Is Altaf Hussein still relevant?

Short answer is yes! We will explore in this blog why.

Altaf Hussein was not relevant in the past because he was chanting Pakistan zindabad; therefore he will not become irrelevant overnight due to a slogan either. Altaf Hussein was relevant because he championed the cause of a community who was oppressed and treated unfairly. Has that changed? If the answer is yes then you don’t have to worry about altaf Hussein. If it hasn’t, and I respectfully submit that it hasn’t, then Altaf Hussein is still as relevant as ever before.

Powers to be should also realize that in politics and public opinion, its perception which sometimes is more important than reality. Take the example of Donald Trump phenomenon for instance. U.S.A in recent years has seen unprecedented progress on domestic front. Unemployment is at all-time low, job growth is on the uptick, gas prices are much lower than republican era, millions of people who couldn’t afford health insurance now have one; and so on and so forth. But why is still there is this restlessness in ‘white America’?

Quite frankly its absurd to draw a parallel between ‘white america’ and mohajir community and arrive on a conclusion. But the point I am trying to make is that when you are ruled by the ‘other’; even if the ‘other’ has been fair and has done a better job than republicans, STILL masses can be rallied for the cause by playing the race card.

Now in case of Karachi and mohajirs, contrary to USA, the ‘other’ has been coercive, unfair, brutal and biased. It’s an established principle that selective implementation of rule of law is actually unlawful. E.g you cannot ban Altaf for saying Pakistan Murdabad and let mehmood khan achakzai and Imran Khan carry on. Well you can, and you have because you carry a stick; BUT rest assured that MQM’ constituency is taking a silent notice. And its this selectiveness which keeps Altaf relevant.

We all know that the civilian leadership of the country, whether its PPP or Noon league are not the ones calling the shots in either Karachi or balochistan. I as an individual think that Nawaz shareef can heal balochistan and Karachi, if he is given the control that he deserves as PM. So although I don’t hold him responsible for extra judicial murders, kidnappings and for all practical purposes Martial Law in Karachi and balochistan; I do blame him for agreeing to play within the sandbox designed by the military establishment.

All of this is still fixable. Those who truly love Pakistan must have this rude awakening that Pakistan is not just real estate, Pakistan is people who live in that land. So anyone who loves ALL Pakistanis must realize that whether its bilal akbar or raheel shareef or rizwan Akhtar, they are extensions of hamid gul and zia ul haq and yahya khan and They cannot be allowed to do social engineering on a strategic level. If you do then like their predecessors, they will mess it up royally. PSP and Farooq sattar group will fail like haqiqi and sunni tehreek before them.What Mr. Nawaz Shareef has allowed to happen in balochistan and Karachi will have consequences and anyone who wishes well for Pakistanis like I do, must appeal to the PM to change course.

Karachi gave its mandate fair and square to Altaf Hussein over and over again in the last 3 years. My humble submission is that if you park the coercion and state brutality, Karachi is still insync with Altaf. You may not like it, but that’s the truth. So instead of further aggravating the situation and pushing that political entity towards fringes, like we have done with brahmdagh and herbyar, bring altaf back in the fold and respect the mandate of people of Karachi like you respect it for Lahore, laRkana and Peshawar. If you don’t then Pakistan will be worse off. Hope sanity prevails.

Are Karachi & Hyderabad RAW’ Stronghold?

Are Karachi & Hyderabad RAW’ Stronghold?

So for the 167^th time in last 25 years, establishment of Pakistan and Punjabi intelligentsia is convinced and trying to convince the rest of the country that MQM is RAW’ B team. This is troubling because during this same time frame, MQM has continued to enjoy mandate of Urban SIND. It is also interesting that Pakistan’ Army was at helm of affairs for all intent and purpose from 1999-2007 and during this tenure MQM enjoyed unprecedented relevance in the power corridor. So we are left with dichotomy of sorts and its high time some honesty is accorded to people of Pakistan.

There are five thousand and one problems with Pakistan, like any other country of 200 million. But a fundamental issue in my opinion is not that of terrorism or corruption. It is that of confusion. Confusion on who should be ultimately in-charge? Don’t take me wrong, I understand that there is ‘democracy’ in the country and that there is constitution of Pakistan. But seriously, let’s not Kidd ourselves, we know who is ultimately in-charge on important matters. And when we have one thing for the show, and another for all practical purposes, it creates confusion and brings a country to a debilitating halt like it has Pakistan for decades on.

So now, what is the solution? My solution is that we go back to the people of Pakistan and have them vote for a new social contract. What does that mean? It means that we put ourselves thru a referendum. Question should be; Who do you think should govern Pakistan moving forward? 3 options are:

1) Army thru hardcore martial law.

2) Civilians thru an all-powerful parliament, with final say on EVERYTHING (defense, economy, real estate, foreign policy..everything).

3) Continue with the status quo of Hodge podge that we have right now.

I am convinced that option 3 is the worst. I am also convinced that we have never tried option 2. If we as a nation were either respectable amongst the fraternity of nations or at least we were on a course which would eventually get us there, I would say since we are familiar with 1 and 3, lets just persist with it. But since we are abysmal in every sense of the word, why can’t we throw a hail-merry and try something crazy like option 2? 

But listen, I am just one person. Let’s put this up to people of Pakistan and see what they say. I see no other way for us to move towards any semblance of progress. It will always be one step forward and 2 back until we settle this fundamental issue as a nation once and for all. Truth will set us free.