Daily Times

The mohajirs (immigrants) in Karachi now have a new messiah in the form of former mayor to Karachi, Syed Mustafa Kamal, and he is their ray of hope in a very gloomy situation. However, the opinion on his intentions is divided amongst the Urdu-speaking crowd. Some see his endeavours as a gimmick by the establishment, while others think it is a short-lived political exercise. The good news is that they are watching his moves keenly, and that opens a window of opportunity for his newly formed Pak Sar Zameen (PSZ) party to score brownie points with the Karachi-ites.

On Sundays, it rains rallies on our TV screens, a spectacle with a good dose of entertainment, even mismanagement and verbosity makes for an interesting watch. There are always groups of people trying to persuade the public about their agenda. PSZ party managed to pull in an impressive crowd two Sundays ago, and that is no mean feat considering their political age. They have countless challenges ahead of them, and the key one would be to convince the hard-core Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) folks to stop worshiping their Altaf Bhai. This will prove to be an uphill task really, because the typical supporter doesn’t see Altaf Hussain as the man with slurred speech, or a boisterous icon of ill-timed speeches on TV, but as the man who laid most of his groundwork in the 1980s. It is that early image of Hussain, the fervour of the jalsas (rallies) from back then, and the unifying factor that has gotten embossed on their minds and hearts. That is the Hussain that gets their votes.

What is interesting and also mind boggling to observe is that supporters of the MQM don’t really deny target killings or extortion carried out by their beloved party, but quickly deflect and point a finger at other parties. Is the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) blot-free or is Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) devoid of corruption is their rhetoric. (Look at the others too), they lament as they turn a blind eye to
self-reflection.

What does happen in most mohajir households are regular political discourses centred around what MQM has achieved for their community. Often in such a scenario, one mostly sees a split household where, for example, two siblings maybe tilting towards the PTI or PSZ (more recently) versus the rest of the family that still follows their Altaf Bhai. This familial dissent is what the other parties have to capture upon by genuinely working for the upliftment of community, and not just treating them as vote banks to win over. Mohajirs are listening, and Kamal has to keep knocking at the doors of their hearts.

Amongst one of the tough challenges in the long term for the PSZ will be to define a clear stance regarding their relationship with India. This is crucial as the common Urdu speaker still has his/her umbilical cord attached to Hindustan despite Pakistan’s hostile ties with its neighbour. There is nothing wrong with having some attachment to your roots. A rigid fan of Hussain may have been mockingly called a RAW agent by his/her friends belonging to other ethnicities, and this actually hits a raw nerve with him. The long time proponent of the MQM sees himself as essentially a Karachi-ite; this is his safe zone, Karachi first, Pakistan later. “Don’t travel into interior Sindh, you will be mugged by dacoits”, or “In Lahore, miyan, you will feel language-based discrimination” is what he is often advised by his peers about venturing outside his city.

On the other hand, and to be fair to the MQM supporter, a lot of non-Urdu speakers have also been questioning the reason for mohajirs’ emigration to this side from the British-controlled India. They ask them why they came here when they are so unhappy and continue referring to themselves as an alien or an immigrant. The answer is simple in this case; many of us weren’t alive during the partition, and it was a decision taken by our forefathers. Looking at today’s Pakistan I think even Mohammad Ali Jinnah may have hesitated about coming to this side from Bombay.

Kamal’s family was uprooted twice, once during 1947, and again during the creation of Bangladesh from East Pakistan. He would be an ideal candidate to understand the ideology, psychology and the day-to-day grievances of his people. Especially those who may have hesitated in trusting the PTI since the party has a national objective, and the issues of Karachi may have been swept under the carpet according to them. Kamal is a fellow mohajir, with ancestral links to Bihar, a group of people known for their political acumen. His party keeps reiterating how the MQM drove an educated lot towards rogue mentality. Small, immediate steps to bring interest back into literacy and to improve analytical thinking would be to remove songs that are played at rallies. The ‘party’ culture of rallies seems to take away a lot of seriousness that is currently required. Great poets like Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Habib Jalib have used Urdu poetry to empower and revolutionise, to some extent, the thought process of the masses. The PSZ should look into commissioning contemporary Urdu poets to inject passion into the youth that seem helpless about what ails their environment.

Also Kamal, as sincere as he sounds at the moment, is not a very effective orator. Mohajirs are a sentimental lot, easily provoked and easily disheartened, and that is why an erstwhile charming and powerful orator like Hussain worked wonders to align them all. His early speeches are available on YouTube, and manage to impress even his critics of today. Hitler convinced an entire nation against Jews using his oratorical style to brainwash. A brainwash from an earlier brainwash by the MQM will be required, but this time what is needed is a thorough cleansing of feelings of hatred and victimisation that have taken over them, especially those belonging to the lower economic classes. Better speeches will have to be written for future, but most importantly, Mustafa Kamal will need to protect himself from getting seduced when power starts to become accessible to him. The emergence of another ‘bhai’ (brother) would be too tragic for people who have a great deal of potential. Sincerity to serve must remain visible at all times if he is to bring about a makeover
of mohajirs.

The writer is a freelance columnist with a degree in Cultural Studies and a passion for social observation, especially all things South Asian. She tweets @chainacoffeemug