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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Bid to redraw city’s political landscape backfired: Abidi

By Zubair Ashraf
November 21, 2017

Had it not dramatically broken off within 24 hours, the alliance between the MQM-P and the PSP would’ve benefited the PTI the most, because the voters, unhappy with the move, would have gone for the third best option.


Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan MNA Ali Raza Abidi made the observation during an exclusive interview with The News. Forty-five-year-old Abidi is the first MQM-P leader to publicly oppose the alliance with the Pak Sarzameen Party, announcing on Twitter to quit his National Assembly seat, NA-251, in protest.


He later submitted a resignation that is still pending because the MQM-P wants to retain him, as he is arguably its best forward on the digital front, not to mention his role in fostering the party’s presence on social media.


“Karachi’s voters have always maintained an anti-Pakistan Peoples Party sentiment,” he said, explaining that the Urdu speakers directly or indirectly associated themselves or were associated with the MQM and its offshoots.


“People expressed their severe reservations [over the alliance] with [MQM-P chief] Farooq Sattar... and then he had no other option but to hold a news conference to subdue the criticism.”


The PSP is deemed a political wing of the establishment and does not enjoy considerable popularity among the masses, he opined. “By entering into an alliance with it, we were legitimising its presence and, in the eyes of the voters, stooping to the same level,” he explained, saying that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf wanted to consolidate its position in the city in the current political scenario.  


The safe house meeting


The night before the November 8 joint news conference of the MQM-P and the PSP, it is said that an hours-long meeting mediated by the establishment took place at a “safe house” in the city in which PTI leader Faisal Vawda was also present.


Abidi said Vawda tried to influence the meeting through an intelligence agency to mould the situation in his favour. “As an outcome of the alliance, the MQM-P and the PSP would’ve virtually worked under the PTI, and it would’ve presented itself as a better national-level political option in Karachi,” he said. However, he added, the attempt to re-engineer the political landscape backfired.


He said the establishment suffered an unprecedented loss in this melodrama. “Eventually, the MQM-P emerged as the winner and the establishment as the loser.” They should have talked about forming a working relationship on issues pertaining to powers to the local government, controversial population census results and others – as consented by the party’s coordination committee and elected representatives – but not about the merger or the alliance, he said, adding that the announcement came as a “complete surprise, and the news conference did not go well among the people as well”.  


A political career kicks off


Abidi said Sattar revived his leadership in the news conference the next day in which he did not only bash the PSP and the establishment but his party’s leaders as well, and clarified his position on the short-lived alliance. It was actually the start of Sattar’s political career, he claimed, citing references to statements made by political analysts and bloggers in the wake of the news conference.


“Maryam Nawaz started her political career from NA-120 [Lahore-III], Bilawal Bhutto Zardari started his after the assassination of his mother [Benazir Bhutto], Imran Khan started his with the Shaukat Khanum Hospital that was named after his mother and Farooq Bhai started his career on his mother’s advice.”  


A coalition still on the cards


Though Abidi has resumed his political activities, he is yet to withdraw from his resignation. “I’ll take back my resignation only if I’m assured that there won’t be any kind of alliance or coalition with the PSP. We’ve strived hard to retain our identity, the MQM and the kite... and we’ve succeeded, the evidence of which is our Liaquatabad rally. We can’t let someone else take credit for our successes.” He is hopeful that the MQM-P would be able to maintain its mandate in the upcoming general elections without entering into an alliance. “Our seats are not going anywhere. But we can form a coalition with the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional on some seats in other parts of Sindh to counter the PPP.” Sceptical of Sattar’s statement about still being open to talks with the PSP on a possible joint political strategy, he said he would not stay with the party if this happened again.


No more one-man show


Abidi said the MQM-P had revived itself after the August 22, 2016 incident and emerged as a workers’ party. “Now a single person or a particular group is not entitled to make decisions for the party,” he said, in an apparent reference to the party’s disavowed founder, Altaf Hussain, and his methodologies. “We have to set aside emotions and sentiments and look at things practically.”


Over the fate of his resignation, he said that until the MQM-P leadership addressed his reservations and made a public statement on it, he would not withdraw his resignation.