Analysis: It’s time for a third birth of the MQM

The party has witnessed several major overhauls in the past as well.

KARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is in an organisational crisis once again now that all its main bodies have been dissolved - this time in the backdrop of the May 11 elections. Although this is not the first time the powerful urban force went through such a situation, it nevertheless needs to move forward and replace the ‘movement’ with a ‘party’.

The party survived similar crises in the past - in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994 - during which it faced military and police operations, and lost key leaders. This time, however, it seems more like a political crisis and there appears to be a sense of realisation within the party that ‘all is not well’. MQM is also under pressure because it mishandled the situation to counter the propaganda against its leadership in both Pakistan and London since the murder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Zahra Shahid Hussain.

The party has taken some major decisions since the unfortunate incident at MQM headquarters, Nine Zero, on Sunday morning - an incident quite embarrassing for party veterans because the MQM is considered the country’s most disciplined party along with Jamaat-i-Islami (JI). Now, its chief Altaf Hussain had suspended the Karachi Organisational Committee, the Rabita Committee and the committee handling Nine Zero’s affairs. These changes occurred even though the party swept the polls in the city and retained its 17 National Assembly and 37 provincial seats - showing that there is more to the crisis than merely the election results.

Back to the roots

In 1984, the All Pakistan Mohajir Student Organisation formed in 1978, gave birth to the Mohajir Qaumi Movement and after almost 10 years, the word ‘Mohajir’ was replaced by Muttahida. In 1993, MQM abandoned its political structure of chairperson, secretary general, joint secretaries, etc, and replaced them with the Rabita Committee. The decision came after the assassination of its only chairperson, Azeem Ahmad Tariq.



The dissolution of the Rabita Committee is not a first, but it is definitely one of the major overhauls since 1991 when the party sacked several leaders, and sector and unit in-charges, including Afaq Ahmad and Aamir Khan.

Present dissolution

The present dissolution of the committees apparently has a lot to do with their failure to misread new political realities. These committees failed to pay attention to complaints against extortion, land grabbing and forced occupations being carried out in the name of MQM. This annoyed Altaf Hussain. He was also unhappy with his Pakistani leadership for failing to counter the negative perception about the party.

It is also true that the MQM has witnessed a decline in its vote bank, much like the Pakistan Peoples Party and the JI. Several people who voted for the MQM in the past elections chose PTI candidates instead.

The surviving founding members of the MQM - Altaf Hussain, Tariq Javed, Zareen Majeed, Kishawar Zehra, Ahmad Saleem Siddiqui and Aminul Haq, who are still active in the party in one way or the other - would never have imagined they would become the undisputed ruler of urban Sindh when they were laying down the foundations of APMSO.

Since then, MQM has won three local bodies’ and six general elections and is still the second largest party in Sindh.

The birth of the MQM was a result of the ethnic dimension of Sindh, which remains the same today. Thus, the MQM may be down but is certainly not out. It will be interesting to see if the party will be born again or will there just be a change of a few faces. It is certainly time for Altaf Hussain and his close aides to revisit their policies and make sure they are aware of the ground realities.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2013.