What TV channels showed on Friday 14th December 2012, and what Newspapers reported next day, carried ominous signals about what lies in store, particularly for Karachi, in days to come. The day before, two political gatherings were held in Hyderabad and Karachi respectively.
One was a mammoth gathering in Hyderabad in which the main speaker was Pir Pagara, chief of PMLF (Functional), now no longer aligned with PPP. The other was a fairly big MQM gathering in Karachi addressed by party Chief Altaf. The two gatherings and the two keynote speeches made by the two chiefs have set the tone for developments which may have disruptive consequences especially for Karachi.
What the Pir said In the huge gathering in Hyderabad, unparalleled in recent years, which was mainly a Pagara show, leaders of almost every shade of opinion in Sindh also spoke and stood in support of the Hur Chief on the main points he was to make, a Pir Pagara spoke on several matters but his main focus was on Sindh People's Local Government Ordinance (SPLGO) in which different styles of local governance are envisaged for urban and rural areas and which was passed by the PPP-led coalition government with great reluctance on the part of most PPP leaders. Naturally, MQM and its policy also came in for pointed mention in this connection. The side topics were Kalabagh Dam, importance of girls' education, corruption in Sindh Government and its inability to help those affected by successive floods in Sindh over the last three years and its poor governance in general.
Advice to MQM The PML-F Chief said his party left the coalition with PPP and others because they were not consulted on the Local Government matter and an unacceptable system was adopted in a hurry. While rejecting the SPLGO in a firm tone Pir Pagara made conciliatory overtures towards MQM reminding the latter that they have to coexist with other ethnic and linguistic groups in Sindh in harmony and must formulate their policies to make this possible.
PPP/MQM game plan!An interesting theory was propounded by the Pir in his speech about future shape of things in Sindh. According to him, PPP would manoeuvre politics in such a way (with implied support of MQM) that MQM moves out of the coalition to the role of an opposition party and then it (MQM) gets to be part of the interim government and in that capacity helps PPP to power again!!! At least this is how the alleged "game plan" of PPP and MQM was described by PMLF Chief. However, he did not elaborate on how he got wind of this strange "game plan" or the modalities involved, for example, who will do what and when.
MQM has a full plate! Fresh delimitation of constituencies and correction of voters' lists in Karachi have been demanded by all stakeholding political parties except MQM since many months now citing different standards used in Karachi and the rest of the province in respect of the present delimitation of constituencies and about "deliberately" introduced errors in voters' lists in Karachi. Both, as they stand today, were allegedly designed to benefit a particular party. The matter was taken to the court which ruled that voters' lists must be corrected and that Constituencies be delimited logically. One of the judges remarked that delimitation should not result in the monopoly of any party. Did the judge actually mean to say that delimitation should not be intentionally done in such a way as to give an advantage to any party? We do not know. In any case, MQM chief Altaf took strong exception to the remark and asked the Chief Justice to take notice. He said "the right to give majority to any political party to take back the mandate rests with the people and not with any judge" and that "the objective of new delimitations in Karachi was to break the vote bank of the MQM". Referring to the fact that the Sindh Election Commission had finalised the electoral constituencies he admonished the Courts asserting that "no court has the right to direct the Election Commission to change electoral constituencies in a way that no party has a monopoly". He also objected that the requirement of a census before delimitation of constituencies had not been met.
Contempt notice: "Waterloo" predicted!The result of these and other strong expressions of dissent (and yet others not reported here) to the Supreme Court's decision in these matters was, that on 14 December the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice to the MQM chief accusing him of using "inappropriate language and gestures in his speech saying that Judges also want to remove the name of MQM". The Court summoned MQM chief Altaf Hussain to appear before it on January 7 in connection with the contempt notice. Altaf advised MQM workers not to be provoked and to remain peaceful. However a number of "na maloom" men descended on the streets of Karachi on Friday night, pushed transport off the road and shut up businesses, achieving all this by firing in the air, by torching buses, burning tires on streets and otherwise spreading a scare in the city. Many cities of interior Sindh were also paralysed.
Million march to Islamabad As we write these lines MQM leaders have opened a virulent attack on the judiciary predicting that the confrontation would prove to be a Waterloo for the CJP! On Sunday, during a demonstration before Karachi Press Club, Farooq Sattar let loose a tirade against the judiciary, demanding that the judge who used the term "monopoly" in respect of MQM in Karachi should apologise and threatening to take "millions" to Islamabad to represent the MQM Chief on 7 January when the Supreme Court has ordered Altaf to be present in the Court. He "advised" the Judiciary not to interfere with the work of the Election Commission. For good measure he lauded Faisal Raza Abidi for his valour in speaking out against the judiciary. A full-fledged confrontation between MQM and Judiciary appears to have been begun. It does not augur well for the future of democracy and rule of law in the country.
Scotland Yard's prying As if the contempt notice was not enough bother, Scotland Yard's search and raid operation at the "business address" of MQM leader Altaf Hussain in connection with the murder of Dr Imran Farooq was finally "confirmed by the press office of the London Metropolitan Police. The London Police has been relentlessly investigating this case since many years now. At first MQM leaders and spokesmen denied all knowledge of such a raid but later the party confirmed as much but put a brave face to it. Altaf said "we asked them (the police) to come and take away whatever they wanted. We told them that they may open any cupboard and carry out their investigation". Nevertheless, the investigations are said to be a source of anxiety for MQM rank and file regarding what the investigations might turn up eventually.
Local Government Complete unanimity was shown by the huge Pir Pagara-led gathering (which converged on Hyderabad on Friday, 14 December) in its opposition to the Sindh People's Local Government Ordinance (SPLGO) which was passed after years of negotiations mainly between PPP and MQM and which met MQM's main demands. The ordinance appears to have turned into a question mark after the Pir Pagara show in Hyderabad in which nearly every political party in Sindh was represented. PPP has a full plate too, it seems. (owajid@yahoo.com)