A press conference in London

We are used to many curious political events. But the press conference addressed by MQM chief Altaf Hussain over Skype from London took the cake in more ways than one. While supporters gathered at Karachi watched with a kind of reverence usually reserved for religious events, many others saw the antics and the manner in which the speech was delivered as something that they had never seen before, and would unlikely to see ever again. This is not least because during his over three-hour-long speech, the MQM chief sang at least two songs, and did a semi-dance routine while seated, as he tried to make a point.

During his address, Mr Hussain said many things but most were not relevant or earth-shattering. Indeed one wonders why he chose to speak at his first media conference in years anyway. He partially refuted the allegations made against him by Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, but certainly took his time to come to any kind of point. He also did not answer questions directly about the allegations against him. The most ominous message delivered spoke of a possible end to the relative calm Karachi is currently seeing if there were further attacks on Muhajirs and if the government chose to do nothing about them. This of course only reinforces the perception among many that the party, perhaps more so than others, can control the violence in Karachi. As for the talk of victimisation of Muhajirs, the community has now lived in Pakistan for generations, with many born after 1947. The effort of all parties should be focused around ensuring a merger with the mainstream of a society which has at any rate adopted Urdu as a principal language rather than attempting to carve open tensions which carry a potential for creating further unrest. Furthermore, that the MQM chief lashed out at virtually every other party except the PPP suggests that he is keeping open the option of rejoining the coalition. But what he said would have done little to build political harmony in a city where the parties desperately need to join hands and sit together so they can work out a means to end the killings. That no gesture to suggest that his party would be willing to move towards this much-needed reconciliation was forthcoming, is perhaps a worrying development in itself.



Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2011.