Upset with his party leaders over apparent glitches in organisational matters, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain directed offices to be shut down on Wednesday withdrawing the decision a few hours later. According to sources, most of the anger was directed at the Rabita Committee for not working effectively and not responding to the ongoing situation faced by the party. Altaf was also angry because of the change in the date of an event, which the party was supposed to hold.He instructed the party offices, including Rabita Committee and the information department, to be shut down. His anger was also directed against members of the Rabita Committee who were not present in Nine Zero and did not listen to his address.After the notice of shutting down, members of the Rabita Committee and other offices did not leave for their homes but gathered at Nine Zero. The offices began to open up at 6am following the orders of Altaf.The MQM supremo has quit the party leadership several times in the past over various issues, mostly to express displeasure with his subordinates. Yet these dramatic decisions would be reversed within hours after party loyalists — some in tears — would plead with him not to abandon the Muttahida ship. Such melodramatic actions have been dubbed comical by the party’s opponents, yet they show the influence Altaf Hussain exercises over his workers. However, while the crises the MQM has been facing are very real, and while the Rangers have targeted the party excessively, the senior leadership seems to be missing in action. The party is clearly reeling from the Rangers’ ‘campaign’; the raids on Nine-Zero, arrests, the RAW charge and, of course, the Imran Farooq murder investigation in London. But it doesn’t seem that this ‘drama’ is headed for a finale anytime soon. And the reason, unfortunately, is not any manner of procedural inefficiency, just the manner in which relevant authorities are pursuing it. There was much talk of ‘across the board’ accountability when Rangers took the Karachi operation to a new level with the first Nine-Zero raid, yet there was little, if any, follow up. Then the military threatened legal action against MQM but nothing happened. Then there were numerous attempts at establishing the RAW link, yet, again, the matter was not accorded the urgency it demanded, implying more propaganda than truth behind the accusation. Now sections of the media are busy – or have been made busy – resurrecting the Jinnahpur ghost, which was supposedly dead and buried for some time now. Clearly, the MQM has a vote bank in urban Sindh — despite the state’s intimidatory tactics the party secured a decisive victory in Karachi’s NA-246 by-election in April. But securing this vote bank in the LG polls will be challenging if the party fails to get its act together. To counter its not entirely unearned reputation for strong-arm tactics and to shore up its political credentials the Muttahida must focus on the LG elections.This will require solid canvassing and campaigning amongst the people to show the electorate that the party has a plan for effective local government in Sindh.
pk.shafaqna.com
MQM ordeal: Would Altaf Hussain give-in to rangers?
