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.
