Whither MQM?

Random thoughts

A Greek proverb states that when God wants to destroy a man, He first takes away the man’s wisdom. An Indian proverb says that when God wants to put someone in trouble, He first takes away his/her intelligence. A Persian saying states that when your death has been fixed, the dagger will come from an unknown direction.

There is a reason for all these sayings and they have been proven true in everyday life. We are presently witnessing how Altaf Hussain’s speeches have become devoid of all reason. He has been holding millions of supporters in Karachi hostage and using all dirty means at his disposal, i.e. extortion, kidnapping, target killing, putting industries on fire, etc. He has become a prototype of Hassan Bin Sabbah (The old man in the mountain who used to blackmail and kill rulers, the rich, religious scholars, etc.) He has the blood of hundreds of innocent victims on his hands.

The Almighty always gives some respite for the purpose of giving wrongdoers a chance to mend their ways, but then punishes severely. Due to the compromising and lenient attitude of PPP governments over the years, he has become a rogue, the Al-Capone of Sindh. Now his day, too, has come, with no possibility of return.

 Altaf Hussain belongs to a poor family. As a student he became notorious by adopting  Islami Jamat-e-Tulaba (IJT) techniques. He, together with Azim Tariq, founded the All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation. In a recent article in this very newspaper, Zaigham Khan gave a good analysis of the rise and fall of the MQM. He pointed out the ways in which this organisation learnt the tactics of the IJT to terrorise and subjugate their opponents.

 When I was a student at D J Sindh Government College, Karachi, in the early fifties, the IJT was a commendable, peaceful organisation, helping students by coaching them and lending out books. With time it became a rogue organisation creating law and order situations on campuses. Whenever there was trouble on any campus, the IJT was invariably mentioned. Qazi Hussain Ahmad was a dear friend and quite often dropped in to chat. One day he brought the Nazim of IJT with him who, out of the blue, asked me to become their patron. I flatly refused as I had no intention of becoming controversial.

When Altaf and Azim Tariq founded the student union, they immediately adopted IJT’s policies. Altaf went even further and adopted some of Hitler’s tactics, i.e. eliminate all opponents. The first to go was Azim Tariq, murdered in cold blood in his bedroom in front of his wife. The Mohajirs were unlucky in that the majority of them in Karachi were poor, illiterate and jobless. They all joined Altaf, considering him to be a messiah. How wrong they were. He lived a luxurious life in London, misused their strength of numbers, turning many of them into a lawless lot – a bunch of criminals.

He extorted money from businessmen, brought the city to a standstill, closed educational institutions, etc. In short, he harmed the interests of the Mohajirs beyond repair. He harmed them even more than Hitler harmed the Jews. Hitler killed part of a single generation of Jews while Altaf affected two generations by creating perpetual criminals, illiterate murderers, thugs, extortionists, target killers, etc. It will take decades of hard work and sincere efforts to salvage this community.

The irony of it all is that his cronies enjoyed luxurious lives at the cost of a devastated community. Dr Imran Farooq’s case still needs to be solved and the culprits punished. The murderer of that beautiful-voiced singer, Amjad Sabri, has been caught and is alleged to be a former MQM man. Altaf, by voicing anti-Pakistan slogans, has destroyed and insulted the sacrifices of millions of people who gave their lives for Pakistan.

 No value should be attached to the statements made by Farooq Sattar and his cronies claiming that MQM Pakistan will now operate sans Altaf. Such statements are aimed at calming down the anger of the nation. He still says that allegiance to Altaf is a private matter – meaning he can still take dictates from him? The government should ban the MQM. It has turned out to be a cancer in the body of Karachi. Altaf Hussain, Farooq Sattar, etc. have ruined the present and future of the Karachi Mohajirs.

The PPP also bears responsibility in this matter. By patronizing Altaf Hussain & Co., Zardari and Rehman Malik enabled them to destroy Karachi (read: the Mohajirs). The MQM extorted billions of rupees from Karachi businessmen, grabbed huge tracts of land illegally and sent billions of rupees to Altaf in London, where he now possesses many properties and millions of Pounds Sterling in his personal name.

While the poor Mohajirs of Karachi are starving, he lives in London in luxury. The MQM got completely out of control during the days of the G T Road General – Musharraf. The murders of May 12 were done at his behest. In Islamabad he boasted of the powers he had in Karachi. Where are those powers now?

The Rangers are doing a good job. They should go all out to clean the city of weapons and hand out exemplary punishments to criminals. Those criminal elements need to be weeded out and crushed, once and for all.

Email: dr.a.quadeer.khan@gmail.com