‘The MQM does not have a narrative now’

Interview

Dr Farooq Sattar
One of the founding leaders of MQM

Dr. Muhammad Farooq Sattar, one of the founding leaders of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) – the Mohajir Qaumi Movement of yesteryears – yearns to rejoin the party which gave him political recognition and made him the youngest mayor of Karachi. But the leadership of the MQM, which now operates from Bahadurabad, appears reluctant to take him back in the party fold. But this does not mean that Dr. Sattar has abandoned MQM politics. Now he leads the MQM-Bahali Committee (MQM-BC) which aims to reunite all the factions of the party. And if this endeavour fails, he is determined to pursue other options to take up the issue of the rights of Karachi in an effective manner. Dr. Sattar has some interesting proposals in this regard. But nobody seems to be listening to him – at least for now.

Even after his defeat in the NA-245 by-election, which was won by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the veteran politician remains as active in, and as optimistic about politics as ever. In his detailed interview with Bol News, Dr. Sattar – once seen as the soft face of the MQM – contemplates why the party which once dominated urban Sindh now seems to be fast losing its turf. Extracts of his interview…

How do you explain the defeat of the MQM and your own in the NA-245 by-elections? Does this indicate that the MQM’s vote bank has shrunk?

Farooq Sattar (FS): Firstly, the voter turnout was barely 11.8 per cent. This means that more than 88 per cent of the people did not vote. In the NA-240 by-elections, voter turnout was just 9.0 per cent. In a way those who did not vote, expressed their no-confidence in all the political parties [in the field]. In regular elections, the voter turnout is usually 30-35 per cent or, occasionally, it goes to a maximum of 50 per cent. In Karachi, this turnout has never been more than 50 per cent, even after the PTI (Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf)’s emergence on the scene. In the Punjab, where candidates spend more and electoral contests are close, we can witness up to a 60 per cent turnout.

Secondly, the PTI did admittedly develop a vote bank. Although the PTI government’s performance was poor, its premature removal proved a blessing in disguise for the party. Imran Khan sold a narrative, which was bought by the people. There is a renewed wave of sympathy in favour of the PTI and Imran Khan. Mahmood Modi (PTI’s candidate in the NA-245 by-election) got this support.

The third factor contributing to our defeat was the division within the MQM. Some people say that even if the MQM’s 13,000 or so votes, my 4,000 votes, the PSP (Pak-Sarzameen Party)’s 1,500 votes, and the MQM Afaq’s 1,000 votes are combined, it amounts to a total of 19,500 votes or so, a figure which still remains way too low to beat the PTI’s 29,000-plus votes. I believe that around 4,000 to 5,000 voters — who are heartbroken and disappointed because of the division in our ranks – also voted for the PTI, which they see as riding the wave of public sympathy and challenging the corrupt political parties.

Another reason for the MQM’s defeat is that when the wind turned against the PTI, the MQM went for another “nikah” without first fulfilling the conditions of divorce. They joined hands with the PPP (Pakistan People’s Party) with whom they had been fighting. In a nutshell, all these factors, plus the immaturity and incompetence of the MQM leadership, contributed to its defeat.

You have underlined three factors contributing to the MQM’s defeat. But we can add two more to that list – one that the MQM offers voters no viable narrative, and second Altaf Hussain’s boycott call. Which one of these played the bigger role in the party’s defeat?

FS: I don’t know how effective the boycott call from London was. We have to see voter turnout in the coming Karachi by-elections, which include those constituencies considered the PPP’s stronghold. Will the turnout in these by-elections be 15 or 20 per cent? I don’t think so. People are fed-up with politicians and political parties. None of them have a clear narrative, but the PTI has a slight advantage. Despite its poor performance at the national level and in Karachi – where it had 14 National Assembly seats — the PTI’s popularity is higher than that of the rest. Therefore, I won’t endorse the interpretation that the London boycott call worked. But I agree that the MQM does not have a narrative now.

The division of the MQM is now an old story, but the party’s lack of narrative is seen as giving it a greater blow. It has abandoned the ethnic card and its posture of championing urban Sindh’s rights collapsed after joining hands with the PPP. What does the MQM stand for today?

FS: Many voters are angry and disappointed with us because of the division. The absence of a narrative is also a factor. And shaking hands with the PPP came as another blow. We can sum it up as the MQM’s erroneous and inconsistent policies and failure to deliver to its voters that resulted in its downfall.

You want to revive the MQM, but are not part of it. What would you advise the MQM Bahadurabad leaders to do in this situation to revive the MQM’s fortunes?

FS: I have been trying for the last four years, with the help of mediators, to get them to sit with me and decide three-four issues. Khalid (Maqbool Siddiqui) Bhai sat with me thrice after I submitted my nomination for NA-245 and I even got 75 independent panels comprising youngsters, whom I have prepared during the last four years, to file nomination papers in the coming local elections on the symbols of the lock and laptop. I can claim that my panel is the best compared to the Jamaat-e-Islami, the MQM, the PSP, the TLP (Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan) in regard to education, qualifications and political grooming. I believe Khalid Bhai and I should join hands and I return to the party fold… Khalid Maqbool agreed to all my advice (and there were no conditions). Number one among what I suggested was fixing the party’s flaws and problems, and sidelining those responsible for the mess. My second suggestion was asking forgiveness from voters and making a commitment that we would compensate for our mistakes. The third was that we start working on a focused agenda, while the fourth was holding party elections and ensuring that 65 per cent of all positions at all the levels should go to 35-year and younger party members. This was to bring in our next line of leadership and end our hegemony, dominance, and monopoly over the party. One last point was to hold a workers’ meeting in which Khalid Bhai and myself would elucidate upon these points.

This, I said, remains the only recipe to counter the PTI wave – through the youth and a new narrative. People would then see the MQM as the educated, urban middle-class political party of 1984. Khalid Maqbool agreed to all these proposals. I had said I would bring 1,000 people to the workers meeting, and he had to bring 2,000 workers and office bearers. I introduced Moeed Anwar at Eidgah, saying that now the kite will fly, and asked my 75 panels of locks and laptops to withdraw from the local elections. But when there was no response from Khalid Bhai for 20 days, I reversed gear and announced that now I would contest the by-election and my youth panels would also run in the local election. I was told that ‘elders,’ meaning the agencies, had not cleared my name to rejoin the party. This means that these elders are running the party now…

Do you honestly believe that the MQM can be revived?

FS: Since the days of President Musharraf, many weaknesses have crept into the MQM. After 2010, the internal problems only got bigger. We became complacent and thought that we would remain secure under the shadow of the kite. We started taking our support-base for granted, even though the party was now run from London.

Our style of work addicted people to the MQM. One could go to the Water Board if there were flowing gutters, and the problem was solved. Streetlights were installed or repaired… There was a delegation of power. Councillors, sector in-charge officers, MPAs and MNAs worked in coordination with one another. The PTI could not replace that. They had eight seats, and six more were given to them. Agreed that the President, Sindh Governor and some other ministers were from Karachi under the PTI, and the city joined the national mainstream, but those 14 PTI MNAs did not fight Karachi’s case as the MQM did. People still need the MQM or an MQM-type urban middle class, educated party of the youth. There is a vacuum, which needs to be filled either by reviving the MQM or following my new formula…

If they don’t take me back to the MQM, Khalid Maqbool and I should form an alliance and then we should both go to Mustafa Kamal and Afaq Ahmed to form an urban alliance, which starts with one seat, one candidate and works on a focused agenda.

Do you think that the MQM-P committed a mistake by abandoning the PTI? What would you have advised them to do?

FS: In the good days of the MQM, whenever we left the government, we built a proper narrative and quit only after issuing proper warnings. The only exception and a big mistake was when, during the period of the last PPP government, we announced we were quitting the ruling coalition one night, and the very next morning rejoined it after (the then interior minister and close aide of former President Asif Ali Zardari) Rehman Malik  used his magic wand. When the MQM was joining the PTI-led government four years ago, I advised Khalid Maqbool not to take ministries and only support the government  during legislation, and budget-making…, but I said every three months they should press for getting their own agenda registered, in which the reopening of party offices should not be a priority.  Instead, I told them, the focus should be on the water-supply scheme K-4, the circular train, and the implementation of Articles 140-A and 149/4 for urban development. I advised them to form a commission comprising all the parties and other stakeholders for this purpose. I also forwarded a shadow urban development plan in writing two years ago, but neither the PTI nor the MQM responded. Only Pindi engaged me. This is one practical recipe for the survival of Karachi and Pakistan.

After sensing the impending change of fortunes for the PTI, I again asked the MQM to quit their ministries and take a stand on their agenda. I asked them not to support every legislation proposed, especially the EVMs (electronic voting machines). But they helped pass 29 bills in one go, damaging their position. Imagine, they supported the EVMs when they were with the PTI, and then opposed them after joining hands with the PMLN and PPP. Where is the MQM’s own policy? It means Zardari was right when he said that now they will run the MQM. Earlier, someone else was running it.

Even when they switched camps, they should not have supported the vote of no-confidence, remained neutral and not accepted ministries. Those 20 PTI dissidents, accused of taking bribes and promises of favours, should have voted in the no-confidence motion. But it is the MQM, which got its name tarnished and the PTI dissidents remained unaffected. The MQM, despite being part of the government for four years, voted for a no-confidence motion…  The weight and responsibility of the government’s poor performance was also on the MQM. It is the sheer incompetence, immaturity and lack of direction and policy of the MQM which is being run by a gang of nine, each running a separate party that has resulted in the present state of affairs.  Yes, there are nine MQMs in one MQM.

Who are these nine people?

FS: This is a question for you…

Was the decision to join hands with the PPP and the PML-N motivated by the desire to get Karachi its rights, or was it plain opportunism?

FS: It was opportunism. See how they are running the show by appointing weak individuals in key positions… I was accused of favouring Kamran Tasorri, but now one friend has been made an advisor to the Prime Minister. Where are the principles now?

You were part of the MQM when it was coalition partners both with the PPP and the PML-N. You watched its alliance with the PTI as an outsider. Which party treated the MQM and Karachi better?

1. The best treatment was given by President Pervez Musharraf and the PML-Q and its Chief Minister Arbab Rahim. The PML-N period after that was also not bad. The PTI stands third, while the PPP has always been the worst.

Do you think the MQM’s alliance with the PPP and the PML-N has a future?

FS: It will only weaken the MQM. Half of the Titanic has already sunk and more water is gushing in. Now they think that even with a few seats they can leverage their politics, but what will happen after the next elections? They will neither get these four seats, nor be able to bring in their mayor and win the local bodies elections.

The PPP gave the Jamaat-e-Islami one big lollypop after its 28-day sit-in and the PSP a smaller one. A big lollypop was also given to the MQM on paper, as it helped bring down the PTI government. But practically, this amounted to nothing.

My 2017 petition was approved by former Chief Justice Gulzar Ahmed in February 2022. Now its implementation remains. The only way to get it implemented is that I, Khalid Maqbool and Mustafa Kamal join hands. Afaq Ahmed is welcome to join too. We should also ask Hafiz Naeem of the Jamaat-e-Islami and Imran Ismail of the PTI to get together for a common cause. If the TLP comes, it is fine too. If we all file a contempt of court petition and after that stage, a sit-in at the Quaid-e-Azam’s Mausoleum, the PPP will be forced to give powers to the local government under Article 140 of the Constitution.

Did you receive any offer to join the PTI?

FS: Yes, there were offers. First I got an offer from the PML-N, after that the PTI, and then even from the PPP. When I was running for the NA 245 by-elections, the PTI asked me to withdraw and support their candidate on the promise that in the next elections, they would support me as an independent candidate. I was told that if you join the PTI, we may give you a ticket even this time around, subject to the outcome of the meeting with Imran Khan. I thought that there was too little time ahead of the by-elections to decide such matters, so said we should discuss it later.

How do you envision Karachi’s future politics?

FS: The problems of Karachi and Pakistan cannot be solved by one person, one party or one community alone. We need a national charter, socio-economic stability and development in which Karachi should be an integral part of the national agenda.

Karachi needs a national commission comprising various stakeholders. It needs Rs.400 billion annually… don’t give this money to the mayor of one party, but to the commission so that big projects – the K-4, the circular train, sewerage, sanitation and storm water systems can be revamped. Once these projects are on track, only then give the mayor this money. If this does not happen now, Karachi will slide into turmoil from which pulling it back will be impossible.

Imran Khan and the PTI are riding an unprecedented wave of popularity. Do you think that orchestrating Imran Khan’s ouster was a mistake?

FS: It should have not been done. They miscalculated, and it misfired. The MQM is seen as being primarily responsible by voting for this change, as those who got the loyalties of the PTI members changed, remained behind the curtain.