The MQM in Punjab

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain projected a mainly liberal view of the world as he addressed a large rally at a football ground in Lahore. The impressive turnout at the event, even if many of the participants had been brought in from outside the provincial metropolis, will not please the Punjab government which had opposed the rally. Conversely it goes to help the MQM re-define itself as a party which expands beyond urban centres in Sindh or is associated only with a specific ethnic group.

Regardless of any controversies surrounding the MQM, it must be acknowledged that much of what Altaf Hussain said, speaking in traditional fashion over the telephone from London, made a great deal of sense. In an age of unrelenting extremism, it is always comforting to hear liberal opinions expressed without apology and without the sense of fear which keeps so many of us moored to particular ideas. Hussain lashed out strongly against traditional practices, including ‘watta satta’ marriages, in which one set of brother and sister siblings are married to another set, honour killings and marriages to the Holy Quran. He also opposed the military action in Balochistan, US drone attacks and borrowing from the IMF. More controversially, he advocated the creation of other provinces in Punjab, though only after a referendum.

There is no doubt we need mainstream parties ready to break the vision of the world projected by the establishment. This is especially important in Punjab — where such views are heard less infrequently than in each of the three smaller units. But despite the good showing at the meeting, it will take time for the MQM to carve out any distinct niche for itself in Punjab and especially in central cities, such as Lahore, where parties with a traditional hold will not easily let go. But in politics, diversity is almost always welcome. The arrival of the MQM in the country’s largest province offers just this, and also puts before people a set of views that acts to offer them possibilities that lie outside the usual framework within which they think and act.



Published in The Express Tribune, April 12^th, 2011.