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Instead of going all out, MQM settling for less this time

Party has fielded candidates in areas with traditional support base, not contesting in neigbourhoods where Pashtuns, Baloch and Sindhis are in majority

By our correspondents
December 03, 2015
Karachi
Unlike in past elections in Karachi, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has not fielded its candidate in many union committees for the local government polls and focused only on Mohajir-populated neighbourhoods.
Although the MQM insists it is part of the party’s strategy not to field its candidates in “sensitive” areas over their security concerns, analysts believe that the ongoing crackdown on criminals by the law enforcement agencies and the formation of an electoral alliance between the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the Jamaat-e-Islami has compelled it to focus on its traditional support base, the Mohajir neighbourhoods, instead of fielding its candidates in areas populated by other ethnicities including Pashtuns, Baloch, and Sindhis.

MQM in the six districts
There are 209 union committees in the city’s six districts that fall under the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation, the local body for the metropolis’ urban areas.
In the Central district, there are 51 union committees, followed by the West district with 43, the Korangi district with 33, the South district with 31, the East district with 31 and the Malir district with 13.
In the West district, the MQM is contesting the polls in 25 union committees and has not fielded its candidates in at least 20 union committees, which comprise Pashtun- and Sindhi-populated area of the defunct SITE and Keamari towns.
In UC-20 Hanifabad, MQM’ candidate Jamil Ahmed has been elected unopposed. There are reports that that the MQM has clandestinely formed an alliance with the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl in UC-21 Harayana Colony and UC-22 Hussainabad, both parties contesting the polls with independent candidates.
Besides, the MQM’s former UC nazim, Izharul Haq, is running in the elections as an independent candidate instead of using the party’s electoral symbol.
Similarly, in UC-41, which comprises the city’s islands, MQM leader Haji Muhammad Ali, who had contested the

general elections on the party’s ticket in PS-89 and bagged a significant number of votes in the area, has opted to run in the local government polls as an independent candidate.
In the South district, the MQM has not fielded a single candidate in the first 15 union committees, which mostly fall in Lyari.
In 13 union committees of the Malir district, the MQM has only fielded its candidates in seven of them.
The MQM is not even participating in the polls in four union committees, Muslimabad, Dawood Chorangi, Moinabad and Sharafi Goth, which fall in PS-128, a constituency where MQM candidate Syed Waqar Shah had succeeded in the last general elections. However, the MQM has fielded its candidates in all union committees of Korangi, Central and East districts.
The MQM has also not fielded its candidates in union councils falling in the District Council Karachi, a separate body for the city’s rural and coastal areas.

Expansion reversed
Syed Aminul Haque, a member of the MQM’s coordination committee, said the party had decided against fielding its candidates in the union committees where criminal gangs and Taliban militants were active.
“It’s a misperception that we have only focused on Mohajir neighbourhoods. The MQM is like a bouquet which has flowers of all ethnicities,” Haque told The News.
He added that the party had fielded many candidates as independent ones because of security concerns, while in certain union committees had decided to support other candidates. “The security of our candidates and supporters remains our top priority.”
However, political analysts describe the MQM’s reluctance to filed candidates in many union committees as a reversal of the party’s expansion in other communities. Now, they say, the party is relying only on its traditional support base, the Mohajir neighbourhoods.
“After the launch of the crackdown and the NA-246 by-polls, the MQM has changed its strategy and now focusing in its traditional support base areas,” said a political science professor at the University of Karachi.
“The trend shows that the electoral alliance between the PTI and the JI has worried the MQM. That’s why it has opted to steer clear of areas populated by ethnicities and concentrated its efforts on securing its traditional seats.”
Abdul Jabbar Nasir, a veteran journalist who monitors local government polls in the city, said in the past, the MQM had not only fielded its candidates in the entire city but also in other provinces including Punjab.
“But now, the MQM is passing through crucial times and has decided not to waste its energies in union committees where there are less chances of winning,” Nasir told The News. “When a party fields a candidate in an area, it has to work a lot there to ensure their victory. Therefore, the MQM has decided to conserve its energies at this point.”