The Required Positive Move!

The long prevailing tension in Karachi between the two political parties ANP and MQM have already resulted in the loss of hundreds of the innocent people. There might be involvement of the hidden hands directly or indirectly in this respect. But, this is the extremism or intolerance between any two rival sectarian groups, parties or ethnic communities that is cashed in on by the third force for its own interest.

It is also claimed that it was the emergence of MQM (Muhajir Qaumi Movement) due to which all the other ethnic groups and parties had to come up as a reaction. Perhaps, it was the reason why the Police, Rangers and the Army operations were launched to eliminate MQM from the political scene. However, these operations not only failed politically, but also ended up with the severe charges of targeting one specific party and its community even through the extrajudicial killings. That proved that any military solution would not help to solve the long troubling issue of Karachi. Therefore, there should be some other way to root it out.  Practically, no strategy has turned out to be fruitful to curb the decades-ongoing ethnic tension among different ethnic communities in Karachi by now.   

Here it is very interesting that, in contrast to the hostile attitude of the relevant ethnic groups and parties against each other, none of them claims to be against the other. Each of them comes up with the claim of considering the people of other communities as their brothers. Then, the question is, if they really take other parties and communities like their brothers, why is there the tension among them in the city?? If they are really with open arms for other people, why not to require them to prove this? This could be made the standard to judge their sincerity with their claims.

Like other ethnically based parties, MQM is on the top which has been claiming to have opened its doors for the people from other communities as well. In order to prove its claim, it has taken many steps including transformed from Muhajir to Mutthida Qaumi Movement, making the non-urdu-speaking  workers the part of its top leadership hierarchy commonly known as “MQM Rabita Committee” and organizing notable public gatherings outside Urban Sindh. Recently, it has held a very prominent gathering only of the people from the KPK province (Pakhtun and Hazarewal). All these steps can impartially be considered pretty good moves to attract the other communities.

The June 24^th convention of the Karachi-ites originally belonging to KPK will also help MQM remove the charge of not accepting the Pakhtun ethnicity in Karachi, as this gathering was just like an official and on-public recognition of this reality from MQM. MQM needs be appreciated for this.

When MQM, as an accused, is itself trying to come on the right track, why not to help it do so? All over the world, the prisons are considered as the reformatory places for the criminals. They are not made hells for the ill-doers. We will have to clear MQM`s way for this purpose for restoring the ethnic harmony in the multi-cultural city. What different governments could not accomplish despite utilizing the Police, Rangers and army, is taking place by itself. So, why not to encourage it?

Now other ethnic group including ANP, JSQM, PPI, Awami Tehreek and other nationalists will also have to open their doors for the people from other ethnic communities like MQM. They will need to be more lenient and flexible for this purpose. They will have to include Urdu speaking people in their parties even in the hierarchy of the leadership so that they can get a sort of guarantee for the unbiased policies for them. More importantly as per the general assumption, the ethnicity or racism emerged because of MQM, then there should be similar reaction of MQM`s positive moves from all the as-a-reaction-emerged parties too.

Right now, these ethnic parties and groups are not in a position to hold such public gatherings of the Urdu speakers so as to give a friendly message to them. But, it is not too late; they still have time to follow MQM in this respect. This is what all the ethnic groups and parties should be morally and socially required to do so. When all the parties and groups will be having the members and the supporters from all the other ethnic communities from general workers to elected members as in MQM, there would be no disgracing, threatening or tension creating remarks or statements from them against the other ethnicity.

This would be a very good strategy to develop a congenial atmosphere among all the ethnic communities of the city. This is the best and non-military way to convert the ethnically based parties as multi-ethnic parties.  However, if any of them does not be open for other communities, it should be socially boycotted.