Citing security situation as the reason
It took MQM chief less than twenty four hours to reverse his solemn pledge made in front of thousands of party activists, leaders and general public, regarding his party joining Tahirul Qadri’s long march. He had earlier described Qadri as a ‘blood brother’ whose political agenda he fully shared. Few were surprised by the somersault as flip flops of the sort have over the years become a hallmark of MQM’s politics. The sound and fury ends at a whimper once the juicy deal being sought by the party leadership is ensured. During the last four years, MQM has threatened about a dozen times to leave the alliance and was invariably lured back to the fold by Rehman Malik after what so conspicuously looked like a clandestine give and take. The sudden about-turn must have come as a shock to Tahirul Qadri though, for only a day earlier the MQM leader had justified the long march and reaffirmed his party’s commitment to participate in it “at any cost”. Citing security reasons for the change of heart would convince few as these had been amply highlighted by the interior minister before Altaf’s reiteration of his resolve to join the march. There must have been something else which suddenly led him to reverse the decision.
Reports in the media tell of a two-point underhand deal reached with the government to ensure the party a lion’s share in the caretaker setup in both Sindh and the federal level and holding of local government polls in Sindh at the earliest. The MQM leadership was presumably perturbed over the Supreme Court’s verdict for the delimitation of constituencies in Karachi and wanted a big share in the caretaker setup to ensure its win in the next general election. The long march has been interpreted by several political parties as a conspiracy to delay the elections and sabotage the system. The announcement by MQM to join the march indicated that the party might even support the attempts at unravelling of the system if its partisan demands were not accepted by the principle coalition partner.
Altaf’s invocation of the name of Jinnah for his own twisted purposes indicates that the MQM supremo could go to any extreme in pursuit of his agenda. To defend his own assumption of British citizenship he cited the passport used by the Quaid in the early 1930s to travel to England and the oath taken by him in1947. The distortion of facts has caused a storm of protests in social and electronic media and national press. It has also been condemned by the academia and political parties. The tactics might bring in temporary benefits to the MQM but they would alienate honest party members and reduce its credibility.