The former mayor of Karachi, Mustafa Kamal, once shared a very close relationship with the MQM Chief | Dawn archives
One of them was MQM’s oath of allegiance; as recorded in Verkaaik’s book it shows the level of commitment demanded from party members. “ … I shall remain loyal to MQM and Altaf Hussain for my whole life … I swear by my mother that if any conspiracy against MQM or Altaf Hussain, or any act harmful to them come into my knowledge, I shall immediately inform Altaf Hussain, even if the conspirator be my brother, sister, mother, father, any relative or friend. I swear that I shall accept Altaf Hussain’s decision as final in any matter. If I disobey any of his decisions, I must be regarded as a traitor…”
The other was a press conference in July 1991 when 33 MQM parliamentarians, including senior leaders such as Dr Sattar and Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, flew to Lahore to express their allegiance to Hussain.
The oath they read out was drastic even by MQM standards, equating betrayal to Hussain with “committing incest”. It read: “[The] minimum punishment for traitors who betrayed Altaf Hussain is death.”
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When asked about the Lahore oath, a senior MQM leader did not deny its existence. “That press conference was held to expose those who had planned to leave the party,” he says.
MQM leaders, however, deny allegations that the party bumps off those who show dissent or are disloyal to Hussain. “Dr Aamir Liaquat [a televangelist with large following] is no more with the party but he is alive and doing very well for himself. Is he not?” says another MQM leader who has been part of the organisation for nearly two decades.
Without a strong party machine, efforts at cultivating Hussain’s image as the prime symbol of the Mohajir cause would not have gone very far
While the party continues to insist that it never indulges in violence, police records and the party’s opponents tell another tale. When General (retd) Pervez Musharraf promulgated the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in 2007, MQM was its biggest beneficiary as the ordinance had annulled 3,775 mostly criminal cases against its members.
Top MQM leaders including Hussain, Saleem Shehzad, Dr Sattar, Dr Farooq and Ishratul Ebad were nominated as accused in 68 cases of murders, 30 cases of attempted murders and 10 cases of kidnapping. Hussain alone was accused in 31 cases of murder. Even after the NRO was rescinded, none of these cases were reopened for investigation and prosecution.
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A JI leader argues that MQM does not operate like a political party at all. “A democratic or a political party culture prepares its cadre for a succession of leadership. People can disagree with their leaders without fearing for their life. The MQM does not have a succession plan and it does not like dissent,” he says.
Giving the example of Mustafa Kamal, Karachi’s former mayor, the JI leader says: “The moment Altaf Hussain feared that Mustafa Kamal will surpass him in popularity, he had him sidelined. That is not how political parties work.”
Weakening grip
For 36 years, Hussain has been leading the party with an iron fist. Remarkably, he has not been in Pakistan for 22 of these years. However, times are changing. In the last four years, MQM has come under tremendous pressure from various directions. Local traders and businessmen bristle whenever the party gives call for a strike, Hussain’s health has become a major concern, and the noose of British law enforcement agencies seems to be tightening around the party’s main leadership, on charges as serious as money laundering and murder. And, in the May 2013 elections, the party faced perhaps its strongest electoral challenge in Karachi since 1985.
Rumours have been abounding for some time that there are many warring factions within the MQM, pulling and tearing it apart from inside. The party’s exemplary discipline has been reduced to a pale shadow of its past effectiveness.