At the crossroads

This refers to the editorial, ‘The cross and the crossroads’ (Aug 26). The editorial has rightly analysed the situation by saying that “There are two interconnected strands that need to be explored in the coming days and months: the future of governance in Karachi and the future of the MQM if Altaf Hussain has been truly jettisoned.” As regards the future of governance in Karachi, there’s not much hope for improvement as the MQM will always be kept at the receiving end. As regards the future of the MQM, it has many daunting challenges ahead. One of these challenges could be the performance of its newly-elected mayor. The following paragraph of the editorial says it all in a nutshell: “Waseem Akhtar will find himself less powerful than the previous mayors since the provincial PPP government, while it was delaying local government elections, passed a series of amendments to the local government bill giving powers previously reserved for the mayor and other local representatives to the local bodies minister...”

The MQM has to move with extreme care. This party can gain a respectable status if it really follows the minus-one formula, abolishes its militant wing and carries out reforms in its existing policies. It is also possible that the party may undergo major turmoil during transition, but the risk is worth taking.

Air-Cdre (r) Azfar A Khan

Rawalpindi