Could the genuine MQM please stand up?
The energized Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) has been actively organizing public gatherings and inaugurating election offices across Karachi. Presenting itself as a unified and strong entity, the party is gearing up for the elections, aiming to reclaim all the national and provincial assembly seats it relinquished to the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) in the 2018 general elections.
Since the 1988 general elections, the MQM, previously unified under the leadership of its London-based founder Altaf Hussain, consistently emerged as the dominant party in Karachi. However, in the last general elections of 2018, a divided MQM contested without the endorsement of its founder, resulting in the PTI surpassing MQM in Karachi by securing 14 NA seats. Consequently, the electoral representation of MQM-P in the National Assembly decreased significantly to merely seven seats from Karachi and Hyderabad, compared to 25 seats in 2013.
Nevertheless, the assurance displayed by MQM-P leaders in their public engagements is reportedly rooted in certain ‘assurances’ — termed as assumptions by their critics. These assurances include preventing Altaf loyalists from participating in the elections either as a collective or as independent candidates, and hindering the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) from nominating formidable candidates, mobilizing polling agents, and conducting an effective election campaign.
Initially, MQM anticipated one-sided contests and harbored hopes of reclaiming their lost seats to the PTI in the 2018 elections. However, the reality on the ground contradicts the narrative they are presenting publicly.
The strong opposition from “Bhai”, the popularity of arch-rival Jamaat-e-Islami’s Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman, and the enthusiastic voter base of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf have demonstrated that the perceived advantages may not be as sweet as expected and grapes are sour .
Despite these hurdles, numerous MQM-P leaders remain optimistic that with the backing of the powerful establishment, their party can secure “13-14 NA seats” out of the total 22, positioning themselves as the predominant party in Karachi in the 2024 elections. Since the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is the government-in-waiting, the MQM-P has made an electoral cooperation deal with the PML-N.
However, former senior MQM leader Raza Haroon differs with this assessment. “It seems that, in the coming elections, MQM-P will struggle to even maintain its position from the 2018 elections, let alone claim its position of yesteryears,” he assumes.
“The vacuum of leadership led to the loss in 2018 to PTI,” claims Haroon. ”The resurgence of the Jamaat-i-Islami [JI], especially under the stewardship of Hafiz Naeem, has provided the citizens with an alternate choice, because JI has been vocal about Karachi’s issues much more vociferously than the MQM-P.”
On the other hand merger of different factions had drawn from various rival parties including the PTI and Jamaat-i-Islami, who called it a work of “political engineering” devised by the “powers that be” and being executed by former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari.
However, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui the Chairman of MQM ‘P” has claimed that MQM the only option “after the failed experiment of imposing an artificial leadership with a fake mandate in urban areas of Sindh”. According to him, the party is more focused, stronger and active now and it is the only solution to the problems of urban Sindh.
Key Features of MQM ‘P’ Manifesto:
• Establishing a strengthened local government system through a renewed democratic process to halt the alleged misuse of national resources by the PPP.
• MQM ‘P’ aims to decentralize authority to the grassroots level of governance, advocating that this move would enhance democracy and the parliamentary system.
• The MQM-P convener has emphasized the need to reassess the national power supply policy, alleging that it favors specific classes and exploits the economically disadvantaged.
• As a critic of the recent delimitation process carried out by the Election Commission of Pakistan before the Feb 8 polls, Siddiqui has pointed out “significant flaws” in the electoral rolls of urban Sindh. He asserts that “errors and irregularities” in Karachi’s voter lists have resulted in hundreds of thousands of votes being relocated from their original constituencies to other areas.
• The MQM-P convener has expressed his party’s opposition to “feudal democracy,” emphasizing their loyalty solely to Pakistan, referring to it as “dharti maa” or motherland
The billion-dollar question is that will the 2024 elections mark the beginning of the end of for the once-dominant force known as MQM, that once ruled Karachi with an iron grip?
We’ll have to wait and see until the evening of February 8th.