Imtiaz Alam summed it up quite well.
VIEW: Altaf Hussains martial law balloon Imtiaz Alam
Building upon his ethnic appeal among the Urdu-speakers of Sindh, Altaf Hussain created a subservient power structure, backed by his armed loyalists, who are under orders to kill those who dare to defy the leader
The martial law balloon floated by Mr Altaf Hussain, the MQM chief, has burst before it could even take off, thanks to an overwhelming reaction against it across all political divides, except for a media group and a bunch of beneficiaries-in-waiting. Among all democrats, Mian Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N deserve laurels for standing firm in defence of democracy and against any kind of military intervention. Quite curiously, the call for a military intervention was not addressed to the army chief, who is a professional Potohari soldier and not worthy of being patriotic in Mr Hussains eyes. The statement is tantamount to treason for fomenting a split in the army leadership and subverting the constitution. What is behind Altaf Hussains martial law balloon?
Mr Altaf Hussains provocative call to patriotic generals to clean up corruption and in fact pack up the democratically elected incumbents his party is in conflictual partnership with, and Mr Nawaz Sharifs tougher rejoinder to his mimicry in defence of democracy, however flawed it may be, brings into sharp contrast the opposite pulls of our power structure and polity. This country has seen such insidious calls for martial law, and always on the pretext of getting rid of corrupt and inefficient politicians, with and without the blessings of the khakis in the past some actually materialising in one after another takeover by the military rulers that always ended in greater disasters than whatever good they had promised as our messiah.
The urge for a messiah is as old as the helplessness rooted in the hopeless serf-feudal relationship that Mr Hussain is so fond of fighting against while, ironically, reproducing it politically the way he lords over his political bandwagon as a feudal estate. Interestingly, Mr Hussian is himself a prototype messiah, whose political birth was midwifed by Amir-ul-Momineen General Ziaul Haq to create a countervailing urban force from among the Urdu-speaking settlers against the feudal Bhuttos PPP, which has to its credit that it fought against all military rulers for the restoration of democracy. Despite being a secular party and standing against religious terrorism, the MQMs rabblerousing to hang all the corrupt by any means plays into the hands of the Islamic extremists who vow a bloody cleansing in a Taliban/Khomeini-style move. Even quite knowledgeable people are carried away by the fascist notion of taking a reprehensible course of mass-killing, much like the lumpen proletariat had performed on the streets of Paris during the French Revolution or the Taliban have done in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The MQM was created on the aggressive chauvinist appeal to Urdu-speakers to maintain the privileges of the salariat and frustrate the aspirations of the growing middle strata from among the deprived nationalitiesSindhis, Pashtuns and Baloch while overcoming its rootlessness. Quite opportunistically, it became an appendage to successive military regimes to consolidate its ethnic power base in urban Sindh against the feudal (read rural) Sindhis. It manipulated one party/ethnic group against the other to grab a greater share at the cost of the Sindhis and joined those feudal cliques who have had always sold the interests of the Sindhis. Building upon his ethnic appeal among the Urdu-speakers of Sindh, Altaf Hussain created a subservient power structure, backed by his armed loyalists, who are under orders to kill those who dare to defy the leader (Quaid ka jo ghadar hai, maut ka haqdar hai).
The MQM has remained in power by hook or crook for most of the time of its existence, especially during the martial laws of General Zia and General Musharraf (both quite patriotic?). The gravest worry for the MQM is that its so-called numerical ethnic majority in Karachi is under serious threat with radical demographic changes in the ethnic composition of urban Sindh. Most of the rural-to-urban migration is taking place towards Karachi. The outflow of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Pakhtunkhwa is mainly directed towards Karachi, resulting in ethnic tension between the Urdu-speakers and the Pakhtuns. Previous and recent target killings are in fact a battle for turf between the Mohajir and Pashtun mafias in Karachi, on the one hand, and to frustrate Pakhtun migration towards Karachi, on the other.
The havoc that the floods continue to cause, especially in Sindh now, has forced hundreds of thousands of Sindhi people from upper Sindh, including the poor and bonded labourers the MQM wants to emancipate from the yoke of the feudal landlords, to migrate towards Karachi for shelter. After Mohajirs have turned into a minority in Karachi, the MQM has become intolerant of any migration from anywhere, except fellow Biharis from Bangladesh. It has taken a principled stand against the migration of native Sindhis towards Karachi after having been uprooted from their native places, and has demanded the registration of the homeless in their home. Karachi has been part of Sindh since 1795, and our Mohajir friends are asking the natives for their permit. This has brought the Sindhi, Pakhtun and Mohajir coalition partners into an ominous conflict.
The call to the patriotic generals is to pressurise the PPP to stop the influx of Sindhis into Karachi, which will further reduce the numerical strength of Urdu-speakers. (It needs to be clarified that not all Mohajirs are in the MQM, not all Sindhis are in the PPP and not all Pakthuns are in the ANP). The fissures among the three coalition partners may lead to either the PPP bowing before the MQMs demand to keep a new wave of Sindhis out of Karachi and lose its Sindhi constituency or the MQM going to any length to keep Karachi as its exclusive forte. But as the rural-to-urban migration grows and over a million Sindhis uprooted by the floods may prefer to settle in Karachi as their birthright, the Urdu-speakers may have to either contend with being a minority or make hell for whoever overtakes them. And obviously, the MQM will go to any extent to keep Karachi as its fief.
The bottom-line is that the MQM wants to retain its most privileged position that it had consolidated with the patronage of General Musharraf for nine long years. During the reign of Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim, the MQM was the most dominant player in Sindh at the cost of the Sindhis and the PPP. It suited the MQM to have pseudo-Sindhi partners than a majority-PPP. Over half a dozen times, the MQM has threatened to quit the PPP-led coalition on one demand or the other and the PPP had to beat a retreat to keep its reconciliation policy going. When Hyderabad was reverted to its erstwhile status by the PPP, the MQM forced it to revive three districts that were created by General Musharraf to give a majority to the MQM in Hyderabad. Similarly, it kept the posts of governor, chief secretary and DCOs in Karachi in its kitty and did not let the PPP-led government have any say in the affairs of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.
But, perhaps, the room to make adjustments is getting too cramped. The PPP cannot abandon the poor Sindhis from seeking refuge in Karachi, nor should have the MQM as a matter of principle opposed it. But politics is all about constituencies and the MQM is no exception. On this issue, the MQMs salvo has backfired and did not get any takers among both the internal and external establishments the MQM is quite embedded with. It would not like to bet its assets at the wrong time and on a wrong issue. The PPP, in the meanwhile, should cover its flanks and extend an olive branch towards Mr Sharif, who is talking sense and behaving well.
link; http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\08\29\story_29-8-2010_pg3_4
VIEW: Altaf Hussains martial law balloon Imtiaz Alam
Building upon his ethnic appeal among the Urdu-speakers of Sindh, Altaf Hussain created a subservient power structure, backed by his armed loyalists, who are under orders to kill those who dare to defy the leader
The martial law balloon floated by Mr Altaf Hussain, the MQM chief, has burst before it could even take off, thanks to an overwhelming reaction against it across all political divides, except for a media group and a bunch of beneficiaries-in-waiting. Among all democrats, Mian Nawaz Sharif and his PML-N deserve laurels for standing firm in defence of democracy and against any kind of military intervention. Quite curiously, the call for a military intervention was not addressed to the army chief, who is a professional Potohari soldier and not worthy of being patriotic in Mr Hussains eyes. The statement is tantamount to treason for fomenting a split in the army leadership and subverting the constitution. What is behind Altaf Hussains martial law balloon?
Mr Altaf Hussains provocative call to patriotic generals to clean up corruption and in fact pack up the democratically elected incumbents his party is in conflictual partnership with, and Mr Nawaz Sharifs tougher rejoinder to his mimicry in defence of democracy, however flawed it may be, brings into sharp contrast the opposite pulls of our power structure and polity. This country has seen such insidious calls for martial law, and always on the pretext of getting rid of corrupt and inefficient politicians, with and without the blessings of the khakis in the past some actually materialising in one after another takeover by the military rulers that always ended in greater disasters than whatever good they had promised as our messiah.
The urge for a messiah is as old as the helplessness rooted in the hopeless serf-feudal relationship that Mr Hussain is so fond of fighting against while, ironically, reproducing it politically the way he lords over his political bandwagon as a feudal estate. Interestingly, Mr Hussian is himself a prototype messiah, whose political birth was midwifed by Amir-ul-Momineen General Ziaul Haq to create a countervailing urban force from among the Urdu-speaking settlers against the feudal Bhuttos PPP, which has to its credit that it fought against all military rulers for the restoration of democracy. Despite being a secular party and standing against religious terrorism, the MQMs rabblerousing to hang all the corrupt by any means plays into the hands of the Islamic extremists who vow a bloody cleansing in a Taliban/Khomeini-style move. Even quite knowledgeable people are carried away by the fascist notion of taking a reprehensible course of mass-killing, much like the lumpen proletariat had performed on the streets of Paris during the French Revolution or the Taliban have done in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The MQM was created on the aggressive chauvinist appeal to Urdu-speakers to maintain the privileges of the salariat and frustrate the aspirations of the growing middle strata from among the deprived nationalitiesSindhis, Pashtuns and Baloch while overcoming its rootlessness. Quite opportunistically, it became an appendage to successive military regimes to consolidate its ethnic power base in urban Sindh against the feudal (read rural) Sindhis. It manipulated one party/ethnic group against the other to grab a greater share at the cost of the Sindhis and joined those feudal cliques who have had always sold the interests of the Sindhis. Building upon his ethnic appeal among the Urdu-speakers of Sindh, Altaf Hussain created a subservient power structure, backed by his armed loyalists, who are under orders to kill those who dare to defy the leader (Quaid ka jo ghadar hai, maut ka haqdar hai).
The MQM has remained in power by hook or crook for most of the time of its existence, especially during the martial laws of General Zia and General Musharraf (both quite patriotic?). The gravest worry for the MQM is that its so-called numerical ethnic majority in Karachi is under serious threat with radical demographic changes in the ethnic composition of urban Sindh. Most of the rural-to-urban migration is taking place towards Karachi. The outflow of internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Pakhtunkhwa is mainly directed towards Karachi, resulting in ethnic tension between the Urdu-speakers and the Pakhtuns. Previous and recent target killings are in fact a battle for turf between the Mohajir and Pashtun mafias in Karachi, on the one hand, and to frustrate Pakhtun migration towards Karachi, on the other.
The havoc that the floods continue to cause, especially in Sindh now, has forced hundreds of thousands of Sindhi people from upper Sindh, including the poor and bonded labourers the MQM wants to emancipate from the yoke of the feudal landlords, to migrate towards Karachi for shelter. After Mohajirs have turned into a minority in Karachi, the MQM has become intolerant of any migration from anywhere, except fellow Biharis from Bangladesh. It has taken a principled stand against the migration of native Sindhis towards Karachi after having been uprooted from their native places, and has demanded the registration of the homeless in their home. Karachi has been part of Sindh since 1795, and our Mohajir friends are asking the natives for their permit. This has brought the Sindhi, Pakhtun and Mohajir coalition partners into an ominous conflict.
The call to the patriotic generals is to pressurise the PPP to stop the influx of Sindhis into Karachi, which will further reduce the numerical strength of Urdu-speakers. (It needs to be clarified that not all Mohajirs are in the MQM, not all Sindhis are in the PPP and not all Pakthuns are in the ANP). The fissures among the three coalition partners may lead to either the PPP bowing before the MQMs demand to keep a new wave of Sindhis out of Karachi and lose its Sindhi constituency or the MQM going to any length to keep Karachi as its exclusive forte. But as the rural-to-urban migration grows and over a million Sindhis uprooted by the floods may prefer to settle in Karachi as their birthright, the Urdu-speakers may have to either contend with being a minority or make hell for whoever overtakes them. And obviously, the MQM will go to any extent to keep Karachi as its fief.
The bottom-line is that the MQM wants to retain its most privileged position that it had consolidated with the patronage of General Musharraf for nine long years. During the reign of Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim, the MQM was the most dominant player in Sindh at the cost of the Sindhis and the PPP. It suited the MQM to have pseudo-Sindhi partners than a majority-PPP. Over half a dozen times, the MQM has threatened to quit the PPP-led coalition on one demand or the other and the PPP had to beat a retreat to keep its reconciliation policy going. When Hyderabad was reverted to its erstwhile status by the PPP, the MQM forced it to revive three districts that were created by General Musharraf to give a majority to the MQM in Hyderabad. Similarly, it kept the posts of governor, chief secretary and DCOs in Karachi in its kitty and did not let the PPP-led government have any say in the affairs of Karachi Metropolitan Corporation.
But, perhaps, the room to make adjustments is getting too cramped. The PPP cannot abandon the poor Sindhis from seeking refuge in Karachi, nor should have the MQM as a matter of principle opposed it. But politics is all about constituencies and the MQM is no exception. On this issue, the MQMs salvo has backfired and did not get any takers among both the internal and external establishments the MQM is quite embedded with. It would not like to bet its assets at the wrong time and on a wrong issue. The PPP, in the meanwhile, should cover its flanks and extend an olive branch towards Mr Sharif, who is talking sense and behaving well.
link; http://dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\08\29\story_29-8-2010_pg3_4
