The MQM’s coup de grace

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan) staged a coup de grace – to apparently pre-empt retribution – by disowning its cult leader’s oft-repeated fits of treacherous diatribe against the state.

In an exceptional condemnation, since it used to sing the apology chorus for its Quaid on such ungraceful occasions, almost all of a docile Rabita Committee suddenly turned against its patron’s madness and raised the banner of its ‘liberation’ from the agent provocateurs based in the London Headquarters. Is this a farcical tactical retreat or a democratic metamorphosis of a quasi-fascist party?

One of the defining features of the MQM is its tremendous capacity to shift positions and alignments and stage somersaults. But this is for the first time that it was left with no option but to distance itself from the helmsman – mercifully on psychiatric grounds. An otherwise rudderless but disarmingly humble Deputy Convener Farooq Sattar along with a whole battery of Altaf’s sycophants dared to lament what the Quiad had defamatorily said in a psychic fit about the state that his immigrant ancestors had fatefully chosen.

The Bhai, Sattar meekly suggested, might have to be sent for alcoholics anonymous treatment again in the obscurity of a psychiatric rehab centre. On the contrary, one of the members of the London Rabita Committee, Wasay Jalil not only justified Altaf’s passionate indignation but also reminded good-cop Sattar that Nusrat Nadeem remains convener-in-exile and the last word and seal of approval remains with the ‘founder’ under the party’s constitution.

In a “migrant state”, Altaf Hussain’s ethnocentric nationalism did create the mirage of a “Mohajir Nation” and he played “on pre-existing differentiating marks” to build a “community of interest against Sindhis – and Pashtoons”, according to historian Christophe Jaffrelot. With the direct mass appeal of its charismatic leader, the very idea of the MQM is “privileged entitlement” at par with the Sindhis and compensation for the loss of hegemony of the “sole creators of Pakistan and its idea” with the exclusionary appropriation of Karachi.

The MQM-Pakistan (MQM-P) has unequivocally reiterated its un-diminishing commitment to the original sin and had to stop short of crucifying the ‘Father of the Nation’ at its Tuesday’s press conference. The dilemma of the MQM-P is that if it defies its cult-leader it invites the wrath of the mercenaries integrated with the grassroots power-base; and if it doesn’t it succumbs to the might of the state with horrible consequences.

However, it should not be ignored that there is a marked objective difference between the luxury of the infinite freedom enjoyed by the leadership-in-exile, and the hardships of standing up to the excesses of the law-enforcement agencies. Hence, the ‘division’ between the free ‘foreign hand’ and the constrained ‘domestic operators’ has come into the open – with or without the consent of Altaf Bhai.

In his ‘defiance’ or distance from a suicidal Bhai, a tactful and extremely cautious Farooq Sattar was mindful of the dilemma that he and his MQM-P faced. His is not the defiance of Afaq’s MQM-Haqiqi that kept the originality of an exclusivist Mohajir stance, or the sponsored dissent of the proxy-party of Kamal posing to represent the ‘Ashraaf’ (elite of Clifton), as opposed to the ‘Ajlaaf’ (urchins of the streets of Karachi), the backbone of Altaf’s Muttahida. Farooq Sattar, representing the parliamentary wing of the MQM, wants to save his mother party from falling in a blind ditch.

He offers a probable democratic alternative as he tries to distance from the terrorist wing that is also one of the targets of the Rangers’ operation in Karachi. In a very provocative situation when a media under attack was calling for blood, the Sindh government and the authorities in Karachi behaved in a very restrained manner. They were not provoked to facilitate the repaying of ‘India Murdabad’ slogans in Kashmir in the same coin in Karachi.

This crucial city with our largest population cannot be treated the way the disenfranchised people of Kashmir are being treated. Instead of isolating and alienating one of our most brilliant communities, the peoples of Karachi deserve as a legitimate right to be treated in a dignified manner. Terrorism and fear of terrorism must be dealt with a delicately balanced operation in a most lawful and just manner – sans kidnapping or extra-judicial killing.

The process of dialogue and efforts for reconciliation that Farooq Sattar has been undertaking must be rewarded to strengthen the democratisation process of the MQM-P; and to isolate the fascist section of the MQM and bring target-killers and saboteurs to justice.

Whether the MQM-P is parting ways with the London Secretariat while striving to send Altaf Hussain on a necessary ‘medical leave’ or not, the course being taken by Farooq Sattar should be encouraged and rewarded. The authorities will have to show extraordinary magnanimity and caution to bring the MQM-P into the democratic mainstream.

The Sindh government should allow the local governments to function normally, and let the MQM-P get busy with municipal governance where it has legitimate mandate. And law-enforcement authorities shouldn’t shy away from compensating for the excesses that do happen in such volatile situations.

This is a unique opportunity and must not be lost. If the Sindhis and the Sindh government want to pre-empt the administrative division of Sindh or creation of a Mohajir province, they must share power and resources in a just and proportionate manner with the multi-ethnic people of Karachi and Hyderabad. Similarly, to pre-empt the conspiracy theory of ‘Jinnahpur’ from taking off the drawing-board – and there are eager powerful buyers – the state has to be vigilant and find political ways to bring the proxy wars to an end to the mutual benefit of its neighbours and peace in the region.

Let’s see how far the MQM-P is going to transform a quasi-fascist party into a democratic outfit. Nothing wrong in calling the bluff or taking a chance for the better.

The writer is a senior journalist.

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