Why national parties fail in Karachi

ISLAMABAD: Is Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) the outcome of constant failure of our national parties in understanding the dynamics of Karachi’s politics? Pakistan’s economic hub with a population of over 20 million has remained in turmoil for decades and chances of its revival diminish day by day, unless we see this issue in proper national perspective.
The Karachi situation can never return to normal by one or two visits of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif or PML-N leaders. Revival of Karachi need bold decisions and actions, which successive regimes have failed to take. The situation demands administrative as well as political measures to address the deep-rooted issues. Someone has to take the “ownership” of this city, instead of merely using its “land” for minting money.
Administrative measures can includes the following steps. (1) De-politicize police and make it truly Karachi Metropolitan Police. (2) If Rangers is here as permanent force, amendments should be made in the law and Karachi Rangers be established. (3) A mechanism is needed for greater police-rangers coordination. (4) Public Safety Commission is needed for monitoring the transparency in the recruitment in both police and rangers. (5) All police stations be made “model Police Station” and each P.S. must be given staff according to the area under its jurisdiction. (5) Special Courts should deal with cases of street crimes and violation of traffic rules. (6) Cantonments and Defence Housing Authorities should also come under the City Mayor. (7) If our premier agencies have evidence that political parties have militant wings, details be provided to the parties and they should be told to dissociate themselves within a month. All parties should disband their militant wings without making it public. (8) Strict punishment is required for the personnel of law enforcement agencies found involved in criminal activities like kidnapping for ransom, murder, extortion or land grabbing. For political measures one has to take stock of the situation objectively.
Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) the two mainstream national parties and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which has emerged as the third force with national perspective, lack a strong political base in Karachi.
MQM, with its electoral strength should be recognised as the mainstream national party. However, MQM leadership also needs to change its perception as they did when they converted Muhajir Qaumi Movement into Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
All national parties should take a decision on quota system.Firstly, there should be a time limit, say five years. During this period Sindh government must uplift the standard of education and improve the health sector to an extent that the people of the rural areas should feel proud to work in their own areas.
The two mainstream religious parties, Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, JUP, which shared seats in the urban Sindh including Karachi, Hyderabad after the 1970, elections encashed on ‘Muhajir factor’.
Thus ethnic factor remained a dominant feature in Karachi politics since the days of Ayub Khan. MQM is only the extension of decades old politics in this mega city and the character of every politician remained ‘ethnic’ when it came to the city politics.
All this was the natural outcome of the failure of our national politics. Whether it was the issue of making Karachi a separate province or ethnic violence over Sindhi language bill, the left or the right parties could not understand the dynamics of Karachi politics.
Karachi has remained in the forefront of all the major political movements but the failure of successive political parties to make the city as their strong base laid the foundation of ethnic politics, which was initially exploited by the religious parties and later on the Muhajir Qaumi Movement took over this mantle and then converted itself into Muttahida Qaumi Movement.
Muhajir Qaumi Movement initially attracted the liberal and secular elements when it allied with the Sindhi nationalists against the establishment. Had Madar-e-Millat, Fatima Jinnah, who launched the movement against Field Marshal Ayub Khan from Karachi, not been defeated in the first manipulated elections, the city’s political colour would have been different and Karachi could have become the hub of national politics. Ayub Khan laid the foundation of ethnic violence, which erupted after he was declared winner in the elections, held under his own “Basic Democracies” system.
But by the time Fatima Jinnah decided to challenge Ayub’s dictatorship dent had already been created in national politics with the then East Pakistan’s Muslim Leaguers feeling the betrayal.Political instability between 1948 and 1958 and frequent changes in the government led to the first martial law in 1958.
During Ayub’s regime ethnic politics started taking roots in Karachi after Fatima Jinnah’s defeat. It was not General Zia ul Haq but Ayub Khan who laid the foundation of ethnic politics in the country and what happened in 1971 was the outcome of this politics.
When Ayub resigned and handed over power to another military ruler, in violation of his own Constitution in 1968, General Yahya Khan Karachi responded to Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’d call, but JI and JUP countered Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, and portrayed themselves as the representatives of ‘Muhajirs’ or urdu-speaking community. Though PPP won two NA and eight PA seats from Karachi, Bhutto could not consolidate PPP position in Karachi.
JI and JUP both exploited the Sindhi Language Bill in the Sindh Assembly and as a result ethnic politics remained dominant during the first PPP rule.Sensing the ethnicity of the urban Sindh, General Zia promoted sectarian, religious and ethnic politics in Sindh and Biradri system in the rest of Pakistan.
The non-party based election brought different results in Karachi. JI and JUP their first major setback. It was the first sign of people’s non-confidence in them, when some of the top leaders lost from Karachi. What followed is history. MQM never looked back after 1987 till it became a victim of its own politics. Change of its politics and style, for one reason or the other, damaged MQM, not electorally but politically.
But the policy to crush MQM, or to create a split like the one done with national parties like PPP and PML, may not bring the desire result. It will further polarise national politics.Therefore, main political parties should focus on making Karachi their power base. But their politics should not be based on anti-MQM plank but pro-Karachi plank. Unless major parties take ownership of this mega city, no administrative and political measures can bring normalcy. Failure to do so will result in anarchy that no one can afford.