Will it be able to adapt?
Recent speeches by Altaf Hussain indicate that he is finding it hard to cope with the post-election realities. On the one hand he is unhappy over the election results which despite an overall victory for the party have laid bare crucial weaknesses which if not overcome might cause big upsets in the Local Bodies Elections to be held in a year or so. The MQM had enjoyed an uninterrupted tenure of 10 years in power when the elections 2013 were announced. The incumbency factor naturally weighed heavily against the party. Meanwhile Imran Khan who attracted the urban middle class youth, professionals, and highly educated voters all over the country had made inroads in Karachi also. By the time unofficial results started pouring in on the evening of May 11, the MQM had cause for worry. In many constituencies which were traditionally the MQM strongholds, the PTI candidates put up strong opposition, getting from 30,000 to 50,000 votes. A few days later PTI’s Arif Alvi won NA 250 bagging 77,659 votes. The killing of PTI leader Zahra Shahid led Imran Khan to announce that the murder was committed at the behest of the MQM. The incident led to a big protest in London billed by some as the largest demonstration by Pakistanis outside 10 Downing Street in over a decade.
Altaf Hussain felt some of his party leaders had let him down on two accounts. One, they had indulged in practices that weakened the party. Two they had failed to defend him against charges leveled by Imran Khan. These were the reasons cited while overhauling of the party high command. It remains to be seen if the move to cleanse the party of the ‘bhatta’mafia or those minting money through government patronage is really meant to purge the party of corrupt elements or is no more than a tactical move.
The party is yet undecided whether to join the Sindh government or do something else. The PML-N which now commands absolute majority in the National Assembly is not under obligation to seek any other party’s support. It has already enlisted a number of allies from Sindh and Balochistan. The MQM is thus out of the federal government for the next five years, something which has not happened to it in a decade. A little before the elections Altaf Hussain had claimed an MQM member would occupy the post of CM in Sindh. With so many PPP candidates already in the queue for the job there is little chance of the MQM getting the office. The leadership of the PML-N which says it is committed to improving the economy has already sent out signals that nobody is going to be allowed to close down Karachi through violence at will. The MQM will have to develop an altogether different type of modus vivendi with both the PPP and the PML-N in the days to come. It remains to be seen if it can perform the feat.