Mr Altaf Hussain has once again raised the spectre of the partition of Sindh. His argument is that since the Mohajirs constitute a majority of the urban population of Sindh and we have voted for the MQM, they ought to have a separate province by the name of Jinnahpur. This is an absurd proposition. What would we say if Mian Nawaz Sharif put forward the view that since he has won a majority of the votes in the urban areas of Lendha (central Punjab) and Potohar (northern Punjab) but lost in the Seraiki (southern) zone, the province of Punjab out to be split up into three units of which two (to be called Sharifabad and Sharifpur) are handed over to him?
Mr Hussain has been treading very dangerous ground for a long time. He was able to get away with cold-blooded murder because a vicious dictator by the name of Ziaul Haq nourished his ego and fed his ambitions. In the process, however, Mr Hussain has done irreparable harm to the cause of the Mohajirs in the one province which warmly embraced them and gave them a home at the time of partition. If some extremist Sindhis today believe (quite erroneously) that all Mohajirs are trespassers, it is only because they suspect Mohajir leaders like Mr Hussain of seeking to demean them in their own province.
As a matter of fact, apart from a brief interregnum under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Sindhis have had a raw deal from every government in the country. From prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan to dictator Ziaul Haq, the Sindhis were left to fend for themselves even as the Mohajirs were accorded superior status in the country. The tragedy of Sindh was compounded when the MQM brazenly allied itself in the 1980s with a dictatorial government which brutally sought to crush the PPP.
The writing on the wall should have been clear to the MQM when Ziaul Haq perished in 1988 and the PPP was returned to power in Islamabad and Karachi. But it wasn’t. Mr Hussain was so deeply wedded to dictatorship and so hostile to democracy that he jumped into the lap of General Mirza Aslam Beg when the latter conspired to undo the elected government in 1990. Subsequent events have only served to demonstrate that Mr Hussain is still out of step with emerging democratic realities.
General Asif Nawaz, on the other hand, was a man of his times. Therefore, he was fated to incur the wrath of the MQM. Gen Nasir Akhtar, Gen Abdul Waheed and all the other generals of today and tomorrow will act similarly. It is Mr Hussain and all those who believe in his terrorist brand of politics who must think again.
The PPP has a majority in the Sindh assembly. It has offered a number of ministries to the MQM in exchange for a promise of cooperation and good behaviour. This is an immeasurably generous offer, considering the MQM’s past record of treachery and betrayal. If Mr Hussain and his supporters are disinclined to accept it, they are welcome to their intransigence. The PPP can get along without them. But on at least two counts, the MQM cannot escape its fate: Mr Hussain must stand trial and prove his innocence, much like Ms Bhutto did from 1990-93 and as Murtaza Bhutto is doing today.
The MQM must also come to terms with new realities. It can no longer blackmail, threaten or terrorise the government of Sindh. The organs of the state are committed to crushing terrorist violence wherever and whenever it rears its ugly head in the country. If Mr Hussain doesn’t change his spots, he will hurt the cause of all Mohajirs in Sindh.
The Mohajir vote-bank which has helped sustain Mr Altaf Hussain thus far should now help him in refashion his future strategy. Blind loyalty to a mythical cause built upon violence, hatred and corruption leads to the precipice. Mr Hussain’s brand of politics is no longer tenable. Reasonable-thinking Mohajirs should stand up and say so. If he is in no mood to listen, they should reject him boldly and choose new leaders who appreciate their concerns more realistically. A policy of lavishing support to Mr Hussain out of fear, stubbornness or prejudice will not endear the Mohajirs to the other communities of Pakistan.
The MQM is not an island unto itself. The Mohajirs did not create Pakistan, even if they trekked thousands of miles to savour its freedom. Karachi doesn’t belong exclusively to them. They do not have a monopoly over Urdu. Their culture is not superior to that of other communities in the country. Mr Altaf Hussain is not infallible. The Sindhis are not low-caste citizens. The PPP is not an implacable adversary. General Zia was not an unforgettable or irreproachable friend any more than General Asif was an inscrutable foe.
The MQM has become a prisoner to all these dangerous, self-perpetuated myths. It is time that Mohajirs learnt to live without quotas or any other special rights or privileges. It is time they became as free and equal as all other Pakistanis.