PTI arrives

Karachi may have been a bit tense as Imran Khan visited the city and held a rally in Karimabad, the heart of the NA-246 constituency where the PTI takes on the MQM on April 23. But as the day came to a close the fear of violence breaking out during the rally was dissipated. Even though a brief scuffle took place near Jinnah Ground, it was quickly sorted out after the intervention of MQM chief Altaf Hussain. The PTI’s earlier demand that NA-246 be handed over to the military till the April 23 poll seems to have been premature. This was partially because Altaf Hussain made a peace overture ahead of Imran’s visit, welcoming him to Karachi and readying gifts to present to him and his wife Reham Khan as a traditional acknowledgement of their recent wedding. A day earlier, in a press conference in Karachi, Imran Khan too wisely decided to lower the tensions by ‘paying a tribute to MQM martyrs’. The PTI chief rejected the politics of violence. He also called himself a mohajir to a much more mixed response. Khan’s gestures were responded to in kind by the MQM chief who ‘invited’ the inevitable by welcoming both Khan and his wife to the city.
The by-election is taking place just a few weeks after a Rangers crackdown on the MQM headquarters, and analysts are looking at it closely to see whether the PTI can make a serious dent in Karachi’s political future. Addressing the rally at Karimabad, Imran Khan pledged to turn Karachi once more into a city of lights and restore peace to it. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had challenged Imran Khan’s claim to be playing a pivotal role in restoring peace in Karachi. Without mentioning a specific person or party, the prime minister stated that only the government was responsible for the improved law and order situation in a city that has known mostly chaos for many years. How things will now pan out in the Sindh capital is to be seen. The Azizabad by-election is obviously a key event. Both the MQM and the PTI know this. The MQM is wary of challenge but appears to have veered away from all-out confrontation. It will, however, have to work hard to restrain its workers. Imran Khan too must make sure his fiery attacks on the MQM chief do not lead to violence. With senior politicians from both the PTI and MQM learning to coordinate with each other, the by-election may pass without incident after all. The entire affair also shows how, if political parties continue to cooperate, there is a chance that the present phase of violence in Karachi can be overcome. We will find out more when the PTI chief returns to Karachi on April 19 for a major political rally at the Jinnah Ground or somewhere else as he has indicated. We need the Azizabad election to be a peaceful affair so that there can be a move towards resolving the political strains that time and again set Karachi alight.