Opinion Karachi battleground

The PPP has done just that by abandoning the local government system,whose elections were due last year but were postponed on the dubious pretext of bad law-and-order situation. Part of an uneasy coalition with the largest ruling party,the MQM was a thorn in the side of the government since the 2008 elections as it pursued its independent policy on many issues,from inflation to employment,from administrative wranglings to appointment of officers.

Besides the PPP,the MQM’s pet peeves remain rival parties with a vote-bank in Karachi: the ANP,the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM-Haqiqi) and the religious parties. The MQM-Haqiqi was virtually decimated during the long reign of General Pervez Musharraf who had given the MQM a carte blanche to go after its breakaway faction. The religious right,which could have bagged one or more seats from Karachi,had boycotted the last election. The ANP,however,remained an untamed rival because of its clout in the transport sector. The party’s vote-bank comprises the city’s Pathan population,estimated to be about 15 per cent of the total population of Karachi,now touching 20 million. The mixed neighbourhoods,where both the ANP and the MQM voters reside,or where PPP voters meet the MQM’s,are the real battlegrounds of Karachi,which can readily become killing fields when violence breaks out.

So how does one go about fixing the problem? If you ask the Sindh government,it seems to have no answer. It is the most inept government the province has had in decades. It has shown little interest in governance besides collecting the spoils which come with wielding power. It has also shown much contempt for the urban population of Sindh,where the MQM has its vote-bank. The PPP vote-bank remains overwhelmingly rural,and its politicians in Sindh come from the landed class. An urban-rural divide has plagued the province since 1947,when Muslim immigrants from India came in large numbers and settled in Sindh’s cities. The ethnic factor in the urban-rural divide further aggravates the relations and has been a cause of constant trouble.

The problem with the PPP is that while it is in power it does not believe in sharing it,other than in rhetoric. The MQM resigned from the governorship of the province and moved its MPs to the opposition benches last month when it accused the PPP of rigging and postponing elections to the “Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly” (AJKLA). Two of its seats are in Karachi — the AJKLA’s constituency is Pakistan-wide because of the presence of a large number of Kashmiri refugees spread across the country who are registered voters to the AJK assembly and not Pakistan’s parliament. The election rigging was the last straw that broke the camel’s back as far as the MQM is concerned. The party’s real grievance,however,lies in the fact that it lost Karachi’s city government,which was its pride for the last six years.

Now that the Sindh government has all but abandoned the holding of elections to the local government and reinstated the colonial-time commissionerate system,whereby bureaucrats and political cronies instead of elected representatives are appointed to run civic affairs,the move threatens to further vitiate the political atmosphere in Karachi. The MQM will not take it lying down. Meanwhile,the PPP will be upping the ante against the MQM by embracing the JI,which has a sizeable vote-bank in Karachi,by offering the JI the governor’s slot vacated by the MQM. The name of Naimatullah Khan,a former mayor of Karachi,is being tipped for the post.

Such divide-and-rule tactics ill become a party that flags its democratic credentials but exercises none. This is not a good omen for Karachi.

The writer is an editor with ‘Dawn’,Karachi
express@expressindia.com