United We Stand

Can a united MQM muster the force it once had?

Karachi: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) is facing multiple challenges after the reunification of its disgruntled factions and its boycott of the recent local government elections. The party is currently in a transition period, reorganising its structure to prepare itself for the upcoming by-elections and general elections later this year,  moving  to the Supreme Court, and raising its voice against what it alleges are the injustices wrought by  “unjustified” delimitations and the local government elections (LGEs).

After boycotting the second phase of the LGEs in Sindh, MQM-P senior leader Anis Qaimkhani said that this does not in any way mean the MQM-P has disappeared from the politics of the province; on the contrary, it remains strong, powerful and the favourite party of urban Sindh, as the low voter turnout demonstrated. He pointed out that no single party — neither the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) or the Jamaat-e-Islamic (JI) — was successful in getting a majority in the LGEs.  He added that, and the fact that only around 7.0 per cent of the public cast their vote in the MQM-P strongholds indicated that people were not eager to go to the polls they saw as having been tilted against them.

Qaimkhani continued that since the merger of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) and individuals with the MQM-P, two general workers meetings had been held in Karachi and Hyderabad, which  looked like big public meetings. He said the MQM-P workers — who are the backbone of the party — now feel rejuvenated as they believe hope has been rekindled for a better future. He added that the MQM-P will actively contest the upcoming by-elections.

“I admit that the MQM-P’s boycott gave the PPP and the JI an opportunity, as also happened in the past. The MQM-P has boycotted elections three times — first the 1993 National Assembly (NA) general elections, and secondly and thirdly the local government elections in 2002 and 2023 respectively. When it boycotted the 1993 NA general elections, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, better known as MQM-Haqiqi led by Afaq Ahmed, flexed its muscles in the political domain and after a couple of days, it participated in the second phase of the 1993 general elections of the provincial assembly and swept the polls. Then it boycotted the 2002 LGEs and the JI succeeded in bringing in Naimatullah Khan as Karachi mayor, while the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP) won the LGEs in Hyderabad. But this did not affect the popularity and vote-bank of the MQM-P because these parties did not work for the urban areas and in the very next elections, the MQM-P came out with a vast majority. And now, even if the PPP succeeds in bringing in its mayors in Karachi and Hyderabad, it will not affect the MQM-P because it [the PPP] won’t serve the people and the popularity of the MQM-P will rise. The PPP is ostensibly a federal party, but in Sindh it is a party based on racialism and bias,” said Qaimkhani.

“All the merged parties and individuals will remain united as all know now that they will never be successful if they work separately. If the PTI or some other parties had worked for people, people would not have hankered for the MQM-P, and there would have been no need for the recent merger,” he said.

Speaking about future plans,  Qaimkhani said the MQM-P is making preparations to move to the Supreme Court against the unjust delimitations of 73 union committees (UCs) in Karachi, and the PPP has itself admitted that the delimitations of 53 UCs are unjustified. He said after the merger, the MQM- P has been imbued with a new spirit, and now the MQM-P is reorganising the party’s structure to strengthen itself. He said voters of the MQM-P could have cast their votes for the PTI, JI  or the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), but there is a world of difference between the PPP and the MQM-P and the latter has its own separate vote-bank.

Qaimkhani maintained that “It is an established fact that if we are out of the government, we are unable to do anything, and we are not part of any government process right now. We all were of the view that we should not  boycott the LGEs, but we also agreed that we could not go with the wrong delimitations. Therefore, the party had no choice but to boycott the LGEs.  Had we  participated in the elections with those delimitations, it would have totally benefited thePPP.”

Senior MQM-P leader Nasreen Jalil stated, “Now, we have to make a point of the fact that we will go to the Apex Court to get the entire LGE process declared null and void, and  re-hold elections after the justified delimitations of the areas.”

She contended that a large number of people were disenfranchised on the basis of gerrymandering, and this would bring about substantial deprivation, frustration and unrest. She disclosed that many disgruntled political leaders and individuals had met with the PML-Q leadership in this respect. “The MQM-P calls for justice and it will go to the people and adopt all the available  legal and constitutional modus operandi in the larger interests of the people,” maintained Jalil.

“This is a testing time and the MQM-P is facing multiple challenges, such as the closure of its legal offices, various issues pertaining to local government, amendments to the local government laws, gerrymandering and above all, a poor national economy. The problems of the party are the problems of the people. Nowadays all parties which contested the recent LGEs have been reinforcing the pragmatic contention of the MQM-P which it has been demanding for the last 10-to-15 years,”said MQM-P leader Mohammad Rehan Hashmi.

He added that the voter turnout of the LGEs was even less than that of the by-elections as per media reports. This, he maintained, suggested that Karachiites had rejected all the contesting parties in Karachi. He said the MQM-P had always taken a stand against injustice,  having boycotted the elections three times so far because of various sound reasons. He claimed the recent LGEs were boycotted on account of the usurpation of people’s rights, such as the devolution of power to local bodies, the new delimitations, the lack of equal opportunities and the provincial finance commission, among others. He said all ruling parties and institutions concerned should fulfil all their constitutional duties before holding elections if they want to serve the interests of the people.

Senior political scientist and analyst Professor Dr Hasan Askari Rizvi said, “The MQM-P is in a crisis phase as it goes through a transition period. It has unified to strengthen itself, having been divided into three factions. Once they had absolute domination over Karachi and the other urban areas of Sindh, then they became weak, and now they are unable even to instal their own mayor in Karachi. Local government was the life-force of this party, but it was lost after the boycott.

“ They have to work to create some space for themselves. They are now not able to unilaterally shut down Karachi. But they can still foment unrest in the port city. If the unification of the MQM-P is complete, they will be able to strengthen themselves. Otherwise, it will be an important group, but nothing else,as it has only a couple of seats in the National and provincial assemblies.“ However, he conceded that “although the MQM-P is out of  local government, it still has  local force.Undoubtedly there is a decline, but it remains an important factor in Sindh’s politics.” Askari added that the MQM-P had raised the issue of delimitations after an inordinate delay and boycotted the LGEs at the eleventh hour, benefiting the PPP and JI. He contended that if the MQM-P had highlighted the delimitation issue earlier, it might have been resolved.

According to Askari, it is premature to say definitively that the MQM-P is united and will maintain homogeneity, because when such different groups merge, issues of identity and representation are generally raised. “This is an attempt to revive its power and unify itself, but time will decide if the unification is genuine, or they still have some divisive tendencies. Such factions as existed, have conflicts over a share of position and power. At this stage, you cannot predict if they will be able to work together harmoniously. Right now the MQM-P is facing many problems. First it is out of the local government, which was its source of strength in the past, and through which it could protect its voters. Secondly, it is still moot whether the party will remain integrated, and thirdly there is concern in PML-Q ranks about how they will fare in the general elections this year,”  he said.

He added that everybody knew that the MQM  had used violence in the past and that they had strengthened themselves through the local government set-up. Now, he contended, they cannot be as fascist as they were, when with just a signal they could  shut down all of Karachi; that is not possible in the current scenario because the situation is different.

How MQM-P will behave, and how it will fare in the future, only time will tell.