Concessions galore

Flying in the face of criticism from Sindhi nationalists and the Awami National Party (ANP), the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has once again restored the 2001 local government (LG) system in Sindh. Previously, the government had restored the 2001 LG system only in Karachi and Hyderabad in order to appease the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). This step greatly annoyed the ANP, Sindhi nationalists and also the PPP’s own Sindhi base, which protested against the imposition of two different systems in one province. The ANP and Sindhi nationalists were visibly angry at the government’s decision to restore the status quo ante. This is not to say that they were enamoured of the colonial commissionerate system but the re-demarcation of Sindh carried out under Musharraf to advantage the MQM was certainly not something they wanted restored. While Karachi may be a stronghold of the MQM, the PPP has a stake in the city and so does the ANP. As for Hyderabad, it is a mix of Urdu-speaking people and Sindhis. The Sindhis do not want Hyderabad to be left at the mercy of the MQM. The PPP has been giving concession after concession to please the MQM, which is known to flex its muscles every now and then to extract such ‘surrenders’.

A simple cost-benefit analysis of the PPP’s appeasement policy vis-à-vis MQM will show that it is not to the PPP’s advantage. There can be a possible political fallout of such steps. The PPP gave a false hope to its own constituency in Sindh by rolling back the 2001 LG system. Apparently, the PPP’s reversal decision was taken in the hope that it would restore peace in Karachi by mollifying the MQM. Unfortunately, even this step has not resulted in achieving the desired results. The killings in Karachi have not stopped. Even the Corps Commanders expressed “concern over the law and order situation in Karachi and its ramifications/implications for the national economy and expected that the measures recently undertaken by the government would help redress the situation”. The situation in Karachi will not come under control by mollycoddling the MQM. The need of the hour is to allow the police to launch a crackdown against all criminal gangs regardless of their political affiliations. This is no time to play politics. Too many innocent lives have been lost and continue to be under threat.

(my editorial in Daily Times)

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Persecution without reason

Universities all over the world tend to hire people with a sound academic background as they want the best for their students. The Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan did the same when they hired Dr Ghazala Anwar as Deputy Dean of Usul-ud-Din (Islamic jurisprudence) at the women’s campus of International Islamic University (IIU) in Islamabad. Dr Ghazala earned her PhD in philosophy and religious studies from the Temple University (USA) in 1993, with teaching and research interests in Islamic jurisprudence, gender issues, Sufism and sexuality. She was appointed at the IIU under the Foreign Faculty Hiring Programme after her application was reviewed by a Peer Review Committee of scholars. Dr Ghazala Anwar has been part of a movement that has been trying to fight for the just treatment of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Intersex and Questioning (LGBTIQ) Muslims. The movement does not preach to others to become homosexuals, but asks Muslims to be tolerant of these “sexual m...
Read more

The myth of September 6, 1965

Every year we Pakistanis celebrate September 6th with a lot of ‘national fervour’ and laud the armed forces for being ‘victorious’ against the Indian forces back in the 1965 war. The state commemorates the ‘Defence Day’ by holding various ceremonies and special programmes. Milli naghmay (patriotic songs) are aired on the local television channels and radio stations, while the newspapers bring out special supplements to mark the day. This is all very well, but I wonder if our people know that in actuality we are not celebrating a victory. Not only did we lose militarily in 1965 – state propaganda aside – but we also lost our national unity in the process. Forty-two years down the road, ours is a country that is on the verge of dismemberment, again. August 1947 gave birth to two independent states, India and Pakistan. It also gave birth to territorial disputes that haunt both South Asian neighbours to date. Kashmir is one of the main disputed territories. The two infant states fought a ...
Read more

Bitter truth

Sindh Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza is a loose cannon and, if rubbed the wrong way, will fire away. At the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Dr Mirza was hit by a barrage of complaints by the city’s industrialists and traders for failing to give them adequate protection. Obviously stung by the criticism, he said that “people cast votes for extortionists; they should now talk to their elected representatives for law and order”. Dr Mirza pinned the blame for the deteriorating law and order situation mostly on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). “Dr Imran Farooq was murdered in London, but buses of Pakhtuns were torched in Karachi. Did Asfandyar Wali kill Dr Imran Farooq?” asked Dr Mirza. He went on to allege that when “they [the MQM] want to kill any Pakhtun, Sindhi, Punjabi or Baloch in Karachi, they go about executing their plan methodically”. What Dr Mirza said is politically inappropriate given that the MQM is a coalition partner of the PPP government both at the Cen...
Read more