The Mirza factor

Still out and about

Zulfiqar Mirza is in London to save Pakistan, as he puts it. Meanwhile, a 17-member Supreme Court bench has rejected the government’s review petition against its December 16, 2009 verdict declaring the NRO ab initio null and void. The cases against all NRO beneficiaries, including Zardari, now stand automatically reopened. In case, the government wants to seek the approval of the NRO from parliament, it would need all the votes it can muster including those of the MQM. Mirza must be in a fix.

Zulfiqar Mirza had some sort of tacit understanding with the PPP leadership when he opened the campaign against the MQM. This explains why nobody stopped him from approaching the army and ISI with files containing incriminating material against Altaf and the MQM. The higher leadership did not deter him when he expressed willingness to stop the campaign if ordered by Zardari. All that he was told by the party high ups was that things would soon be sorted out. Presumably what went wrong was the timing of the salvos to be fired.

The PPP’s isolation in Sindh had increased on account of the pathetic way the flood situation was handled. It was characterised by inefficiency combined with a cynical attitude towards the province considered a fief by the PPP leadership. The reports in the Sindhi media regarding the under-calculation of the Sindhi households to bring down their relative numerical strength in the final round of the census also created widespread sentiment against the party’s government. The reversal of the Sindh Assembly’s decision to restore the commissionerate system and its replacement by two parallel Local Bodies systems led to province wide strikes against the decision. The failures helped the PML(N) to stage an entry in Sindh. Nawaz Sharif was welcomed by a number of Sindhi nationalists.

It was understood that Mirza with his continuous anti MQM tirade could help win back the alienated Sindhi voters. The man still claimed to be a PPP loyalist and a fan of Zardari whom he continued to describe as his surrogate father, mentor and benefactor. He was still willing to work as a humble follower of Asif Zardari provided he disowned the MQM.

There was presumably an understanding that the MQM could be kicked out at an opportune moment, preferably after the March Senate elections. Mirza, popular among PPP dissidents in Sindh, would then claim that his efforts had borne fruit. Zardari had finally discovered the true face of MQM. The PPP was again on the right track and would now rectify the gerrymandering done to help MQM win many seats. The Sindhi voters would then return to PPP’s fold.

But Mirza suddenly put all the files in his box and proceeded to London. He vowed to return only after getting Altaf behind bars. Did he take the leap on account of his avowed convictions or was driven by his own rhetoric or pushed by some hidden hand remains a matter of conjecture.

The act made the MQM mad. It was already under pressure from the agencies who let it be known that they had collected enough confessional statements from arrested “target killers” that pointed to the direction from where they received their orders. There were signals that the two possible murderers of Imran Farooq were also in their custody. The evidence could be used against the MQM and, if needed, against the PPP, which had maintained the alliance despite knowing what was going on in Karachi.

What Zulfiqar Mirza said at a number of forums in Britain was a rehash of what he had said umpteen times in Pakistan: Altaf Hussain is conspiring to break up Pakistan, MQM is acting as a terrorist organisation involved in the killing of innocent people in Karachi and of planning and executing the murder of Imran Farooq.

But as he raised these issues in Britain where Imran Farooq’s murder case is registered against unknown persons, MQM tried to stop Mirza at all costs. Its workers followed the former Sindh home minister wherever he was scheduled to address and tried to stop him from speaking even if it involved a breach of public peace.

Failing to disrupt the meetings, the MQM leadership in Pakistan has written at least two letters to Prime Minister Cameron to stop Mirza from delivering speeches in Britain on the ground that he is using the British soil to incite violence in Karachi. Mirza has delivered relatively brief speeches at small gatherings in a foreign country. These were not live telephonic addresses like those of Altaf Hussain which are often relayed live on three score TV networks in Pakistan. To maintain that Mirza’s speeches could have incited riots in Karachi is a ridiculous charge.

Coinciding with the Supreme Court’s decision is the arrival of Fehmida Mirza in Britain to put a stopper on him. Zulfiqar Mirza had vowed to come to the support of his friend and benefactor whenever the occasion demanded. Will he now stick to his stand of saving Pakistan at the cost of everything else or decide to save his friend? If he chooses the second course, he can hold back some of the crucial files he has brought to help the British government. He can also cancel half a dozen engagements in north of England and discreetly proceed to Europe to have holidays with his family.

The writer is a former academic and a political analyst.