Muhajir politics

The politics of the MQM-P has once again entered a decisive phase. What began in the 1980s as an organised assertion of urban Muhajir identity gradually revealed deeper contradictions within Sindh's political economy. Today, visible divisions between the party's factions led by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Mustafa Kamal underscore a structural crisis rather than a temporary disagreement.

Muhajir politics was never merely a spontaneous cry for recognition. It emerged from material shifts that unsettled the urban middle classes of Karachi. The sweeping nationalisation policies of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s disrupted banks, industries and educational institutions where many Urdu speaking 'muhajirs' were concentrated. Loss of economic control translated into political grievance. Identity hardened as access to state employment and influence appeared to narrow. Out of this dislocation, a disciplined organisational machine took shape, mediating jobs, contracts, housing and municipal resources while presenting itself as the sole guardian of Muhajir rights.

The same structure that mobilised grievance centralised power. Brokers and intermediaries rose through proximity to authority. Street discipline substituted for internal democracy. Under the strongman leadership of Altaf Hussain, unity was enforced through command, with dissent being equated with betrayal. What claimed to resist exclusion reproduced hierarchy within the city. Control over transport routes, land development and local trade often aligned opportunity with loyalty. Collective empowerment narrowed into selective access.

Economic restructuring again altered the terrain. The privatisation drive and market liberalisation pursued under President Pervez Musharraf reopened channels of accumulation for segments of the urban middle class. Coupled with local government reforms, this diluted some of the anxieties that had sustained rigid ethnic mobilisation. As economic opportunity diversified, identity politics lost part of its adhesive force. Muhajir consciousness, forged in reaction to state control, struggled to retain urgency in a liberalising order.

Demographic change compounded this shift. Karachi expanded into a plural metropolis where new communities asserted political presence. Younger voters prioritised service delivery over symbolic assertion. Repeated splits and delimitation disputes fragmented the vote bank. The once cohesive narrative lost exclusivity. Moral authority was further weakened by memories of violence and governance failures.

In this context, renewed calls to declare Karachi a federal territory or carve out a separate province appear less transformative than tactical. Criticism of the PPP for "monopolising provincial authority" reflects real frustration over urban neglect. Karachi generates substantial national revenue while lacking proportional administrative control. The leap from reform to territorial reconfiguration often surfaces when organisational cohesion falters. Without unity, alliances and a credible governance framework, constitutional theatrics risk substituting for structural solutions.

The deeper imbalance persists. After the 18th constitutional amendment had devolved authority to provinces, local governments remained constrained despite Article 140-A's promise of empowerment. Infrastructure failures expose weaknesses in planning and accountability that cannot be resolved by symbolic redesignation alone.

Muhajir politics, therefore, appears less an eternal ethnic awakening and more a formation shaped by shifts between state control and market liberalisation. Nationalisation sharpened identity; privatisation diffused it. What endures is a contest over resources and authority within a transforming metropolis. If MQM-P cannot transcend its legacy of centralised control and articulate an inclusive urban programme, demands for federal status will remain dramatic gestures searching for a fading constituency.