Has Mustafa Kamal Not Politically Committed Suicide??

Whatever allegations the former Karachi mayor of MQM, Musatafa Kamal leveled on MQM and its founder Altaf Hussain was nothing but merely a repetition of the series of charges that its rivals and the military establishment have been putting. However, nothing could have been proved in any court of law; they are still a part of blame game against MQM.

Although Musafa Kamal accused MQM leadership of corruption, at the same time, he also claimed that he, as the Altaf Hussain-nominated mayor of Karachi, very honestly spent the funds of billion rupees for the development of Karachi. In fact, it was a big contraction of his charges on MQM because development funds are generally considered as the most common and easiest source of corruption in Pakistan by politicians. Development funds are corrupted and used for personal as well as political gains. However, as he himself accepted that, not a single rupee out of so huge amount was corrupted during his tenure as the MQM`s city Nazim (mayor) and especially as the most pampered worker of the party, this in turn negates his own charges and gives a clean chit to Altaf Hussain and his party.  

The second charge on MQM was to illegally collect funds (through extortions) in the name of charity to Khidmat-e-Khalq Foundation (KKF) and use them for running its alleged militant group. However, Mustafa Kamal, who had also performed his duties as the in-charge of the same welfare wing of MQM, claimed that he worked honestly to serve the needy people and also used the KKF`s funds exclusively in welfare activities. Question is, is his clarification, especially after his “conscience had been awaken”, not an obvious declaration of MQM`s innocence that it collects and uses its charity funds only for welfare purposes as per the prevailing laws of the country?

Frankly speaking, people might have given some value to his allegations, if Mustaf Kamal had claimed that he, as the city mayor of Karachi as well as the head of the KKF, had been helping MQM to general money through unfair means and use it for illegal purposes, as the rivals blame. But, his denial of any sort of corruption in the development funds and also of collection of money by any illegal source(s) not only weakened his own blames on MQM, but also strengthened the impression that he was, either due to his personal rivalry or on the pressure or some “forces”, trying to malign MQM.

The same situation was with his third allegation on Altaf Hussain of making Urdu speaking youth criminals. However, he once again clarified that he had never been involved in any sort of criminal activity while being in MQM. When true, why was he, as a senior as well as close worker of Altaf Hussain, not used for any crimes like other Urdu speaking youths as he blamed?  

To tell the truth, his own personality is the total negation of his absurd charges. It is an open secret that Mustafa Kamal, who had joined MQM as an ordinary young man decades ago, was selected as the mayor of Karachi. The entire party, from elected representatives to the top leadership helped him serve the city. As a result, he became famous and was declared as one of the best city mayors of the world. This was exactly how MQM and Altaf Hussain converted an ordinary Urdu speaking young man into a high profile personality of Pakistan. In contrast it, the entire nation themselves witnessed that how the same high profile person was turned into a low profile man by the establishment by just a two & half hour press conference against Altaf Hussain. The difference was pretty clear.

It was extremely shocking for the people of urban Sindh to see that the man, who claimed to have come for Urdu speaking community, was terming its youth as criminals and (Indian agency) RAW`s agents. It was nothing else but an act of justifying the victimization of Muhajirs that has been going on for decades in the name of restoring peace. That was practically how Urdu speaking youth was branded as criminals and Indian agents in Pakistan.

Anyway, if Mustafa Kamal had put all these charges against MQM and Altaf Hussain claiming that he, as the mayor of Karachi as well as the head of KKF, helped them perform any criminal activities, one might have given some value to his words. However, by giving a clean chit to himself despite having spent decades in MQM, he not only weakened his own stance, but also strengthened the impression that he was trapped and used by the military establishment. Furthermore, whatever credibility was remaining in his words, that too, evaporated when he vowed to support the presidential form of government in Pakistan. Those remarks made quite easy to understand even for other political parties too that actually who brought him to propagate their message to the nation.

Many common people say that if Mustafa Kamal had developed any genuine differences with Altaf Hussain, the leader who had politically raised him to this level from the scratch, he should have expressed them in a decent manner. But, the way he targeted his leader, destroyed his own image in public. It is said, “It takes a long time and great efforts to make a good name in a society, but it takes no time to lose it”. Mustafa Kamal`s press conference truly proved the same.

Through the organized “show”, Pakistani establishment tried to hit MQM & Altaf Hussain below the belt by their own heavyweights, but it could not achieve the desired results. The missile crashed even before reaching its planned target. Punjab`s law minister Rana Sana Ullah rightly commented over this saying, “Mustafa Kamal was spoiled by the establishment”. He is very right as the military establishment used a talented man for an evil purpose, i.e., to single out Altaf Hussain (under minus-one formula) and completely scraped him. It turned out to be a political suicide for previously a well-known politician___Syed Mustafa Kamal.

Though he could neither dent MQM nor separate people from Altaf Hussain, but he definitely damaged the image of middle and lower middleclass workers in the Pakistani politics. He, through his arrogantly made and/or under pressure decision, strengthened the decades-long practice adopted by leadership of trusting only close relatives and friends instead of common people. The distrust that Mustafa Kamal has caused will definitely take a long time to be restored.