MQM merger

Karachi’s whirlwind politics often produces surprise alliances of convenience, shotgun marriages and messy divorces. In yet another ‘merger’ – one still remembers the 2017 24-hour MQM-PSP alliance – various dissenting factions have returned to the MQM-P fold. The thinking is that this merger of the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP) led by Mustafa Kamal and the group led by Farooq Sattar with the Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui-led MQMP has been done solely to consolidate the Mohajir votebank. Why would the vote bank need to be consolidated? Politics does not like a vacuum and the chaos within the party post-Altaf Hussain had led to the MQM losing a large chunk of its Karachi voters – especially the young – to the PTI, and even to the TLP. Combine this with the mistrust within the MQM regarding the ruling PPP government in Sindh – especially over empowerment of local bodies in cities like Karachi – and the new merger seems to make sense.

The challenge for the combined MQM now will be to get back its young voter – Mustafa Kamal may help in that – and to ensure that this reunification helps them negotiate terms with the PPP in Sindh. There is also the matter of the on-again-off-again local bodies elections that are due now this Sunday. The MQM has been demanding fresh delimitation before any election is held. This is a demand that is not without merit and it is the Sindh government of the PPP that has till now avoided this. In fact, part of the proof of the merger's pudding seemed to have been made clear with the PPP announcing it would delay the LG election right after the MQM presser. That the ECP is going ahead with the election even then is further proof of how messy the whole situation had become: the LG elections having been delayed for so long that any further delay seems to border on severe negligence.

There is however scepticism regarding the 'artificial' nature of the MQM merger – some saying this seems to be a brokered deal by power stakeholders only to keep at bay a growing PTI and to keep one hand in the politics of Sindh. If that is the case, it is unfortunate. The people of Sindh deserve better than politics of constant intervention. Those that are not as sceptical have argued though that a combined MQM is better than the Mohajir vote bank going to entities like the TLP. And that an MQM managing to work out an empowered space in local bodies could lead to a more efficient Karachi. There is also the idea that a merged party will be more attractive to MQM supporters who had given up on the party in the face of the constant squabbling it has witnessed in recent years. There is no less of a danger though that the Siddiqui-Sattar-Kamal party will also fall prey to internal power struggles. All this and more will have to be sorted out if the MQM wants its place on the table as the voice of a city it lays claim to. One hopes that any politics now conducted will be for the benefit of the people and not just out of fear of losing power to the other side.