Case for MQM & an
Urban Province
MQM champions itself as a progressive and pluralistic
political force. In the sea of religious bigotry and sectarianism, MQM emerged
in 80’ as a unifying force between shias and sunnis. They had the will and more
importantly the muscle to ensure that troublemakers on both side of the divide
were in check. Before MQM’ emergence to power, Karachi saw bloody sectarian
clashes on routine basis. In muharam, chaos ran supreme, thanks primarily to
petro dollars coming home to roost. MQM alone can be credited with a complete
turn around in urban centres of sind. Animosity and tension amongst neighbors
subsided because they were united under the umbrella of MQM.
PPP in general has been no friend of Karachiites in
particular and urban sind in general. This is not my feeling or some reach by
an MQM voter. This is a factual reality and if I cared enough I would share
unopposed statistics routinely shared by independent newspapers and championed
by men like faisal sabzwari and haider abbas rizvi, who are far more eloquent
than me, so we first need to come to terms with facts.
PPP’ ‘love’ for urban sind should not be a surprise either
for anyone. Urban population of sind has never ever voted for ppp, ever! MQM or
no MQM, urdu speaking citizens of Hyderabad and Karachi always saw bhutto’
policies of quota system as murder or meritocracy. I am a fan of ZAB so I am
not going to dwell a whole lot on ZAB’ policies. You can call it hypocritical
but I think I am mostly fan of the idea of a man who stood up for masses against
military junta.
Surely the likes of zardari, makhdoom amin fahim, peer
mazharul huq and zlufiqar mirza cant be blamed for awam-dosti. They are as
anti-awam as they come. This is not PPP of ZAB or even Bibi, it’s a trite
cliché I know but seriously, its really not! All you have to do is look at how
ppp governed sind in last 7 years that they have been in absolute power and it
should become evident that this is not a progressive, left leaning party. I
know I am digressing but my larger point IS that there has always been this tug
of war for resources between rural and urban sind and by design there will
always be this tension. Quota system was initially introduced by zab to bring
the rural masses to baseline, kind of like affirmative action for African
Americans. The question is that at what point would we go back and seriously
analyze the fruits of quota system.
Should there not be an honest attempt to check whether the
unprecedented and lopsided sanction of monies for rural areas have actually
resulted in bringing the rural population closer to HDI levels of urban Sindh? You
don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that PPP has failed the rural
population of sind when it comes to human development, quite miserably and
rather convincingly.
Again no need for a complex exercise, all you have to do is
take a stroll in rural areas of sind. The easiest smell test would be the
condition of schools, healthcare and food security. Another interesting tidbit
would be to compare the lifestyle and access to basic amenities mentioned above
between the MPA/MNA and the average constituent of rural sind. You can then do
the same exercise in constituencies held by MQM. Proof of pudding is in the
eating folks!
I as an MQM supporter can be blamed for being biased and
fair enough I reckon BUT I am sure there are universities in Pakistan which
offer phd’ on social sciences and I am certain there are independent
journalists, sindhi speaking ones who are not really fans of MQM for multitude
of reasons, maybe they can take up this task and do an honest exercise to see
if 40 years of quota system has delivered the desired results.
The citizens of urban sind are convinced that their rightful
share is snatched from them so rural citizens can be accommodated. it would
hurt a little less if these resources which are being denied to us are at least
being invested to make the lives of common villagers better. However what we
have seen in THAR and almost all of rural sind, the verdict is that PPP stole
those resources from urban sind and instead of investing them for the welfare
of rural sind, they deposited it in Swiss banks.
If rural sind cant stand up at this injustice and robbery,
we are done with letting go of our fair share so the coffers of Wadeyras and
Jageerdaarz of ppp can be fattened even further. Bring on the new
administrative units so Qaim Ali Shah can spend more time in khairpur and
faryal didi can be present in nawabshah and khusrsheed shah can focus on
thatta, rather than lounging around in Karachi, disconnected from their
constituencies all year long. I say It’s a win win.
Shehr-e-Aaseb Me Aankhen Hi Nahi Hen Kafi
Ulta Latko Ge To Seedha Dikhai De Ga
Shehr-e-Aaseb Me Aankhen Hi Nahi Hen Kafi
Ulta Latko Ge To Seedha Dikhai De Ga
