Daily Times

In every election, Altaf Hussain has demonstrated unequivocally that the people of Karachi entrust him with their votes, but he still is, without a doubt, the most controversial politician of Pakistan. Outside the urban areas of Sindh, it can be said with certainty that most Pakistanis disapprove of his political views and national outlook. Indeed, it would not be surprising if his favourable ratings are found to be even lower than some of the banned terrorist organisations in the country.

In response to such widespread repudiation, Hussain’s supporters tend to blame the ethnicity of their leader and the bias of other provinces against the Urdu speaking population; however, honestly speaking, this is not true. I think the people of Pakistan are more unprejudiced than we give ourselves credit for and far less xenophobic than we reckon ourselves to be. We like or dislike our politicians, most of the times, based on their ideology and on their ability to connect with that. For instance, Zulifqar Ali Bhutto was once the most popular leader in Punjab, not because he was a Punjabi himself, but only because of his genius to associate with the people. Similarly, Imran Khan was able to impress the Urdu speaking community with the clarity of his message without being an emigrant himself in the last few years, and has accordingly bagged a huge number of their votes in the last elections.

In reality, people do not endorse the politics of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) because of its unpredictability, self-contradictions, insincerity with its coalition partners and alleged association with violence. Everyone knows that the MQM is powerful enough to get the whole city of Karachi shut down in less than 30 minutes, with all shops closed and roads deserted. What people do not understand is that with all that street power how the MQM leader can be so vulnerable to not be able to enter that city himself. We have all witnessed the pin drop silence in the huge rallies of Hussain, revealing exemplary discipline and organisation, yet the question is if it is really discipline, or it is in fact fear. There are conspiracy theories all over Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, maybe more in number than the theories regarding 9/11, about how people are coerced to attend these rallies and how the ‘discipline’ is maintained throughout Hussain’s speeches.

Furthermore, during those telephonic sessions, which are unbearably long and overwhelmingly boring, Hussain can provoke the generals unapologetically to take measures against the constitution to ‘save’ the country. He can threaten the judges of the Supreme Court, and above all he can utter profanities against fellow politicians and television talk show hosts while being on live television. Every Pakistani is a witness to those inappropriate choices of words, and is probably embarrassed by them too. But they probably also know that this behaviour is neither new nor limited to a single person in the party, and that it is not going to end anytime soon either.

One such incident happened almost three years ago. The whole top tier leadership of the MQM behaved immaturely, targeting the Sharif brothers and Chaudhry Nisar with their unnecessary profane and rude comments. On that day, during a press conference, while alluding to Hussain, the then leader of the opposition Chaudhry Nisar sarcastically mentioned the treatment provided in a rehabilitation facility to ‘a leader’ of the party. As usual, he was careful in the choice of his words, and all his allegations were implied and lacked details. Nevertheless, what happened next was embarrassing for the whole nation. Within minutes, various prominent leaders of the MQM angrily ganged up on Nisar on television. Impatient and furious, for the next few hours, they threw every mask of decency out of the room and polluted the whole political environment with obscenity and impropriety. They ridiculed the physical appearances of their colleagues from Punjab; they derided the culture of the largest province; and shouted offensive names at the leader of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. It was all done to express their devotion to Hussain and to score a few points with him. Yes, they apologised afterwards in private meetings and tried to resume negotiations for a few days, but can someone really take their words back after they have been televised? And can anybody realistically think people will forget and forgive?

There is a long list of similar but less intense incidents, which disappointingly though have continued till today. With this attitude, it has become an open secret that criticism is not welcome in the MQM. Most analysts believe it is easy to comment on any political party in Pakistan and criticise any leader on television except the MQM and its leaders. In their opinion, it is even dangerous to take them to task and hold them responsible for the current situation of the city as they have been in power for the last 10 years. They also think it is a lot easier to denounce the actions of powerful state institutions like the police, army and even the judiciary without fear than to condemn the political manoeuvring of the MQM.

It is disappointing that a party that represents the most literate population of Pakistan behaves so irresponsibly. We all know that people who have migrated from India were slaughtered in huge numbers and even though many of them lost their loved ones while coming to Pakistan, they were determined to make this country a better place with their hard work, honesty and dedication. They had brought a rich culture with them; command of the Urdu language was their weapon; deference was their shield; poetry was their defence and politeness was their major armament. They were supposed to equip themselves with creativity, arts and literature, and it was their job to guide others. Unfortunately, those objectives have been lost in the last three decades with the rise of the MQM, and an organisation that is infamous for its crudity, profanity and obscenity has become their sole representative.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com