The people who mostly joined Afaq however were more militant and involved in criminal activities. The ones joining or supposedly joining MK have a more "softer" image than the latter. Also the reason Haqiqi never really took off was because they literally pulled up in army trucks and used to take over offices which the Rangers,police etc would clear of MQM-A workers.
Although I agree outsiders have instigated this latest split and politics is a dirty game, it has no doubt a lot more support among MQM people than the previous times. Let's see what happens, personally I would like to remain neutral in all this mess but A.H's antics are hardly defensible. MK is likely to become rallying figure for Anti Altaf MQM workers/supporters.
When is anything in Pakistan a "natural process"?
A.H's grip is continuing to weaken ever since he left the country. Oaths mean nothing, if they did, Haqiqi would not have been formed, which included quite a large number of founding MQM members. If you see the founding members of MQM, most are either dead, joined Haqiqi or left MQM altogether. We know a few in USA at the moment who hate A.H now but were with him since APMSO.
A.H only got absolute power after the assassination of Azeem Tariq and other high ranking MQM members, which convinently allowed A.H to centralise power into his own hands under the guise of quashing "dissent". But yes, he was truly loved by the people and still is to a certain extent, that's why I said it is a fight between the King's men and other MQM members. Pakistanis are humans too, you know? They might see a wrong and still not blindly follow?