Daily Times

The three factions are about to unite to form the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P). Call it political engineering or the need for more time to fight a shared foe known as the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), Sindh Governor Kamran Tessori has been working day and night to reconcile the factions; he is branding himself in charge of the mission. Tessori met with Pakistan Sarzameen Party’s Mustafa Kamal and later with Dr Farooq Sattar, both once key MQM players who have consented to merge their parties and factions into the Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui-led MQM-Pakistan. Imran Khan, the chairman of the PTI, and the leaders of the Jamaat-i-Islami in Karachi have been outspoken in their criticism of the “political manoeuvring” around the leaders of the various MQM sections, who have chosen to bury the hatchet in order to reclaim the port city where their popularity is declining.

This is, however, in contrast to the suspiciously silent response of Sindh’s ruling party, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Certain “key people” have undoubtedly been working behind the scenes for a long time to bring the various MQM groups under the MQM-Pakistan banner. Only time will tell if Dr Farooq Sattar-led faction and the electorally weak PSP and MQM-Haqeeqi will do any good to the MQM or not. Electoral data, on the other hand, show that the fractured MQM was unable to stop the PTI’s incursion in Karachi, where it defeated the “Urdu-speaking representatives” in the 2018 elections and later in several by-elections. Political parties change over time, much like a living organism does.

They go through the trial period, observing both public appeal and the lack of it. The bad thing is that the MQM went through the same process, but it was controlled by outside forces. Earlier, the MQM, led by Altaf Hussain, “controlled” the majority of the election in urban Sindh.

He was made irrelevant in politics after he delivered his infamous, anti-state speech in 2016. That was a welcome development because the London-based leader held command over Karachi with the support of the party’s militant wings. Now without Altaf, the powers that be are fusing these diverse components to form a reunified party. Imran Khan of the PTI and other stakeholders in Karachi and other metropolitan areas of Sindh have expressed their worries notwithstanding the ongoing reorganisation of the MQM ranks. Additionally, their worries have substance and shouldn’t be discounted. The MQM and Pakistani politics stand to gain the most from “neutral” remaining neutral and letting the MQM pursue its own interests. *