“I am member of the Pakistan Peoples Party, but I have no hesitation in saying that I am impressed with the MQM, particularly their dealings with the minorities. “If we are able to forget the past and admit our mistakes, there is little difference of opinion on basic issues.” The MQM’s recent pro-Sindh stance on many issues has brought the two parties closer.ĭespite losing in interior Sindh, the MQM has made inroads, particularly in constituencies dominated by the minorities.
![mqm new headquarters mqm new headquarters](https://i.dawn.com/primary/2014/09/542708bf41a42.jpg)
“We have held talks and are moving in the right direction,” said Farooq. The PPPP’s Sindh President, Nisar Khuhro, who has been tipped as the next chief minister in case of a PPPP-MQM alliance, welcomed Imran Farooq’s statement. “The PPPP and MQM are natural allies and they should work together,” remarked MQM’s powerful secretary general, Dr Imran Farooq, once considered a hardline mohajir leader. In fact, on certain issues like provincial autonomy, the Kalabagh Dam, Thal Canal and the NFC awards, the MQM is ahead of the PPPP now, because of the latter’s federal stance. It was this change in politics which has defused the long standing tension between the MQM and the PPP. Though Altaf’s pro-Sindh politics did affect a section of its extreme mohajir votes,” it was a decision in the right direction,” said a political analyst. However, the victory for the unknown Sindhi, Aziz Brohi, from the mohajir-dominated Azizabad, still reflected Altaf Hussain’s hold on the mohajir vote bank. The mohajirs reacted adversely when Altaf decided to include Sindhis in the Muttahida ranks,” said Afaq. “The defeat of Aftab Shaikh in Hyderabad and the Muttahida’s failure to win from mohajir-dominated constituencies, particularly in interior Sindh, was due to our campaign. However, the chief of the Muttahida’s rival faction, the Mohajir Qaumi Movement, Afaq Ahmed, said his “pro-mohajir” stance also created a dent in Altaf Hussain’s ranks. The PPP and the MQM were the main beneficiaries of the minority vote. These were the first elections since 1970 that the minorities were also allowed to cast their votes on general seats. Though the government had allowed 18-year-olds to cast their votes, many could not, as they did not hold national identity cards, while the returning officers refused to accept receipts of those who had applied for one. The party failed to check voter lists, and as a result many voters, particularly the “debut 18-year-old voters,” could not cast their votes. “The government gifted NWFP to the MMA to check American influence, and by giving them a few seats in Karachi, they passed a signal to investors to turn to the Punjab.” Having said this, she admitted that there were organisational weaknesses as well. Had this been the case, the results in Punjab would have been different as the majority of these religious parties and Jihadi groups come from there,” says Nasreen Jalil. “I am not ready to believe that the results were influenced by a pro-religious wave in the country. She maintains that religious extremists were given seats to strengthen the impression about the presence of Al-Qaeda in the city, as certain quarters wanted to discourage investors from coming to Karachi. MQM deputy convener, Nasreen Jalil, who herself lost from the Defence-Clifton constituency, admitted that while the results were surprising, it was not the party graph that had taken a nose dive. “This was the first time we waited for our voters,” said a MQM polling agent in Gulshan-e-Iqbal, an MQM stronghold. Some MQM polling agents openly admitted that the voter turnout had never been so low. Though the MQM emerged in the lead in the urban centres, with 13 NA and 33 PA seats, voter sentiment had undergone a sea-change. Most voters came out only when “unknown persons” threatened cable operators to “shut or cut.” Election results of the powerful ethnic party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), in the city they once virtually ruled, shocked the party.
![mqm new headquarters mqm new headquarters](https://foreignpolicy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/gettyimages-495433053.jpg)
Nowhere was the apathy that marked Election 2002 more apparent than in the streets of Karachi, which remained deserted on October 10, till 1 p.m.