When a community is deeply hurt - nobody can shut down its inner fears. Not the best of its well-wishers can really understand the battle it is going through or the wounds inflicted on it. According to an Arabian proverb, a wound caused by words is more painful than a wound caused by an arrow. These words of wisdom perhaps carry no import for Senior Sindh Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza.
Although, he in his six-minute diatribe mainly attacked the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and its chief Altaf Husain, he also showed seemingly deep contempt for those who migrated from various parts of India for a homeland carved out for the Muslims of the sub-continent by describing them as hungry and destitute (bhookay aur nangay). Little did he perhaps know that whatever he was saying at a dinner at Awami National Party (ANP) Karachi chief Shahi Syed's residence will immediately give birth to a new bout of violence resulting in deaths and destruction not only across Karachi but also in other parts of the province. His bitter, abusive denunciation of Urdu-speaking community in general and the MQM in particular also led to protest demonstrations in Lahore, Quetta, Rawalpindi, etc.
If there is a sense of reality, and no one will doubt that it has its justifications for existing, then there must also be something we can call a sense of possibility. Undoubtedly, the MQM's exit from the PPP-led coalition had generated some legitimate fears about law and order because Karachi has an unfortunate history of ethnic and sectarian killings and bomb blasts.
Since this city has more fault lines than any big or small town of the country, deterioration in law and order is always a far more stronger possibility in the economic and financial capital of the country than anywhere else. Who can be more appreciative of this fact than the ZAB-found Pakistan People's Party? For example, the then chief minister of Sindh, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi, successfully persuaded ZAB to allow Air Marshal Asghar Khan's historic procession to complete its course, although that show of strength exhibited by the opposition, Pakistan National Alliance (PNA), was a clear affront to a popular prime minister's self-esteem and prestige. The argument advanced by Jatoi was nothing but a leaf that he had taken out from the book of democratic norms and principles, which says that a government has to show more responsibility towards the people who are hostile to its rule.
Unfortunately, however, the Zardari-led party seems to have abandoned its "reconciliation" policy particularly in the case of its erstwhile coalition partner, MQM. Less than a week ago, the four-day violence in various Karachi neighbourhoods, particularly Qasba and Orangi Town, resulting in the killing of over 100 people and injuries to many more, clearly showed that the writ of the government was conspicuous by its absence. The government's painfully slow response to the situation showed - clearly and unambiguously - that it had lost its legitimacy to govern because providing safety and security to life and property of people is any government's primary constitutional obligation.
Although, Dr Mirza's regret on his Wednesday's utterances won't be enough to assuage the feelings of those who felt hurt, the MQM, the largest party from this city and the urban-Sindh, and all those Urdu-speaking people who do not necessarily subscribe to Altaf-led party's political philosophy of thought, are expected to accept it wholeheartedly in the larger interest of the city and the country. On the other hand, President Zardari must, by his own power, dispel the storm clouds, chase away the despair and gloom, wipe away the tears, and replace the sorrow with peace of mind in the city of teeming millions. No doubt, the MQM is white with anger, and Zardari is required to manage to wink privily and prodigiously at his brother-like friend Dr Zulfiqar Mirza to implore him to help in keeping the peace in Karachi.
The President, who has summoned the good Doctor to Islamabad, is expected to give him a tutorial about some historical facts in relation to economic conditions of migrants from across the border. For example, more than half of the Working Committee of the All India Muslim League comprised people who hailed from areas which are still part of India. All of them made great financial contributions towards the creation of this country.
Moreover, the first prime minister of Pakistan, Liaquat Ali Khan, Seth Muhammad Ali Habib, Sir Adamjee Haji Dawood, MAH Ispahani, Raja Sahib Mahmoodabad and many others cannot be described as hungry and destitute. The role played by the Nizam of Hyderabad Deccan towards Pakistan's financial health has always been beyond any shadow of doubt. Almost all ICS Muslim officers, stationed in areas which later constituted post-Partition India, opted for Pakistan to run this new-born country's administrative machinery. None of them was bhooka aur nanga (hungry and destitute) and none of them was the son of soil!
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