MQM London’s delusions of grandeur

Islamabad

The London chapter of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) is erroneously basking in the past (rather lost) glory otherwise it would have shunned issuing the latest decree to its deserters to repent, seek forgiveness and return to its fold, abandoning Dr Farooq Sattar-led entity.

There was time spanning decades when nobody in the party dared to even think of defying the commandments from London. A grave quandary and illusion, gripping the London chapter, is that it still feels that it has the same old stranglehold it used to have since its inception. It has failed to reconcile to the ground realities when much water has flowed down the bridge and fundamental changes have taken place.

The fresh call made by convener of the London branch Nadim Nusrat to those who have said goodbye to it to send their apologies to the Britain office to come back to the party will meet the same fate that his order to its federal and Sindh lawmakers to resign had faced. Only one legislator had obliged while all others had ignored the instruction.

But still the London group didn’t get the message in its true sense that it no longer has the firm grip over the MQM Pakistan. It did not stop and has relentlessly tried to assert itself with a view to taking back the party from Farooq Sattar. Nadim Nusrat’s direction to expel Sattar from the MQM and order to the workers to do MQM Pakistan chief’s social boycott will certainly go unheeded by the party’s rank and file as none wants to put himself in a place where he faces most tough time.

A few weeks after distancing, dissociating and delinking the MQM Pakistan from the London chapter, Farooq Sattar became its chief in consultation with his colleagues. Now, he is the convener of the Coordination Committee and has shown the door to Nadim Nusrat, who insists that he holds the office and Sattar is no more in the party or the parliamentary leader of the MQM in the National Assembly. Tit-for-tat reactions are in full swing.

However, it was surely encouraging for the MQM Pakistan that Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq stated that Farooq Sattar was the parliamentary leader of the party, which was registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan and was a legal political entity.

Altaf Hussain-led London segment is unlikely to come out of its illustrious (dreadful for others) past when his spoken words were everything, final policy, in the MQM and there was no room for any dissent from anyone. It happened for several times that on his orders the MQM’s federal and Sindh lawmakers were physically manhandled, punished and humiliated by ordinary workers in full public view. None so openly disgraced and debased picked up the courage to raise even a faint protesting voice against this handling.

It is part of the MQM history that when some deserters including even senior leaders like Amir Khan came back in the party after abandoning it for years, they publicly admitted their “sin”, apologized and asked forgiveness from Altaf Hussain. They were pardoned after a protracted stage-managed drama after seeking the opinion of the workers present at such shows.

After Altaf Hussain’s August 22 anti-Pakistan rant, the situation has undergone a drastic change. At first, the MQM Pakistan quickly dissociated itself from his diatribe and as the time passed, totally severed its ties with the London chapter. At the very outset, it had announced that it would take its own decisions and would not be dependent on the London branch’s blessing, ratification or approval.

What really proved to be last straw that broke the camel’s back was the sponsoring of resolutions by the MQM Pakistan along with other parliamentary parties against Altaf Hussain in the federal and Sindh assemblies, calling for his trial for high treason for his harangue against Pakistan. Now, the key figures of the London department have openly described Farooq Sattar’s actions as treason.

As the total break between the two sides has materialized because of the consistent moves of the two factions against each other, conspiracy theorists, who forcefully stressed that the split was fake and fraud just to trick people into believing into the division, have been proven wrong. However, shrewd political elements always opined that in view of the situation being faced by the MQM, it will be quite impossible for its Pakistan chapter to be continuously linked with the London group.

From day one, Farooq Sattar and his colleagues acted wisely to save the MQM from being proscribed after Altaf Hussain’s anti-Pakistan tirade when there was every possibility that the party was going to be banned. The London chapter did not acknowledge the great service Farooq Sattar has done.

Any party, under any name, which Altaf Hussain or the coterie surrounding him in London will sponsor in Pakistan, is unlikely to get legal registration and recognition because of their anti-Pakistan activities. None of them is expected to return to Pakistan in the near future as all of them hold dual nationalities and are well settled there.

However, with the tension between the two blocs intensifying with the London branch seething with anger over the audacity of Farooq Sattar and his comrades, there are strong fears that they may come under attacks from the other side, which is known to have a militant wing.

Article source: https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/154662-MQM-Londons-delusions-of-grandeur