Where does Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)-Pakistan, a party that has been dominating urban Sindh's political landscape since the mid-1980s, find itself on the eve of the 2018 general elections? What are its electoral prospects? How will the electorate in Karachi and other cities of Sindh respond to MQM-P's pitch at the hustings? Will Pakistan People's Party (PPP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi), a breakaway faction of Altaf-led MQM, and newly-formed former MQM mayor-led Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) cash in on the MQM-P's current woes? These questions are in an average Karachiite's mind at this point in time? However, the readily available answer to a question about the identification of the most profound hurdle that MQM-P faces is the following:
The gravest threat to MQM-P's future emanates from its own founder Altaf Husain and those who run his London office in view of the fact that the establishment suspects that both of its factions - PIB Colony and Bahadurabad - are still deriving strength and inspiration from him despite their internal bickering and dissension. Should this be the case, MQM-P will surely receive its first-ever drubbing in a general election since its founding over three decades ago because the establishment will never acquiesce to fielding, let alone victory, of candidates who are found to be getting support of the man banished by the State and the party for his anti-Pakistan rhetoric. Establishment's message is clear and loud: MQM London is not acceptable.
Many describe the current spate of intra-MQM squabbles as an aberration or a departure from what is normal, usual, or expected, typically an unwelcome one. But the Election Commission of Pakistan's decision of removing Dr Farooq Sattar as the convener of MQM-P and approving petitions filed by his rival faction led by Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui seems to have added to the party's woes that has been struggling to reunite, albeit unsuccessfully, after its breakup into two factions on the eve of Senate of Pakistan elections. According to reports, a five-member bench headed by the chief election commissioner also rejected Sattar's application challenging the commission's jurisdiction to hear petitions involving internal matters of the party. Accepting the petitions filed by MQM-Bahadurabad leaders Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui and Kanwar Naveed Jameel, the commission nullified the intra-party elections held under the leadership of Sattar. It also accepted a petition challenging the anti-Bahadurabad resolution passed at an "emergent general workers' meeting" called by Sattar last month. In his reaction to ECP's decision, a visibly upset Sattar termed it a "dark verdict" among the commission's rulings, calling it "illegal and unconstitutional".
How ironic it is that MQM-P leaders have failed to draw any lesson from the Senate debacle that the party suffered due to acrimonious disputes between its two factions over a particular sphere of influence. The PIB faction led by Sattar in particular can turn this adversity into an opportunity because the party does not stand to gain anything if the commission's decision is stayed by a high court. That there is a substantial amount of factionalism in the post-Altaf MQM is a strong reality. It is about time that both the factions revisited their positions with a view to plugging the ever-widening gulf between Bahadurabad and PIB Colony in order to remain relevant in the upcoming elections. They must not lose sight of the fact that they have reduced themselves to politicians subjected to general mockery or ridicule.
Comments
Comments are closed.