Post-raid Karachi

The MQM needs to do some soul-searching on why most Pakistanis believe it has played a key role in the criminalisation of politics in Pakistan’s biggest and richest city, Karachi. The party also needs to ponder over why a large number of people in Pakistan are convinced that wanted men were being harboured at its headquarters, Nine Zero, and that sophisticated weapons were kept there. Its denials and explanations, some of which are contradictory, have had little impact on those affected by the bloodshed and lawlessness in Karachi and would like every criminal to be dealt with sternly without consideration for the person’s political affiliation, ethnicity or standing in society.
The March 11 raid by the Rangers on a house that has come to identify the MQM and its supreme leader Altaf Hussain was unthinkable. For the party cadres, it had always been a hallowed place because it was Altaf Hussain’s family house. They thought it would never be raided by the law-enforcement agencies which is why Nine Zero became the hiding place for men wanted for involvement in a range of crimes.
Altaf Hussain’s argument that his ‘house’ should not have been raided is unconvincing because it had been turned into the central offices of the MQM years ago and visited daily by hundreds of party activists. It was no longer a ‘house’ and was instead a public place that played host to top politicians over the years and was the subject of much television coverage. In fact, the MQM used to take pride in the fact that presidents, prime ministers, governors, chief ministers and other VVIPs including diplomats had to visit Nine Zero as part of their dealings with the party. The MQM needed to be courted as it often held the balance in power in Sindh due to the significant number of assembly seats it often won in urban centres such as Karachi and Hyderabad. This ensured that the party remained in power for most of the years in the 1990s and 2000s.
In fact, a perception developed that the MQM cannot afford to remain in opposition for long. This was evident from the party’s policy of walking in and out of governments at one or the other pretext. The military rule of General Pervez Musharraf was the most beneficial for the MQM as he provided huge funds for Karachi’s development when the MQM’s Mustafa Kamal was the mayor; but the party also prospered when forming alliances with political parties in coalition governments.
The MQM and Altaf Hussain, based in the United Kingdom since 1992, were understandably shocked by the Rangers raid on Nine Zero-Azizabad. Altaf Hussain has been at times aggressive and then conciliatory as if failing to grasp the seriousness of the charges against him and the party he founded on March 18, 1984. In his initial reaction, he alleged that the Rangers personnel had brought the weapons to his party’s headquarters in blankets. Subsequently, his party leaders in Karachi started claiming that the weapons were all licensed and had been stored at Nine Zero for self-defence due to threats from militants.
The MQM has now presented 105 licences of weapons to the police. Most weapons are in the name of MQM legislators, but one may well ask why these were kept at Nine Zero and not the homes of the party’s senators, MNAs and MPAs who got the licences for their own protection. This reminded one of the policies of successive governments to generously dole out such licences, including for prohibited bore arms, to people of influence such as lawmakers instead of seizing weapons and deweaponising the heavily-armed Pakistani society.
Since the Rangers raid on its headquarters, the MQM has been hit by one setback after the other. The presence and arrest of Faisal Mota, convicted in the murder of young Geo News reporter Wali Khan Babar, from Nine Zero; the reported confessions of alleged target-killer Umair Siddiqui; and the shocking last-minute revelations of convicted killer Saulat Mirza before his scheduled execution have shaken the MQM and Altaf Hussain and put them on the defensive. It is true that allowing Saulat Mirza, an MQM hitman, to make a video statement from his death row cell in the Machh prison was unprecedented and illegal, but even stranger things have happened in Pakistan, particularly in the country’s notorious jails.
However, if one were to believe Saulat Mirza, he was prompted to spill the beans once his party leadership disowned him after having earlier tried to secure his release. Nobody else in the MQM has yet come forward with revelations despite prodding by Saulat Mirza but you never know what shape this game of high stakes involving the security agencies and the MQM will take in the coming days.
As things stand now, the government is considering using legal means to bring Altaf Hussain back to Pakistan to face the scores of cases he is involved in, including the latest one filed by the Rangers for threatening its personnel in the aftermath of the raid on Nine Zero. The message has already been conveyed to the British government, but Altaf Hussain seems unfazed because his telephonic speeches and tough tone have continued. It remains to be seen how the British authorities view the charges brought up against one of their citizens, albeit someone who is originally a Pakistani and the leader of an important political party back home.
Meanwhile, the Rangers action in Karachi must continue because the job begun in September 2013 with the consent of all political parties, including the MQM, is not yet done. Though targeted killings in Karachi have decreased, the threat of killers and militants remains as was evident from the sporadic terrorist attacks recently carried out in the city. The operation has to be across the board and both the PML-N-led federal government and the PPP-headed provincial government have to take ownership of the fight spearheaded by the Rangers and the Karachi Police. Politics should be set aside if the intention is to cleanse Karachi of the mafias holding it hostage.
While keeping politics out of the ongoing action against the mafias in Karachi, there is also a need to appoint an apolitical and neutral governor in Sindh. In fact, the governors in other provinces should also be replaced with neutral and respected figures in due course of time, but there is an urgent need to replace the Sindh governor. Dr Ishratul Ebad, an MQM stalwart who has held the job of Sindh governor for a record 13 years, would like to continue if he has his way. One thought he would have resigned after realising that he is no longer trusted by the powers that be and isn’t even being invited to important meetings concerning the affairs of Sindh, particularly the security situation in Karachi. It seems the government, more so the military, would like him to resign on his own by making him feel unwanted and irrelevant.
For years, Ebad was described as a bridge between Altaf Hussain and the political establishment and, therefore, kept on as the governor. However, his role of facilitator and trusted messenger appears to have ended and, as a consequence, there isn’t much logic in keeping him in the job.
It must be noted that Asif Ali Zardari did much harm to the institution of the president by retaining his original job as co-chairman of the PPP and making the Presidency the hub of his party’s political activities even while serving as the president of Pakistan. The governors appointed by him were also mostly politicians who for the sake of tradition quit their parties but continued to remain loyal to the party leadership. This is continuing during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s rule and is a disservice to the country.
The writer is resident editor of The News in Peshawar.
Email: rahimyusufzai@yahoo.com