Bad kind of politics
So far, the NA-246 by-election has brought out the worst in PTI and MQM. Both parties claim to represent the progressive middle class as their main workforce. Yet they are easily reduced to scuffles, not the mention the usual exchange of harsh words and threats, whenever they are face to face. And now with Imran Khan in Karachi to cheerlead his candidate, there is every chance for the tension of recent days to degenerate into something far worse unless the right steps are taken immediately.
Altaf Hussain has done the right thing by calling for calm ahead of PTI’s rally. But his party built pressure in the National Assembly instead, where it came down hard on returning PTI members. This marked an interesting U-turn of sorts, since MQM had long been pushing for PTI to return. And it was not too happy when the return happened because of the situation on the ground in Karachi, where Imran Khan is leveraging the by-election to break MQM’s ‘electoral monopoly’ over the area. But Imran’s not without his fair share of U-turns either. From the look of things, it was not enough for him to demand the prime minister’s resignation, resign from the National Assembly, refuse to recognise Parliament as legitimate, etc, and then go back on all those claims by returning. He had to still go out and tell the press that his views hadn’t changed, which did not reflect too well on his colleagues, at least, who were apparently more than willing to return to lawmaking.
Significantly, in claiming to be the more deserving winner of the by-election, neither party is presenting a plan of action that will benefit troubled Karachi. PIT’s rhetoric remains unchanged; that it will rid the city of MQM’s ‘tyranny’, which will somehow automatically return the city to its merry ways of once upon a time. MQM’s entire strategy, on the other hand, revolves around ‘exposing’ Imran Khan and his band of followers, who have little to boast of their politics except agitation and troublemaking so far. That is, perhaps, the saddest part of this reality. There is no denying that both parties have large and loyal following. But that is because the common man took their word at face value. And the more they betray a lust for power instead the cause of the people, the more they will alienate their core supporters. In the long term, they will not need each other to hit them if they don’t change their ways. They will simply spell their own downfall.
