After loss in Karachi by-polls, the party is allegedly pushing for indefinite postponement of local elections

The decision by the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) to further postpone local bodies elections in the administrative divisions of Karachi, Hyderabad and Thatta may have relieved pressure on Mutahidda Qaumi Movement Pakistan (MQM-P), given its “embarrassing” defeat in the recent National Assembly by-election on a Karachi seat, NA-239, sources say.

The local bodies elections were to be held on 23 October, but have now been put off for a third time, citing humanitarian crisis and the resultant administrative shortfalls following recent rains and floods. The ECP is yet to fix a new date for the elections.

The opposition parties are upset with the decision, and are blaming the ruling Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) for postponing elections “under pressure from its ally in the government, the MQM-P”, which they say has lost its popularity and is “afraid of elections”.

The PPP denies this. “First of all, MQM-P is not our ally; we only have a working partnership with it,” says advisor to Sindh Chief Minister on Political Affairs, Waqar Mehdi. “Secondly, the PPP is so strong at the moment, it can bring up its own Mayor in Karachi, so why should we run away from elections.”

He said the delay in elections was a “purely administrative matter as there is a shortage of security personnel, and the Sindh police informed the election commission accordingly.”

Sources say local bodies elections are not expected in near future as “one of the major stakeholders” in the ruling alliance is not ready and has been going from pillar to post to get them put off for an indefinite period. They say that recently a delegation of MQM-P met Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif in Islamabad and demanded fresh delimitations of constituencies before conducting elections.

According to media reports, the delegation led by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui included Wasim Akhtar, Faisal Sabzwari and Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori. The delegation told the prime minister that if the “agreement reached between MQM-P and PPP was not implemented in letter and spirit, MQM-P would be free to part ways with the ruling alliance”.

It is pertinent to mention that Kamran Tessori resigned his MQM-P membership before taking oath as Sindh Governor. Still, he was included in the said MQM-P delegation. The prime minister reportedly assured the delegation that the agreement would be implemented.

Since the 16 October by-election which MQM-P lost, its leaders have been hard-pressed to provide justifications for it. Senior leader and member of MQM-P’s Coordination Committee, Wasim Akhtar, told the media: “We remained an ally of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) for three and a half years, but it failed to deliver on its promises, and so we decided to part ways with it and join Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) alliance.”

Underlining the localized identity of MQM-P, he said it had to form alliances with countrywide forces in order to get the problems of its people solved. “If I quit the PML-N, where will we go? We have to remain an ally of a major party”, he said.

Nayyar Raza, the MQM-P candidate who lost to PTI’s Chairman Imran Khan in the Karachi by-election, said there were multiple factors behind his defeat, one of which was that “people may be angry with our party.”

There may be other factors as well, he said, such as economic meltdown, rising prices, increased bills of utilities, unemployment, unsolved civic issues, etc. “May be people lost trust in political parties and were not interested in casting their votes.”

However, MQM-P insiders say that internal differences among party leaders, and continued factionalisation of the original MQM could be a major reason why voters have lost interest in MQM-P. The party lost much credibility when Dr Farooq Sattar quit it. Also, known former MQM leaders such as Mustafa Kamal and Anees Qaimkhani parted ways and started their own separate Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP).

After the Karachi by-elections, there were widespread reports of an exchange of hot words among MQM-P leaders during a meeting at the party’s central election office, blaming each other for the defeat. During the meeting, Aamir Khan called Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui a “coward” and a “failed leader”, sources said, adding that Khwaja Izharul Hasan, Wasim Akhtar, Ameenul Haq and Sadiq Iftikhar also kept throwing accusations at each other.

MQM-P has denied those reports, however, and Nayyar Raza even said that no such meeting was held in the first place.