Muttahida Quomi Mahaz

The most potent threat to Pakistan’s internal security in the late Nineteen Eighties and early Nineties was posed by militia from the Mohajir community. Originally formed as the Mohajir Quomi Movement (MQM), it is now split into two factions. The faction led by the founder Altaf Hussain was renamed Muttahida Quomi Mahaz and is commonly referred to as MQM (A). A breakaway faction, created in 1992, retains the original name Mohajir Quomi Movement - with the suffix Haqiqi which means real - and is commonly referred to as MQM (H). The two factions have been responsible for several incidents of urban terrorism even as the MQM (A) participates in Pakistan’s electoral process. After a series of strong measures taken by the State in 1998, the MQM (A) has largely reoriented itself into an exclusively political outfit. In its latest display of clout in Mohajir dominated areas, it called for a boycott of local body elections held in July 2001 and ensured a low turnout in areas dominated by its cadre.

The MQM sought to portray itself, in its initial years as an organisation of Mohajirs. This ethnic term refers to refugees from India who settled in Karachi and other urban centres of Sindh province. They now constitute the largest segment in Sindh’s urban population. Largely natives of India’s Bihar and Uttar Pradesh provinces, this community maintains a distinct identity for itself. In the immediate post-partition period, the community formed one of the most influential lobbies in Pakistan having been closely associated with the movement for the country and its founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah. With the increasing power of the military over the State apparatus, the community found its pre-eminent position being increasingly usurped by the Punjabi dominated military-bureaucratic formation that effectively ruled Pakistan since Gen. Ayub’s coup in 1958.

The first assertions of a distinct ethnic identity were made by the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation" (APMSO) founded by Altaf Hussain in Karachi in 1978. Altaf Hussain went on, in 1984, to form the MQM. For two years, the outfit maintained a low profile reportedly concentrating on building its cadre base in Karachi and Hyderabad. It came on the national stage with a massive rally in Karachi on August 8. Ever since it has been a major actor in Pakistan’s politics even as it maintains an armed cadre that has repeatedly indulged in urban terrorism. In 1992, going against the civilian political executive, the army reportedly encouraged a split in the outfit helping create the MQM (H) under the leadership of Afaq Ahmed and Aamir Khan, who were earlier top members of MQM’s armed wing. To disguise itself as a broad social formation, the outfit dropped the term Mohajir from its title and renamed itself the Muttahida Quomi Mahaz (United National Front)

Violence has always accompanied the outfit’s political activities. It began with the first public meeting on August 8, 1986, which was accompanied by aerial firing, street violence and damage to public property by participants. Two months later, on October 31, rioting in Karachi and Hyderabad, another MQM (A) stronghold, left 12 persons dead. Altaf Hussain and ten other leaders of the outfit were arrested on November 2 that year which only increased the street violence in Mohajir dominated cities. On December 14, the outfit’s secretary general Dr Imran Farooq claimed that the situation can come under control only if Altaf Hussain is released. Almost on cue, violence flared up that night and the next day leaving 120 persons dead in Karachi.

Violence continued, allegedly perpetrated by MQM, despite the outfit entering into an alliance with the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in 1988 and participating in a coalition government at the Federal level. The two parties had signed a 54 point agreement commonly known as the Karachi Accord just before the elections held in December that year. News reports suggested that most violence was between supporters of the MQM and the Jiye Sindh Movement, an organisation purpotedly fighting the cause of native Sindhis. Another rival with which the MQM frequently indulged in violent clashes was the Punjabi-Pukhtoon Ittehad (PPI), an outfit comprising of armed extremists from the Pukhtoon and Punjabi communities. Random attacks by armed activists of the warring groups on unarmed civilians were the major cause for casualties. In May 1989, the MQM walked out of the PPP led coalition in Sindh and five months later, from the federal government, accusing the PPP of failing to honour its promises outlined in the Karachi Accord.

The press to was a victim of the MQM’s terror strategies. Several newspapers, including the Dawn, Jang, identified by the outfit as non-symphathetic to the ‘movement’ were targeted for enforced boycotts.

Following reports of an imminent army crackdown on the outfit, Altaf Hussain left for UK on January 1, 1992 and has been in exile since. Despite the flight of its leader, the outfit’s terrorist arm continued to operate until 1998. Its political arm too faded into insignificance after the October 1999 coup in Pakistan.

The mid nineties in urban Sindh was marked by consistent strike calls from the MQM which included an announcement in July 1995 that weekly strikes on Fridays and Saturdays would be observed. Most MQM strikes were accompanied by violence leaving scores dead in their wake.