Set to bury the hatchet ‘for Karachi’s sake’

MQM-Haqiqi, PSP lend support to MQM-Pakistan’s rally today

KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement [MQM] - Pakistan is all set for a rally today. The fact that Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) - Haqiqi has extended support for their rally lends credence to the notion that a coalition is soon to be formed.

Many felt that with the MQM having split into factions, especially after party founder Altaf Hussain’s controversial speech of August 22, the only winner that seemed to be emerging in the political landscape of urban Sindh is the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). The Karachi operation led by the Rangers was also a blow to the politics of the MQM factions that claim to be representing the Urdu-speaking urban populace of Sindh. Interestingly, the bloc that is likely to form after coalition of the MQM factions has emerged in the days when both MQM-Pakistan and MQM-Haqiqi are in the utmost need of strength to counter the forces opposing and challenging their fragile sway and maintain whatever they have been left with. It is perhaps the looming insecurity that stems from PPP taking the stage in urban areas, resulting in the possible neglect of the Urdu-speaking populace, which has begun to unite the dissenting factions.

Burying the hatchet

“We have decided to support MQM-Pakistan for the sake of this city, which has been left without any caretaker,” MQM-Haqiqi Information Secretary Khalid Hameed tells The Express Tribune. “There’s no politics in it.”



Once arch-rivals, MQM-Pakistan and MQM-Haqiqi are likely to share the stage today for the first time in their history – pockmarked with the blood of their own workers – for what they claim is in the best interest of Karachi.

Interestingly, it is not just the MQM-Pakistan that the Haqiqi faction is now openly supporting. “We support everyone who advocates for the rights of the city,” says Khalid Hameed, referring to the Pak Sarzameen Party's (PSP) protest campaign staged outside the Karachi Press Club for the past two weeks.

Meanwhile, MQM-Pakistan spokesperson Aminul Haq maintains that his party would welcome everyone supporting its cause, regardless of the bitterness of the past. “We represent urban centres in Sindh and those areas have systematically been robbed of their due rights,” he says, criticising the province-ruling PPP for allegedly manipulating the resources in favour of the rural population it represents.

What brought this on?

The turbulence that the year 2016 has inflicted upon the MQM with it having split into three more factions, including PSP, provided a golden chance to other political forces at play to fill in the vacuum.

In its bid to claim a share in the city’s street power, the PPP appears to be the biggest investors given the resources it has a hold on being the province-ruling.



Though the PPP’s city leadership rests with Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari’s close friend, Dr Asim Hussain, it is the party’s veteran stalwart, Senator Saeed Ghani, who is actually playing the cards on ground.

According to sources, the local leadership at the town and union council levels has been tasked with inducting more and more people from the MQM factions to maintain hold over the space they had maintained in their personal capacities.

“Parties like PPP, PTI and PML-N have been acting as parachutes in the current scenario,” MQM-Pakistan’s Haque says. “But they can’t succeed, given the dynamics of the city, which never favoured them.”

The bone of contention

While all the MQM factions seem to be united in the struggle for the city’s rights, there is apparently little consensus over common leadership.



In this whole scenario, PSP, led by former mayor Mustafa Kamal, is the party that seems to be bent upon stealing the show alone. With it protest going on outside Karachi Press Club since April 6, it claims to be setting a precedent in the struggle for demands. Though PSP leader Waseem Aftab supports the MQM-Pakistan’s rally for the ‘betterment of this city’, he is adamant that all those now championing the cause of Karachi should have joined his party’s campaign.

“We were the first to have announced the protest campaign in line of our demands for the uplift of this city and other urban centres of the province,” Aftab says, adding that MQM-Pakistan, MQM-Haqiqi and others should join them instead of inviting them.

Where is MQM-London?

Having suffered major blows since August 22, the pro-Altaf MQM group is trying to regain strength on ground once again. Eyeing all the other groups of the party as puppets of the establishment, MQM-London is waiting for the right time to come. “MQM-Pakistan and MQM-Haqiqi coalition was bound to happen,” MQM-London leader Wasay Jalil says. “Post Panama decision, the establishment has once again expedited its campaigning in the port city.”