Junaid Ali Malik |
Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) was established on August 22, 2016. It is in fact the Muhajir Qaumi Movement, which is being operated from abroad. Most of its founding members are sitting in London, America, and South Africa; their status is yet to be recognized. It is certain that they still have their influence over the operations of the organization.
This is the reason the rift among its members in Pakistan hit the media channels time after time. MQM can be called a leaderless party whose new leader is not accepted by all segments and personalities of the organization. Farooq Sattar, the existing person in charge, is quite feeble when it comes to leadership. The current clash shows his ineptitude in running the party.
MQM and its offshoots needs revival and this will only happen when the foreign connections attached with the party are abandoned and its base is extended to the non-Urdu speaking communities.
The issue seems to be the matter of only one seat of the senate, but it is more than that. It expresses the lack of sway of his leadership skills over the already fragmented MQM. On the other side the way the issue is being presented on the media by the party’s members, this can also be seen as a way to generate more media hype.
Setting aside the current tussle, MQM needs an utter reshuffle in the way its operations are being run. The very first thing MQM is required to do is to terminate its relations with its so-called members sitting in various parts of the world. The way the party’s members are spread around the world, it does not seem to be a political party, rather a for-profit organization that earn proceeds from Pakistan and its managers reap the rewards from sitting abroad especially in South Africa, London, and America.
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Therefore, the most decisive thing required here is to ensure that no one from outside of Pakistan is pulling its strings. Is it possible that any leader from UK resides in Pakistan and operates its party from here? Impossible. This would never happen even if Pakistan was as developed as the UK is. Nobody would allow them.
It should be remembered that right away, all the sections of MQM are one and their controllers are the same people who founded the party on the ethnic card. Unless all the above-mentioned changes are made in the party,
Formation of the new parties from MQM is not the solution but mere eyewash. The party should not restrain itself to the Urdu-speaking community. Though its ex-leader Altaf Hussain claimed to be a Muhajir and their supporter, he became the citizen of London and has not been to Pakistan in years. He played the Muhajir card with an astute and Machiavellian policy.
He became the citizen of the UK and the Muhajirs remained Muhajirs rather than Pakistanis. He considered it better to keep on operating the organization by sitting abroad. Though MQM-P claims that it has no connection with its preceding leader, Altaf keeps on exerting his influence through his front men residing abroad. This same segment of MQM is campaigning against Pakistan in USA and the UK.
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In Pakistan, the party will remain Muhajir Qaumi Movement unless its current leadership stops playing the Muhajir card and comes on the scene as a federal party, which has presence of non-Urdu speaking members in it as well. It should expand its operations from Karachi and Hyderabad to other parts of the country. Pakistan needs more federal parties than those that are operated by so-called ethnic and linguistic leaders who later on cause damage to the whole community they represent.
The Urdu-speaking population is considered to be the community of the people who migrated from India and came to Pakistan at the time of partition. Not all of them are with MQM.
Furthermore, MQM needs to appoint a leader who is a federalist rather than a sub-nationalist who portrays himself to be the representative of a specific community. The Urdu-speaking population is considered to be the community of the people who migrated from India and came to Pakistan at the time of partition. Not all of them are with MQM.
Now is the time to shun the ethnic card and consider all of Pakistan the community to serve. It has been around 70 years and they are still Urdu-speaking – majorly because of the politics of the self-proclaimed leaders who are more interested in keeping the Muhajir card alive for gaining financial as well as non-financial benefits.
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Lastly, it should be remembered that right away, all the sections of MQM are one and their controllers are the same people who founded the party on the ethnic card. Unless all the above-mentioned changes are made in the party, nothing is going to improve. It is high time modifications are pursued and implemented.
MQM and its offshoots needs revival and this will only happen when the foreign connections attached with the party are abandoned and its base is extended to the non-Urdu speaking communities.
Junaid Ali Malik is a professional writer. He considers writing is the sole purpose of his life. He has done masters in Commerce and History and holds PG Diploma in International Affairs. He is an entrepreneur by profession. He can be contacted at alimalikmalik627@gmail.com or @junaidalimalik1. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Global Village Space’s editorial policy.