stays within the bounds of ethics, morality and truthfulness? In Pakistan, especially, politics is generally treated as an art of fraud, false promises, baseless claims and giving false and impracticable hopes to the general public. Politicians, therefore, are generally known as "Dream Merchants" who use the expectations and hopes of people for their own benefits and personal gains. Their slogans and claims during the election campaigns and while addressing the public are full of lies which are never fulfilled after they get the votes from public and come into power.

Pakistan, so called "Citadel of Islam" is being ruled by an elite class consisting few hundred families who have shaped politics as such that its fruits are not reached to anyone outside the elites. General public is just there to vote for them and after the election no one even bothers to get back to them to address their issues. So called democratic leaders do not exercise democracy within their parties and all the political parties are being ruled through dynasties. People are made to obey their leader to the extent of worship and no one in the party can dare to differ from whatever is said by the party leader. 

The practice of telling lies, making false promises and breaching the trust of people is against the basic principles of Islam. Islam categorizes its followers in 3 groups namely Muslims (submitters), Momins (faithfuls) and Munafiqs (insincere). In accordance with the Islamic teachings, this insincere cadre of people will be in the lowest level in the hellfire. The signs of there people as described in a Hadith (the saying of Prophet Muhammad (sallallahu alyehi wa aal e hi wasalam)) as described in Bukhari (Book 1, Vol 2, Hadith 32) are: -

• Whenever he speaks, he tells a lie.
• Whenever he promises, he always breaks it.
• If you trust him, he proves to be dishonest (if you place something under his custody trusting him, he won't return it).

In the light of above signs, it is to be judged if today's politics is the art of possibilities or sheer act of insincerity for which the announced reward is the lowest grade in hellfire.

Issues with MQM

Recent telephonic addresses of Altaf Hussain, leader of MQM, to the General Workers of the movement have left few unanswered questions about the internal issues. It seems like Altaf Hussain has lost the grip over the think-tanks and office bearers of his movement and he has serious concerns over their discipline, actions, role in bridging the communication between the Quaid and Party Workers.

 During his address on Sep 4 , Altaf Hussain announced that Karachi Tanzeemi Committee (KTC) shall be dis-functional by 11 Sep which has been set as ineffective on due date. He in his recent speech also put MQM's Rabita Committee (the highest body for keeping the party chain intact) on last warning and decided to re-elect its members as soon as appropriate names were forwarded by the offices of the movement in due course of time.

Some important inferences drawn from these vital steps are discussed below: -

Timings

It is important to keep in mind the timings of these speeches. In Islamabad, Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf (PTI) led by Imran Khan and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) under the leadership of Tahir ul Qadri are protesting against the rigging in 2013 General Elections and for want of renewal of democratic system in Pakistan. MQM, initially supported the demands of both the parties but then backed-off seeing that all parties in the parliament have joined hands with the government against the agitating parties outside parliament building. Altaf Hussain must have thought it appropriate to raise the issues at this moment when apparently federal government has lost its strength in general public. He could possible achieve following benefits by his speeches at this time: -

• Raise his voice to support General Musharraf's case as it was being dealt with stubborn attitude of Nawaz government when it was in strength.
• Prove all his workers innocent for all the turbulence in Karachi and criticize law enforcers for the arrests of "innocent" MQM workers.
• Raise the voice for separate Sind for Mohajirs while the government is already in a fix to deal with PTI and PAT.
• Stay in media, that was giving excessive coverage to the live speeches; and debates thereon, of Imran Khan and Tahir ul Qadri.

MQM Exposed?

During his address to the party workers Altaf Hussain asked them to recommend names of workers to be included in new Rabita Committee who were: -

• Educated.
• Not involved in Land Mafia.
• Not involved in Bhatta.
• Not involved in Corruption.
• Trusted old party workers.

This clearly indicates that office bearers of MQM Rabita Committee, despite all their clarifications and denial of being involved in Land Mafia and Bhatta Khori were directly involved in all these crimes since these were the issues, their leader residing in London was not happy with.