Two stakeholders of power pie in Sindh keep talking

MQM yet not felt shy to sustain now-on-now-off ‘alliance’ with the PPP throughout the past five years.

Dr Farooq Sattar seriously needs to admit that the MQM relished quality time during the “true and not the sham democracy,” which General Musharraf had promoted under the Praetorian wings. From 2002 to 2008, “the grassroots empowering” local bodies were in full bloom as well. That also was the time to establish institutions to ensure perfect order in a chaotic city like Karachi on long-term basis.

The MQM squandered the opportunity and yet not felt shy to sustain now-on-now-off ‘alliance’ with the PPP throughout the past five years.

Even after the fiercely contested elections in May 2013, the MQM has retained its electoral control over Karachi. This time around, however, the federal government is not so willing to pamper the party by doling out ministerial positions to its nominees. Asif Ali Zardari has not given up though.

Two of his trusted aides, Dr Asim and Rehman Malik keep meeting Altaf Hussain in London. Reliable sources also told me that tomorrow or the day after, another meeting in Dubai might take place to negotiate the nitty-gritty of a renewed alliance between the two main stakeholders of the power pie in Sindh. With these things in mind, one simply fails to understand what prompted Dr Farooq Sattar to demand that Karachi must be handed over to Army. Syed Khurshid Shah turned furious when he heard this demand from the benches occupied by erstwhile friends of his party. He behaved like a jilted lover, helplessly squawking, rubbing in the question that wanted to find out whether the MQM-provided Dr Ebad would continue as Governor Sindh once the Army took control of Karachi.

Akram Durrani of the JUI-F tried to prevent bickering among the MQM and the PPP legislators over Karachi by diverting to another issue: the alleged rigging in recently held by-elections in some national and provincial assembly constituencies in the PTI-run K-P. By naming names, he told stories to convince us that the Khattak-led government in his province tried hard to influence the electoral process by micro-managing postings and transfers of the personnel the Election Commission required for polling. His allegations agitated many on the PTI benches. Feverishly, they kept pushing buttons to attract the chair’s attention. The MQM was in no mood to let things drift to other issues, however. Its youthful members ganged up and bullied the Deputy Speaker to finally let Nabeel Gabol speak from their benches.

Nabeel represents the third generation of a very influential Gabol family from Lyari, once considered the citadel of PPP in Karachi. Asif Zardari did not feel comfortable with his playing friends-to-everybody game and reaching the national assembly. In 2013, Nabeel Gabol moved over to the MQM, rudely taking on his former comrades and repeatedly wondering as to what was wrong in seeking the Army control of Karachi when everything else seemed to have failed to restore order in the city. He provoked a large number of the PPP legislators to react under the plea of “personal explanation.” Murtaza Abbasi did not know how to calm the MQM.

Notwithstanding MQM’s success in bullying point-making Tuesday, I have to disclose that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is feeling doubly upset with this party’s behaviour of late. The PPP-hating nationalists in Sindh had warmly embraced him close to May 2013 elections. It did not help many from their ranks to reach the national assembly but the Prime Minister wanted to compensate them by appointing Mumtaz Bhutto as Governor of Sindh. Only after reaching Islamabad and the briefings given by ‘appropriate quarters’, has he decided to continue with Dr Ishratul Ebad and later went to the extent of sending Mamnoon Hussain to the Presidency to appease the “core MQM constituency”. These two initiatives have alienated Mumtaz Bhutto who is almost ready to announce quitting PML-N.

I have it from reliable sources that Murtaza Jatoi, the soft-spoken heir of Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, is also considering resigning from the “powerless ministry” allotted to him. Nawaz Sharif will not go an extra mile to appease the MQM with such developments.

Similarly, someone should tell Imran Khan that by hinting at the possibility of asking for dissolution of the K-P Assembly and seeking fresh mandate, he had forced many power politics operators in that province to begin thinking of options for ‘self-preservation’. Maulana Fazlur Rahman, a crafty player of power games already has a game in this connection. He just needs the wink and the nod from the Prime Minister and can even manage Pervez Khattak sitting in the next provincial cabinet as a minister after switching to another party.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 28^th, 2013.