DaRk WaVe
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The road to Punjab
Altaf Hussains announcement that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement is poised to make a vigorous entry into Punjab will give the people of that province a political choice that they truly need and have been waiting for.
At present, they have only the PPP and a fractious Muslim League to choose from, which is hardly a choice as both parties have similar policies, programmes and outlooks on life only their rhetoric differs.
The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) is different but its following remains small and it refuses to grow for it appeals to only a certain class of people. That is also true of the MQM.
If the vote bank of the JI has always remained confined to a particular religious persuasion (and so, it seems, it will remain), that of the MQM doesnt go beyond an ethnic group. The Shia community hardly votes for the JI but then neither do the Pakhtuns ever vote for the MQM and representing them in the legislature is a far cry.
The point to drive home is that if the MQM is serious about mustering electoral support in Punjab it has to shed its ethnic image. The fact that the first M in MQM now stands for Muttahida instead of Mohajir hasnt changed its image in Sindh, nor will it do so in Punjab. As a first step towards that change the party will have to have a new name signifying a national character.
A break from its ethnic past can come about only when the party leadership and cadres change their mindsets. It is for Altaf Hussain to consider that if after 25 years of existence his party has not been able to find acceptance among ethnic Sindhis and other linguistic groups of Sindh, how can it manage in Punjab where there are not many Mohajirs and those who are have been fully integrated with the original inhabitants.
The MQM has neither a base nor a hardcore following in Punjabs educational institutions or in the urban middle class, which are its bastions in urban Sindh. In the rural backwaters of the province the party is hardly known.
A grand convention with rousing rhetoric from London at Lahores Mochi Gate may be useful in making a start, but to carve out a place in the politics of Punjab the MQM must commit itself to a long, hard slog. Aspiring to bring about a revolution would be wholly unrealistic. Punjab is not ready for a radical systemic change. Neither is the rest of the country.
The culture of politics in Punjab is no longer feudal as the MQM leadership imagines. Feudal lords as a species are on their way out. Now business tycoons and professionals lawyers in particular predominate. Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhry Shujaat both made money through industry, and live in Lahore.
Their land holdings are small. If the Chaudhries own 100 acres the Sharifs perhaps do not own even that much. They draw their political strength more from their urban acolytes than the serfs. This is truer of the PPP. The councils of both parties, however, largely go by what their moneyed chiefs say. The party cadres owe loyalty to leaders, not councillors.
Asghar Khan, despite his integrity and mass appeal, and Imran Khan, despite his cricket and philanthropy, have not been able to make any headway because they cannot spare the money to raise cadres. A government quota holder once told this writer that the money he made through favours done to him all went into financing meetings, entertainment and travel of the party councillors and workers, and that he was earning quite a big sum.
The MQM stands no chance of winning over the remnants of the feudal gentry (in the current context the latter signifies nothing more than landlords and gaddi nashins). Mobilising the urban middle class, traditionally averse to active politics, is not an easy job. Organising cadres, conventions and elections also needs money.
In Karachi the MQM is believed to have an organised system of collecting small sums by knocking at doors and larger amounts by intimidating traders and factory owners. Or so its detractors allege.
This is not to challenge Altaf Hussains philosophy (as he calls it) but only to emphasise that he should not expect to bring about a revolution. Instead, he should organise his party and convey its message to Punjab in a manner that is different than in Sindh. Karachi dominates the economy and politics of Sindh; in Punjab small towns and villages matter more.
To find a foothold in Punjabs crowded politics the MQM will have to rely primarily on its one distinctive asset, which is not to exploit religion to promote politics nor succumb to the blackmail of the obscurantists. The people of Punjab are experiencing, for the first time, the rigours and tragedy of terror originating from extremist politics. Sporadic violent outbursts were familiar to them only in the sectarian sense. Now they pine for a tolerant culture.
If the MQM ever feels persuaded to abandon the basic principle of keeping religion out of politics, it will find no place in Punjabs politics as the Oxford-educated modernist Imran Khan did not when he paraded around as a devout Muslim who stood for Islamic rule. Punjab already has many of that variety with more convincing political backgrounds.
For a successful debut in Punjab the MQM has to fall back on Jinnahs view of statecraft that was overtaken by the Objectives Resolution. More overt attempts later to bring the faith of individuals and communities into the humdrum of politics transformed the nation into an intolerant society. Now extremism threatens its very existence.
Altaf Hussain stands a chance of becoming a national leader only if he sheds the ethnic image of his party, does not engage in harangues and, above all, doesnt abandon his secularism for passing political gain as other leaders have done. He has to be patient though. It took Jinnah seven years to win over Punjab and without that Pakistan would not have come into being.
DAWN.COM | Provinces | The road to Punjab
Altaf Hussains announcement that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement is poised to make a vigorous entry into Punjab will give the people of that province a political choice that they truly need and have been waiting for.
At present, they have only the PPP and a fractious Muslim League to choose from, which is hardly a choice as both parties have similar policies, programmes and outlooks on life only their rhetoric differs.
The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) is different but its following remains small and it refuses to grow for it appeals to only a certain class of people. That is also true of the MQM.
If the vote bank of the JI has always remained confined to a particular religious persuasion (and so, it seems, it will remain), that of the MQM doesnt go beyond an ethnic group. The Shia community hardly votes for the JI but then neither do the Pakhtuns ever vote for the MQM and representing them in the legislature is a far cry.
The point to drive home is that if the MQM is serious about mustering electoral support in Punjab it has to shed its ethnic image. The fact that the first M in MQM now stands for Muttahida instead of Mohajir hasnt changed its image in Sindh, nor will it do so in Punjab. As a first step towards that change the party will have to have a new name signifying a national character.
A break from its ethnic past can come about only when the party leadership and cadres change their mindsets. It is for Altaf Hussain to consider that if after 25 years of existence his party has not been able to find acceptance among ethnic Sindhis and other linguistic groups of Sindh, how can it manage in Punjab where there are not many Mohajirs and those who are have been fully integrated with the original inhabitants.
The MQM has neither a base nor a hardcore following in Punjabs educational institutions or in the urban middle class, which are its bastions in urban Sindh. In the rural backwaters of the province the party is hardly known.
A grand convention with rousing rhetoric from London at Lahores Mochi Gate may be useful in making a start, but to carve out a place in the politics of Punjab the MQM must commit itself to a long, hard slog. Aspiring to bring about a revolution would be wholly unrealistic. Punjab is not ready for a radical systemic change. Neither is the rest of the country.
The culture of politics in Punjab is no longer feudal as the MQM leadership imagines. Feudal lords as a species are on their way out. Now business tycoons and professionals lawyers in particular predominate. Nawaz Sharif and Chaudhry Shujaat both made money through industry, and live in Lahore.
Their land holdings are small. If the Chaudhries own 100 acres the Sharifs perhaps do not own even that much. They draw their political strength more from their urban acolytes than the serfs. This is truer of the PPP. The councils of both parties, however, largely go by what their moneyed chiefs say. The party cadres owe loyalty to leaders, not councillors.
Asghar Khan, despite his integrity and mass appeal, and Imran Khan, despite his cricket and philanthropy, have not been able to make any headway because they cannot spare the money to raise cadres. A government quota holder once told this writer that the money he made through favours done to him all went into financing meetings, entertainment and travel of the party councillors and workers, and that he was earning quite a big sum.
The MQM stands no chance of winning over the remnants of the feudal gentry (in the current context the latter signifies nothing more than landlords and gaddi nashins). Mobilising the urban middle class, traditionally averse to active politics, is not an easy job. Organising cadres, conventions and elections also needs money.
In Karachi the MQM is believed to have an organised system of collecting small sums by knocking at doors and larger amounts by intimidating traders and factory owners. Or so its detractors allege.
This is not to challenge Altaf Hussains philosophy (as he calls it) but only to emphasise that he should not expect to bring about a revolution. Instead, he should organise his party and convey its message to Punjab in a manner that is different than in Sindh. Karachi dominates the economy and politics of Sindh; in Punjab small towns and villages matter more.
To find a foothold in Punjabs crowded politics the MQM will have to rely primarily on its one distinctive asset, which is not to exploit religion to promote politics nor succumb to the blackmail of the obscurantists. The people of Punjab are experiencing, for the first time, the rigours and tragedy of terror originating from extremist politics. Sporadic violent outbursts were familiar to them only in the sectarian sense. Now they pine for a tolerant culture.
If the MQM ever feels persuaded to abandon the basic principle of keeping religion out of politics, it will find no place in Punjabs politics as the Oxford-educated modernist Imran Khan did not when he paraded around as a devout Muslim who stood for Islamic rule. Punjab already has many of that variety with more convincing political backgrounds.
For a successful debut in Punjab the MQM has to fall back on Jinnahs view of statecraft that was overtaken by the Objectives Resolution. More overt attempts later to bring the faith of individuals and communities into the humdrum of politics transformed the nation into an intolerant society. Now extremism threatens its very existence.
Altaf Hussain stands a chance of becoming a national leader only if he sheds the ethnic image of his party, does not engage in harangues and, above all, doesnt abandon his secularism for passing political gain as other leaders have done. He has to be patient though. It took Jinnah seven years to win over Punjab and without that Pakistan would not have come into being.
DAWN.COM | Provinces | The road to Punjab
ALTAF has taking a wrong turn toward Punjab where he and his alliances will badly defeated 
