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A Visit to 90- Debunking the MQM and Altaf Hussain
3JAN
“If you don’t stop lies or false accusations that damage our party’s reputation, then don’t blame me, Altaf Hussain, or the MQM if you get killed by any of my millions of supporters.” “I don’t want to fight with you, otherwise my people could have turned the symbolic Teen Talwar into real swords on one order of mine.” These were few of the recent remarks made by the powerful, London based chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Altaf Hussain. MQM, now the third largest party in Pakistan was initially formed as a reactionary student group to safeguard the rights of the Urdu-speaking community or descendants of those who had migrated from India to Pakistan at the time of partition and settled in areas of Urban Sindh. Despite dominating the electoral politics in Urban Sindh for nearly three decades, the MQM failed to impress many outside its strongholds. It was ostracized by many who deplored them, often labelling it as ‘a militant group with a political wing’. Embarking upon my journey to further comprehend this party that had changed the face of national politics, I decided to visit the MQM headquarters and the former residence of Hussain, the infamous-90. Losing its grip in its strongholds against the mounting pressure from parties like the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf, the party members and its leader were noticeably apoplectic, as depicted from his recent speeches. Preparing for my visit, I paid special attention to the attire I chose for the special occasion. I wore a plain white Shalwar Kamiz, instead of the usual jeans and shirts I normally prefer, given Hussain’s recent wrath and exasperation with the ‘burger class’- a derogatory term used to refer to youngsters influenced by the west.
Located in a lower middle class locality of Karachi, Hussain’s former home and now the MQM’s headquarters-90, represents precisely what the MQM has been endeavoring to achieve. Since its inception, the party has sent members from the middle and lower-middle classes to the legislative assemblies, aspiring to obliterate the oligarchy of feudalism and plutocracy in the country. Hussain surprised many, when instead of becoming the mayor himself, he nominated a middle-class doctor Farooq Sattar as Karachi’s mayor in the first local government elections that the MQM participated in. MQM swept the elections in Karachi and Hyderabad, with Sattar becoming the youngest mayor in the metropolis’ history at twenty eight. Similarly in 2005, MQM nominated the little known Mustafa Kamal as the city’s mayor. Kamal came from a humble background, having previously served as a telephone operator at the party’s headquarters. Kamal not only changed the face of the city during his tenure but was also declared as the second best mayor in the world by the reputable, Foreign Policy Magazine in 2008. With the party under constant threats from militant groups and banned outfits such as the Taliban and Lashkar e Jhangvi, the area was not as guarded as one would expect. Children quarreled while playing cricket while some enjoyed a ride on their bicycles. The streets had all elements of an ordinary Karachi street of a middle-class neighborhood, other than large portraits of the party leader.
Looking at the two cows that sat outside Hussain’s house, with the Holy Eid-ul-Azha round the corner, I heard a voice from behind me. “You can get pictures with them, they’re really friendly. After all, they’re Altaf Bhai’s sacrificial animals, they know how we treat our guests”, remarked Ali Raza Abidi, MQM’s Member National Assembly and head of the party’s cyber communication wing, as he greeted us with a pleasant smile. A visit to 90 can easily help one understand MQM’s culture. Discipline was evident, with workers diligently engrossed in their activities. Workers greeted visitors with hospitality, even addressing those much younger than them as ‘bhai’ (elder brother) out of respect. The party’s legislators mingled with the workers. Sagheer Ahmed, a member of the Coordination Committee and former Health Minister entered the office, politely greeting everyone who sat there. There was no air of importance surrounding him. He was one of them. An outsider would be unable to distinguish the difference between office-bearers and ordinary workers. Class-differences were kept at bay, with all members working towards a common objective, in an egalitarian setting.
Any investigation on the MQM would be rendered incomplete without addressing the question of rigging in polls. While MQM has emerged as the clear victors in all elections since the late ‘80’s, its antagonists claim that it hijacks the public’s mandate at the barrel of the gun. The recent elections in May this year prompted leaders like the Jamat e Islami’s Munawar Hassan claim that the MQM secured a ‘false mandate at gunpoint’. Activists of other parties like the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf too, held passionate protests, condemning the MQM vociferously. Such claims cast a shadow of doubt on the MQM’s credibility, putting a question mark on the party’s claims of being Karachi’s sole voice and largest stake holders.
Abidi was quick to dispel any such perception, pointing out at the absurdity of such allegations. He thought such allegations were part of the propaganda designed to malign the party. “Not only did we win the general elections but also the by-elections where the army was deployed both inside and outside the polling stations on the request of our opponents. Parties like PTI and JI need to learn to accept defeat. They should not be sore losers.” Answering questions about party workers arrested in the past, confessing to heinous crimes, he highlighted the flaws with the criminal justice system, pointing out at the torture used to extract those statements, made under coercion. ‘If those teams investigated an elephant, it would confess to being a dear. That’s how much they torture a person during interrogation.
While expressing his reservations about the ongoing operation, Abidi believed his party was being targeted. He said his party was the first one to call for an across the board operation. He questioned why the rangers and law enforcers faced no resistance when they entered MQM strongholds but were unable to enter areas like Lyari. With rumors rife about the formation of a forward bloc in the PPP’s Sindh carders and its likely support to an MQM backed chief minister, Abidi believed nothing could be ruled out in politics. He agreed that a possibility existed but it was at best speculative at the moment.
Speaking on the issue of target killings and the MQM’s inability at providing their voters with safety as target killings continued unabated, Abidi believed such criticism was often unfair. Explaining the party’s failure to control violence in Karachi, Abidi remarked, “Had we believed in violence, we would have used violent tactics while we were most powerful. This city saw peace during our tenure. That’s what we tell our supporters. Vote for us to give us more power. Give us more power, if you want us to serve you in the way we did while we were in power. Unfortunately those who have the authority do not have the will; we have the will but have no authority. If you want to gauge our success, look at the period while we controlled the home ministry”, the nostalgia from their days in power evident from his expression. Discussing his party’s stand on various issues, I took the liberty to take a slight detour asking him if the room we were sitting in was the one in which those aspiring to become the Prime Minister sit, “No, that’s the room next door, you can sit there only when you’re ready to become the Prime Minister”, he said with a mischievous smile as he lit a cigarette from his packet of Davidoff lights.
Independent reports validate Abidi’s claims. During 2002-2007, the years when MQM controlled the Home Ministry, violence was minimum with words such as ‘target killings’ seldom heard. While nine hundred and forty eight people were killed during MQM’s tenure at the Home Ministry, the number rose to a staggering six thousand during the subsequent years with the Pakistan People’s Party at the helm of affairs.
Hearing the MQM’s side of the story, it became imperative to interview someone who opposed them, before arriving at any conclusion. A meeting was therefore arranged with Mohommad Jibran Nasir, an independent candidate from NA-250 in the recent elections, who fervently opposed the MQM in his election campaign. Jibran spoke candidly about his reservations with the MQM as we sipped our overpriced lattes at a pretentious coffee house in Defense. While stating MQM workers were involved in criminal activities as the party failed to monitor them, Jibran denied any massive rigging in his constituency. “While I expressed my apprehensions regarding rigging, that was purely because the ballot boxes did not arrive at the stations. I went to numerous polling stations and not at one did I see MQM involved in rigging. If there was any rigging, it was done by the PTI. Their candidate brought ballot boxes in his car,a clear violation of the election rules”, he claimed.
Answering my question about what he thought of the MQM chief, he smiled, looked around and remarked, “I may not agree with his politics but he’s a visionary. He would have been the most popular leader here, only if he had a strong surname, had he been a Bhutto or Sharif. But he is Hussain. With his background, it is phenomenal to see what he has achieved.” Trying to get an interesting statement out of him, I asked if he could vote for the MQM. “No” he replied categorically. “I wouldn’t have contested the elections myself if I could”. While Jibran’s statement about Hussain was interesting and noteworthy, I still hadn’t heard what I wanted to hear. I rephrased my question and asked him who he would want to control Karachi out of the MQM, ANP, PPP, PTI, JI, PPP and PML.
Sensing my urge to get a sweeping statement out of him, Jibran paused for a few seconds, and fullfilled my wish for him to give a more direct statement. “The PML has no interest in Karachi. PTI lacks a proper structure and is ill-equipped to deal with the city’s challenges; the PPP has ruined the city in the past five years that it has been in power. ANP, if in power would do little more than strengthening its strongholds and bringing more weapons into the city, the JI would bring in religious extremism. So, by virtue of elimination of all other evils, the MQM it is”, he said while sipping his cream rich, high calorie coffee. “They have the man power to address the city’s issues”, he continued. “They have their army of unit and sector workers ready, whenever the city needs them. The way they carried out relief operations in the recent rain epitomizes that”, he remarked, quickly turning his attention to the pancake lying in front of him.”
While appreciating the MQM, Jibran added how some of its unit and sector workers were involved in myriad illicit criminal activities, often terrorizing ordinary citizens. However a particular phrase by him was most note-worthy, setting the entire debate into perspective. A statement that opens the Pandora box for a host of other questions Just as he says, “by virtue of elimination of all other evils”, one is compelled to ponder on how Karachi would look without the MQM.
‘A kafir army of 1,000 infidels came to a Muslim country. A gallant Jihadi singlehandedly killed 200 of them. How many Jihadis are left’? Imagine a question like this being included in a Mathematics book in a government owned primary school. Liberal and secular in ideology, the MQM replaced the ultra-conservative Jamat Islami (JI) as Karachi’s largest party. While the MQM’s rise has been associated with increased ethnic tension, it has managed to keep sectarian conflict, rampant elsewhere in the country under check. With religious extremism, tolerance and sectarian violence on the rise, the mere thought of the country’s economic hub of the country being controlled by a religious party appears disconcerting. Not only would the city have been a safe haven for many banned outfits that religious parties support, but would have also been a source of their funding under official patronage. While one must acknowledge the MQM’s shortcomings where it is at fault, the question is not about the MQM being good or bad. The question, rather is, who else if not the MQM? How would the international community respond to a city like Karachi being controlled by religious or quasi-religious parties like the JI and PTI?
Reverting back to some of Hussain’s recent statements, it is fair to say that he probably went a bit too far. His outburst, while ‘more than what was required’ is not uncalled for. Despite consecutive electoral successes, its rivals still allege that it holds the city hostage, rigs election and hijacks the city’s mandate. The MQM epitomizes the adage, ‘doomed if we, doomed if we don’t’. Criticized for sitting on the treasury benches with the PPP despite its dismal performance, critics often urged the MQM to leave the government. Some believed it could not survive without being in power. Some of these charges are rather unfair. With democracy returning to the country after a decade, history wouldn’t have exonerated the MQM, had the government been toppled, following its decision to leave the government. When the MQM, however decided to withdraw its support from the government, its decision was labelled as a ‘political gimmick’. While Hussain’s statements are condemnable, are they any worse than Imran Khan’s oxymoronic statement about talks with ‘good militants’ or Munawar Hassan calling HakimUllah Mehsud a ‘martyr’? Hussain, however, displayed character, apologizing unconditionally if he hurt anyone’s sentiments.
Those who habitually blame the MQM for the city’s violence must question themselves why cities like Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas, which too are MQM strongholds do not experience the same violence. It would be unfair to blame the MQM singlehandedly. With the way it served its constituents during its years in power and with clouds of religious extremism looming over the city, MQM looks like the best option to control the city. An introspection into other parties working in the city reveal, few have the structure and manpower to deal with the numerous challenges the city faces. With its disciplined and highly organized power-base along with representatives from amongst the people, Karachi’s perceived villains may well be its true heroes.
3JAN
“If you don’t stop lies or false accusations that damage our party’s reputation, then don’t blame me, Altaf Hussain, or the MQM if you get killed by any of my millions of supporters.” “I don’t want to fight with you, otherwise my people could have turned the symbolic Teen Talwar into real swords on one order of mine.” These were few of the recent remarks made by the powerful, London based chief of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Altaf Hussain. MQM, now the third largest party in Pakistan was initially formed as a reactionary student group to safeguard the rights of the Urdu-speaking community or descendants of those who had migrated from India to Pakistan at the time of partition and settled in areas of Urban Sindh. Despite dominating the electoral politics in Urban Sindh for nearly three decades, the MQM failed to impress many outside its strongholds. It was ostracized by many who deplored them, often labelling it as ‘a militant group with a political wing’. Embarking upon my journey to further comprehend this party that had changed the face of national politics, I decided to visit the MQM headquarters and the former residence of Hussain, the infamous-90. Losing its grip in its strongholds against the mounting pressure from parties like the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf, the party members and its leader were noticeably apoplectic, as depicted from his recent speeches. Preparing for my visit, I paid special attention to the attire I chose for the special occasion. I wore a plain white Shalwar Kamiz, instead of the usual jeans and shirts I normally prefer, given Hussain’s recent wrath and exasperation with the ‘burger class’- a derogatory term used to refer to youngsters influenced by the west.
Located in a lower middle class locality of Karachi, Hussain’s former home and now the MQM’s headquarters-90, represents precisely what the MQM has been endeavoring to achieve. Since its inception, the party has sent members from the middle and lower-middle classes to the legislative assemblies, aspiring to obliterate the oligarchy of feudalism and plutocracy in the country. Hussain surprised many, when instead of becoming the mayor himself, he nominated a middle-class doctor Farooq Sattar as Karachi’s mayor in the first local government elections that the MQM participated in. MQM swept the elections in Karachi and Hyderabad, with Sattar becoming the youngest mayor in the metropolis’ history at twenty eight. Similarly in 2005, MQM nominated the little known Mustafa Kamal as the city’s mayor. Kamal came from a humble background, having previously served as a telephone operator at the party’s headquarters. Kamal not only changed the face of the city during his tenure but was also declared as the second best mayor in the world by the reputable, Foreign Policy Magazine in 2008. With the party under constant threats from militant groups and banned outfits such as the Taliban and Lashkar e Jhangvi, the area was not as guarded as one would expect. Children quarreled while playing cricket while some enjoyed a ride on their bicycles. The streets had all elements of an ordinary Karachi street of a middle-class neighborhood, other than large portraits of the party leader.
Looking at the two cows that sat outside Hussain’s house, with the Holy Eid-ul-Azha round the corner, I heard a voice from behind me. “You can get pictures with them, they’re really friendly. After all, they’re Altaf Bhai’s sacrificial animals, they know how we treat our guests”, remarked Ali Raza Abidi, MQM’s Member National Assembly and head of the party’s cyber communication wing, as he greeted us with a pleasant smile. A visit to 90 can easily help one understand MQM’s culture. Discipline was evident, with workers diligently engrossed in their activities. Workers greeted visitors with hospitality, even addressing those much younger than them as ‘bhai’ (elder brother) out of respect. The party’s legislators mingled with the workers. Sagheer Ahmed, a member of the Coordination Committee and former Health Minister entered the office, politely greeting everyone who sat there. There was no air of importance surrounding him. He was one of them. An outsider would be unable to distinguish the difference between office-bearers and ordinary workers. Class-differences were kept at bay, with all members working towards a common objective, in an egalitarian setting.
Any investigation on the MQM would be rendered incomplete without addressing the question of rigging in polls. While MQM has emerged as the clear victors in all elections since the late ‘80’s, its antagonists claim that it hijacks the public’s mandate at the barrel of the gun. The recent elections in May this year prompted leaders like the Jamat e Islami’s Munawar Hassan claim that the MQM secured a ‘false mandate at gunpoint’. Activists of other parties like the Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf too, held passionate protests, condemning the MQM vociferously. Such claims cast a shadow of doubt on the MQM’s credibility, putting a question mark on the party’s claims of being Karachi’s sole voice and largest stake holders.
Abidi was quick to dispel any such perception, pointing out at the absurdity of such allegations. He thought such allegations were part of the propaganda designed to malign the party. “Not only did we win the general elections but also the by-elections where the army was deployed both inside and outside the polling stations on the request of our opponents. Parties like PTI and JI need to learn to accept defeat. They should not be sore losers.” Answering questions about party workers arrested in the past, confessing to heinous crimes, he highlighted the flaws with the criminal justice system, pointing out at the torture used to extract those statements, made under coercion. ‘If those teams investigated an elephant, it would confess to being a dear. That’s how much they torture a person during interrogation.
While expressing his reservations about the ongoing operation, Abidi believed his party was being targeted. He said his party was the first one to call for an across the board operation. He questioned why the rangers and law enforcers faced no resistance when they entered MQM strongholds but were unable to enter areas like Lyari. With rumors rife about the formation of a forward bloc in the PPP’s Sindh carders and its likely support to an MQM backed chief minister, Abidi believed nothing could be ruled out in politics. He agreed that a possibility existed but it was at best speculative at the moment.
Speaking on the issue of target killings and the MQM’s inability at providing their voters with safety as target killings continued unabated, Abidi believed such criticism was often unfair. Explaining the party’s failure to control violence in Karachi, Abidi remarked, “Had we believed in violence, we would have used violent tactics while we were most powerful. This city saw peace during our tenure. That’s what we tell our supporters. Vote for us to give us more power. Give us more power, if you want us to serve you in the way we did while we were in power. Unfortunately those who have the authority do not have the will; we have the will but have no authority. If you want to gauge our success, look at the period while we controlled the home ministry”, the nostalgia from their days in power evident from his expression. Discussing his party’s stand on various issues, I took the liberty to take a slight detour asking him if the room we were sitting in was the one in which those aspiring to become the Prime Minister sit, “No, that’s the room next door, you can sit there only when you’re ready to become the Prime Minister”, he said with a mischievous smile as he lit a cigarette from his packet of Davidoff lights.
Independent reports validate Abidi’s claims. During 2002-2007, the years when MQM controlled the Home Ministry, violence was minimum with words such as ‘target killings’ seldom heard. While nine hundred and forty eight people were killed during MQM’s tenure at the Home Ministry, the number rose to a staggering six thousand during the subsequent years with the Pakistan People’s Party at the helm of affairs.
Hearing the MQM’s side of the story, it became imperative to interview someone who opposed them, before arriving at any conclusion. A meeting was therefore arranged with Mohommad Jibran Nasir, an independent candidate from NA-250 in the recent elections, who fervently opposed the MQM in his election campaign. Jibran spoke candidly about his reservations with the MQM as we sipped our overpriced lattes at a pretentious coffee house in Defense. While stating MQM workers were involved in criminal activities as the party failed to monitor them, Jibran denied any massive rigging in his constituency. “While I expressed my apprehensions regarding rigging, that was purely because the ballot boxes did not arrive at the stations. I went to numerous polling stations and not at one did I see MQM involved in rigging. If there was any rigging, it was done by the PTI. Their candidate brought ballot boxes in his car,a clear violation of the election rules”, he claimed.
Answering my question about what he thought of the MQM chief, he smiled, looked around and remarked, “I may not agree with his politics but he’s a visionary. He would have been the most popular leader here, only if he had a strong surname, had he been a Bhutto or Sharif. But he is Hussain. With his background, it is phenomenal to see what he has achieved.” Trying to get an interesting statement out of him, I asked if he could vote for the MQM. “No” he replied categorically. “I wouldn’t have contested the elections myself if I could”. While Jibran’s statement about Hussain was interesting and noteworthy, I still hadn’t heard what I wanted to hear. I rephrased my question and asked him who he would want to control Karachi out of the MQM, ANP, PPP, PTI, JI, PPP and PML.
Sensing my urge to get a sweeping statement out of him, Jibran paused for a few seconds, and fullfilled my wish for him to give a more direct statement. “The PML has no interest in Karachi. PTI lacks a proper structure and is ill-equipped to deal with the city’s challenges; the PPP has ruined the city in the past five years that it has been in power. ANP, if in power would do little more than strengthening its strongholds and bringing more weapons into the city, the JI would bring in religious extremism. So, by virtue of elimination of all other evils, the MQM it is”, he said while sipping his cream rich, high calorie coffee. “They have the man power to address the city’s issues”, he continued. “They have their army of unit and sector workers ready, whenever the city needs them. The way they carried out relief operations in the recent rain epitomizes that”, he remarked, quickly turning his attention to the pancake lying in front of him.”
While appreciating the MQM, Jibran added how some of its unit and sector workers were involved in myriad illicit criminal activities, often terrorizing ordinary citizens. However a particular phrase by him was most note-worthy, setting the entire debate into perspective. A statement that opens the Pandora box for a host of other questions Just as he says, “by virtue of elimination of all other evils”, one is compelled to ponder on how Karachi would look without the MQM.
‘A kafir army of 1,000 infidels came to a Muslim country. A gallant Jihadi singlehandedly killed 200 of them. How many Jihadis are left’? Imagine a question like this being included in a Mathematics book in a government owned primary school. Liberal and secular in ideology, the MQM replaced the ultra-conservative Jamat Islami (JI) as Karachi’s largest party. While the MQM’s rise has been associated with increased ethnic tension, it has managed to keep sectarian conflict, rampant elsewhere in the country under check. With religious extremism, tolerance and sectarian violence on the rise, the mere thought of the country’s economic hub of the country being controlled by a religious party appears disconcerting. Not only would the city have been a safe haven for many banned outfits that religious parties support, but would have also been a source of their funding under official patronage. While one must acknowledge the MQM’s shortcomings where it is at fault, the question is not about the MQM being good or bad. The question, rather is, who else if not the MQM? How would the international community respond to a city like Karachi being controlled by religious or quasi-religious parties like the JI and PTI?
Reverting back to some of Hussain’s recent statements, it is fair to say that he probably went a bit too far. His outburst, while ‘more than what was required’ is not uncalled for. Despite consecutive electoral successes, its rivals still allege that it holds the city hostage, rigs election and hijacks the city’s mandate. The MQM epitomizes the adage, ‘doomed if we, doomed if we don’t’. Criticized for sitting on the treasury benches with the PPP despite its dismal performance, critics often urged the MQM to leave the government. Some believed it could not survive without being in power. Some of these charges are rather unfair. With democracy returning to the country after a decade, history wouldn’t have exonerated the MQM, had the government been toppled, following its decision to leave the government. When the MQM, however decided to withdraw its support from the government, its decision was labelled as a ‘political gimmick’. While Hussain’s statements are condemnable, are they any worse than Imran Khan’s oxymoronic statement about talks with ‘good militants’ or Munawar Hassan calling HakimUllah Mehsud a ‘martyr’? Hussain, however, displayed character, apologizing unconditionally if he hurt anyone’s sentiments.
Those who habitually blame the MQM for the city’s violence must question themselves why cities like Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas, which too are MQM strongholds do not experience the same violence. It would be unfair to blame the MQM singlehandedly. With the way it served its constituents during its years in power and with clouds of religious extremism looming over the city, MQM looks like the best option to control the city. An introspection into other parties working in the city reveal, few have the structure and manpower to deal with the numerous challenges the city faces. With its disciplined and highly organized power-base along with representatives from amongst the people, Karachi’s perceived villains may well be its true heroes.
