Autonomy for Karachi

The 2015 local bodies elections in Sindh have reinforced the urban-rural ethnic divide: the big cities falling to the MQM and rural Sindh to the PPP. Now it is up to these two parties to address each other’s concerns and agree on a power-sharing formula, without which peace and stability will remain elusive in the province.

On December 5, Karachi’s Mohajir majority once again reposed their trust in the MQM, ignoring all the allegations against its leaders and workers of being involved in violence, extortion and corruption. The issue of Mohajir identity has overridden all other concerns.

Unlike past elections, this time the process of voting was conducted in a much more free and fair manner and thus the results cannot be disputed and dismissed as the outcome of a rigged exercise. In the heavy presence of the army and the Rangers, it cannot be claimed that the people voted out of fear. If the voter turnout was little subdued it affected the MQM’s margin of victory – and not vice versa – because some party supporters stayed at home for fear of security agencies.

The military establishment has so far acted smartly by restricting its actions solely against elements suspected of being involved in violence. This time round, the establishment has not aimed at removing the party from the political scene, an exercise that was carried out in the 1990s but which ended in failure. No army can subdue a political group that has such a large, solid support base as the MQM does in Karachi and Hyderabad.

However, the MQM’s mandate is not without a caveat. Although Karachiites have given political mandate to the MQM, they have stood with the establishment on security issues. The general public opinion seems to be in favour of the Rangers operation, which has improved public safety and created conducive atmosphere for economic activity. Army Chief Raheel Sharif’s statement following the local bodies elections that the operations in Karachi would continue reflects this realisation.

The more complex and thorny issue is the MQM’s relationship with the PPP, which as a representative of the Sindhi-speaking population has been averse to ceding any ground to a Mohajir political party; denial of powers to the city’s municipal body being the latest manifestation of this attitude.

The powers given to the Karachi Metropolitan Corporation under the 2001 devolution plan of Gen Pervez Musharraf was in the political interest of both Mohajirs and Sindhis. Within the framework of a province, both communities could co-exist – Sindhi parties and politicians exercising hold over the entire province except the municipal domains of Karachi and Hyderabad. It was a fair distribution of power and resources between the two ethnic communities.

The PPP wrapped up the 2001 system to please its Sindhi constituency, ignoring the fact that denial of political power to the people’s representatives of Karachi would keep the city in chaos. Peace and political stability in Sindh rest on a charter of power-sharing between the Mohajirs and the Sindhis or the PPP and the MQM.

On the other hand, the Sindhi-speaking population has its fears that the MQM’s sway over Karachi could deny them their legitimate share in the city’s resources. A written agreement on the right of rural Sindh over a portion of the taxes collected from Karachi can help assuage these apprehensions.

Both sides should also consider transfer of the provincial capital from Karachi to interior Sindh in return for an autonomous city government. This could be a win-win situation for both the sides. Transfer of provincial functions to a city in the interior such as Khairpur or Larkana would give a much-needed fillip to economic activities in the countryside and generate more job opportunities for the Sindhi-speaking population while the port city of Karachi could continue to grow as the country’s industrial and commercial hub.

The MQM also needs to realise its limitations within Karachi. Nearly 40-45 percent of the city’s population comprises non-Mohajir communities including Sindhis, Pakhtuns, Seraikis, Punjabis and Balochs. The approach of monopolising the city’s resources, as done in the past, is undemocratic and flawed. Without sharing power and resources with non-Mohajir communities, and most importantly recognising their cultural identities, Mohajirs cannot live in peace and harmony. Non-Mohajir communities are part of the city and can’t be purged out.

Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah has made a good beginning by saying that his party respects the MQM’s mandate. Now he needs to build on that by transferring powers and funds to the elected bodies of Karachi and Hyderabad. If the PPP fails to strike a political compromise with the MQM, and the latter decides to come on the streets to press its demands, the provincial administration is unlikely to cope with this situation.

Democracy can work through flexibility and political accommodation. The lasting solution to ethnic polarisation in Sindh is an autonomous Karachi, at least in the form of a powerful municipal body.

Email: adnanadilzaidi@gmail.com