VIEW: Politics of MQM —Ali K Chishti

Initially, the MQM leadership had been in the Mohajir working class; however, it has now developed a class-consciousness and policy-orientation geared towards redistribution of wealth and probably an ideological position on the left

In 1977, Altaf Hussain, a young student, formed a student organisation called the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation (APMSO). The nascent student organisation quickly leached students from Islami Jamiat-e-Talaba and in doing so it sealed its future as an adversary of the IJT. In 1984, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) was set up by Altaf Hussain. Between 1984 and 1986, Hussain worked to recruit its cadre and then launched it on the national stage with a massive rally in Karachi on August 8, 1986. Between 1986 and 1988, MQM worked towards a Sindhi-Muhajir alliance. In 1988, MQM fought national elections (under the name Haq Parast) in an alliance with the Sindhi-dominated Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) led by Benazir Bhutto. In the elections it emerged as the third largest party with 13 seats in the National Assembly. MQM also achieved a landslide victory in municipal elections (1987) in Karachi. Unfortunately, even with the historic Karachi Declaration between Benazir Bhutto and Altaf Hussain, MQM quit the coalition on grounds of extra-judicial killings and an active sabotage by certain hawks within the PPP. The coalition Islami Jamouri Ittehad (IJI) rode to power in the 1990 elections, which the MQM later backed.

In June 1992, the military launched Operation Cleanup to weed out Altaf Hussain. While the operation was officially declared to ‘weed out criminals’, it turned into an all-out witch-hunt against the MQM, causing thousands of extra-judicial killings. The military not only conducted raids but also led a media assault — it released photos showing that MQM was a terrorist organisation that ran torture chambers, and newspapers, fed by the military, ran expose pieces about its gun-running operations. The military-led campaign, along with a political campaign, helped create ‘mutiny’ within its ranks and led to the formation of Haqiqi under Afaq Ahmed. Oddly, the progenitors of the splinter group were also killed by the avid embrace of their parents, the intelligence agencies. The group quickly lost credibility on the street and eventually just became a front group for the government to wage war against MQM. In 1997, MQM-A tried to moderate its stance in terms of ethnicity by changing its name to Muttahida Quami Movement (United National Movement) and adopting a class-based struggle instead of an ethnic one. Later, during Musharraf’s tenure, the MQM was for the first time ‘allowed’ to work freely by the establishment, where it proved its metal by actually becoming the only political party to deliver to its constituents and its work, especially in the urban areas of Sindh, speaks of its commitment to its constituents.

The key words in the MQM’s discourse are jobs, not just reforms, political mobilisation, not just legislation, ‘leadership’ of the poor and middle class, not only distribution of wealth, and condemnation of the feudal and capitalist elite. Initially, the MQM leadership had been in the Mohajir working class; however, it has now developed a class-consciousness and policy-orientation geared towards redistribution of wealth and probably an ideological position on the left. However, the typical self-image of the party is couched in a middle class status via university students and their commitment to jobs, especially in the public sector. Its class-consciousness, if any, is unrelated in theory or practice to the ways and means of affecting a transfer of resources between classes, which is understandable. The evolutionary process from which MQM has transformed from initially a students’ rights group to a political movement for the rights of Mohajirs and now a full-fledged political party asking for the rights of 98 percent oppressed Pakistanis regardless of ethnic and religious beliefs has placed MQM in the centre-left of the Pakistani political scene. In terms of social origins, the party’s leadership came essentially from the lower middle class and upper middle class on the one hand, apart from the strong working class support that the party always had. However, the party’s appeal has now expanded to the middle and upper middle class.

MQM’s political thinking has revolved around a mixture of commonplace moralism and appeals to common sense. That worked both as a catalyst for workers and as a constraint vis-à-vis the articulate classes. In the context of a grotesque comparison between feudal, capitalist, democratic and socialist systems, MQM favours a system based on ‘realism’ and ‘practicalism’, reflecting the geography, culture and custom of a society. Hence, alliances with PPP and parties like Jeay Sindh. MQM’s evolution has actually brought it to Punjab and it wants business. I would conclude with the words of Raza Haroon of MQM where he said, “We are offering Punjab and Pakistan a system based on our track record in Karachi and Hyderabad and now it is up to the people to either take it or leave it!”

The author is a lawyer and author of the upcoming book, Journey of Life, Altaf Hussain of Pakistan, which is due in June 2010, and can be reached at akchishti@hotmail.com