Mohajir Province Is The Need Of The Hour!

Recently, Altaf Hussain, the founder and leader of Muttahida Qoumi Movement (MQM) announced not to participate in the electoral politics as a protest over the discrimination and the resulting injustice that the Mohajir (Urdu speaking) community had been passing through for decades in Pakistan.

Altaf Hussain formed MQM (initially Mohajir Quomi Movement and now Muttahida Quomi Movement) in order to struggle for the forfeited rights of the victims (Mohajirs) of racism and the resulted victimization. The overwhelming support from the urban cities of Sindh province to MQM proved that whatever Altaf Hussain and its brain child MQM claimed about their issues was true. Altaf Hussain`s demands were so genuine that his nominated candidates, despite having no political profile at all, easily got elected by defeating the high profile politician with vast majority.

Logically, the record support from the Urdu speaking community towards Altaf Hussain and his party MQM should have been an eye-opener for the state and its institutions and, consequently, they should have immediately adopted necessary measures in order to remove their grievances.

Yes! Both military as well as political establishments did sit together, analyzed the political scenario after the emergence of MQM and took into account the possible options to resolve the issues. Finally, they made truly bold decisions not to address the grievances of the victim community, but to forcefully silence the voicing party and its leadership. All the operations led by army, Rangers or police exclusively targeting MQM and Mohajirs were the result of the similarly well-thought and viciously formulated policies by the civil and military establishments in highly level meetings.

During these operations by now, millions of Urdu speaking people, especially youths, have been arrested since 80`s (most of whom were released after receiving billions of rupees as a ransom), nearing 20,000 have been killed extra-judicially by the Law-enforcement agencies as well as by their patronized (so-called political) groups, and hundreds have become the victims of enforced disappearances just because of the reason that they were supporting MQM for its just stance.     

MQM did raise voice over these atrocities and presented resolutions in the Provincial Assembly of Sindh, National Assembly as well as in the Senate, but all were turned down by the members of other political, religious parties and ethnic communities. They never supported MQM for getting rights for the deprived community through the floors of the parliament.

On the other hand, they unconditionally supported the “The Nizam-e-Adl Regulation”, a controversial bill in 2009 accepting the demands of a legally banned organization “Tehreek-e-Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi” (TNSM). This obviously reveals how much importance the political mandate of Urban Sindh is given in the Pakistani parliament.  

Anyway, MQM kept on highlighting the brutality against Muhajirs not only inside the assemblies, but also outside by way of sending SOS`s, letters, submitting legal petitions, doing press conferences, protest rallies, processions, hunger strikes and even by announcing wheel-jam strikes, yet no one paid a heed to it. Not speaking of the other institutions of the state, even the Pakistani judiciary too (which is considered as a last resort to seek justice from in a civilized society) did not come up to stop the continuing genocide and to provide justice to the victimized community.

In fact, if we put together the thousands of attention-calls, whatsoever the medium was, (that MQM and Altaf Hussain have made since 80`s for the sake of seeking justice), and drop them into the country`s biggest river (Indus River) along with the thousands of dead bodies they have received in return, all that will definitely emerge like a dam in the middle of river and would divert its flow. But, so irony is that, the same has brought no value for the judiciary, political and religious parties and the civil society in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. 

Taking into account all these bitter facts, does it still seem feasible to adopt the repeatedly tested route (electoral process) and then expect the racist forces to provide justice? Not at all! In fact, the time has come to start struggle, at least, for a separate province so that the Mohajirs will neither have to pass through a patronized genocide nor will they have to beg for Justice from anyone. Otherwise, they will keep receiving dead bodies of their loved ones the same way in Pakistan.