Born to run: The rise and leveling of the APMSO
The APMSO logo.
Last Thursday we ran through the history behind the rise and fall of one of Pakistan’s largest student organisations, the Islami Jamiat Taleba (IJT).
This week we shall analyse the evolution of another controversial student outfit, the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation (APMSO) – the student party that became the leading reason behind the decline and at times ouster of the IJT from Karachi’s major universities and colleges.
APMSO was formed at the University Of Karachi (KU) in 1978 by Altaf Hussain and Azeem Ahmed Tariq.
Husain and Tariq were both students at KU. Whereas Hussain till 1977 was a sympathiser of the Islami Jamiat Taleba (IJT) and played an active role in the movement against the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto regime that was orchestrated by the Jamat-i-Islami-led Pakistan National Alliance (PNA) in 1977, Tariq had flirted with an assortment of progressive student groups, including the Liberal Students Federation (LSF) that was headed by the current PPP Senator, Raza Rabbani at the KU in 1974.
Background
The most common account of the formation of the Muttahida (originally Mohajir) Qaumi Movement (MQM) and APMSO (that gave birth to the MQM) involves claims that it was a party conceived by the military dictatorship of General Ziaul Haq as a way to counterbalance the influence of certain political forces in Sindh. However, there is precious little clarity on the part of those political historians who toe this claim.
The Jamat-i-Islami (JI) was the first party to assert that the Zia regime had ‘created MQM’ to sideline JI’s influence in Karachi, even though between 1977 and 1984, the JI was openly supporting Zia.
In the late 1980s, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) insisted that the MQM had been formed by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies to curb the PPP in Sindh, whereas Sindhi nationalist parties were of the view that MQM came into being at the behest of the Zia regime because of the way Sindhi nationalists had protested during the violent anti-Zia MRD movement in Sindh in 1983.
Nevertheless, if one were to summarise the collective thesis on the subject by academics who have written extensively on the MQM – such as Muhammad Wasim, Laurent Gayer and Oskar Vaarkaik – one can suggest that, though, there was some involvement of Zia’s agencies in the formation of the MQM (from APMSO), this experiment soon backfired when the MQM quickly spun out of the agencies’ orbit and became an aggressively independent entity.
The MQM’s arrival was not simply about a Mohajir-centric student organisation (APMSO) evolving into a mainstream political party born out of the political and economic frustrations of Mohajirs.
One can treat this as an immediate historical snippet, but it is certainly not the complete story. Academics specialising in the politics of Sindh, such as Amir Ali Chandio and Dr Tanvir Tahir, trace back the formation of the political Mohajir ethnicity way back to the 1960s.
Along with Punjabis, Mohajirs dominated Pakistan’s initial ruling and economic elite and thus both these communities continued to invest their political support in either federalist or religious parties or in military dictatorships.
Even those Mohajirs and Punjabis who joined outfits led by Sindhi, Pashtun, Bengali and Baloch nationalists (such as the National Awami Party (NAP), were largely part of the NAP’s Marxist wing that wanted to eschew politics of ethnicity and work towards a bourgeoisie-led socialist proletarian revolution.
But by the late 1960s, much of the country’s leftist tendencies were absorbed by the emergent PPP, and thus progressive non-Punjabi and non-Mohajir nationalists became more exclusivist.
Consequently, the first ever demand to separate Karachi from Sindh and recognise the Mohajirs as a distinct ethnicity actually came from an influential faction of the left-wing National Students Federation (NSF) that was associated with the NAP.
In 1969 Amir H. Kazmi, the head of his own faction of the Marxist NSF, was one of the first political leaders to raise the banner of Mohajir nationalism.
Logo of the left-wing National Students Federation (NSF).
But few Mohajirs took the notion seriously, as they were still firmly imbedded in the concept of federalism and (like Punjabis) repulsed by ethnic nationalism.
However, as most of the left-leaning Punjabi and Sindhi intelligentsia and working classes and peasants invested their support in the federalist PPP, Mohajirs stuck to continue backing the federalist Islamic parties.
By the late 1960s Mohajirs had already begun to be dislodged from the Punjab-dominated ruling and economic elite with the gradual entry of the dictator Ayub-Khan-initiated entrance of the hardworking Pashtuns in the cherished fold.
The rise of the PPP-led by Z A. Bhutto further added to the sense of dread rising amongst Mohajirs. This erupted in the shape of 1972 ‘language riots’ in Karachi when the Bhutto regime reintroduced Sindhi in educational institutions and Mohajirs saw this as ‘an attack on Urdu.’
The aftermath of the riots saw the formation of a city government movement (CGM). Studded with Mohajir intellectuals and former Karachi-based leftist student leaders and some businessmen, it again called for Karachi to be separated from Sindh.
This movement too failed to take off until the 1978 formation of Altaf Hussain’s APMSO.
The much overlooked reason behind the APMSO’s evolution into giving birth to MQM (in 1984) is an economic one.
According to famous Sindhi scholar, Ibrahim Joyo, ‘Punjabi economic hegemony’ increased immensely in Sindh during the dictatorship of Ziaul Haq.
This situation had a negative impact on Karachi’s leading business communities (Memons, Gujaratis and other non-Punjabi business outfits).
In such a situation these communities formed the Maha Sindh (MS) — an organisation set up to protect the interests of Karachi’s Memon, Gujarati and Mohajir businessmen and traders.
According to celebrated Sindhi intellectual Khaliq Junejo, the MS then encouraged and financed the formation of a ‘street-strong’ Karachi-based party. This party became the MQM.
It can be argued that it is this aspect of the MQM’s formation that sometimes gets mistaken into meaning that the party came about with the help of the Zia regime.
This is so because the business communities in Karachi (stung by Bhutto’s nationalisation policies) were anti-Bhutto and had hailed his overthrow by Zia in 1977.
But by the early 1980s, they had been deluded by Zia’s supposedly ‘pro-Punjabi’ economic manoeuvres in Sindh and felt the need to have their own political outfit. MQM was the result.
Beginnings
APMSO was formed in 1978 by Azeem Ahmed Tariq (a former member of the Liberal Students Federation) and Altaf Hussain (a former simpithaiser of the JI and IJT).
Both Altaf and Tariq came from lower middle-class Mohajir (Urdu speaking) families in Karachi.
Hussain was disappointed with the role the Jamat-i-Islami (JI) played after the PNA movement cornered Bhutto and paved the way for the General Ziaul Haq military coup in July 1977.
Hussain in his autobiography, ‘My Life’ claims that he criticised JI for joining the Zia regime and then accused the party of exploiting the Mohajirs of Sindh (especially Karachi) who had been supporting JI ever since the 1950s.
A number of ethnic-nationalist student groups had emerged in educational institutions in the 1970s, especially in Karachi, and Hussain thought that the Mohajir youth were being alienated in an environment where Sindhi, Baloch and Pushtun students were asserting themselves through their respective organisations.
Fearing that the Mohajirs will be wiped out if they did not organise themselves as a separate ethnic group, Hussain launched the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organization (APMSO).
Azeem Ahmed Tariq (L) and Altaf Hussain (R ) share a quick meal at the Karachi University in 1976.
The launching of the APMSO outside the Arts Lobby at the Karachi University, June 1978.
APMSO’s early membership involved a sprinkling of former IJT members and politically neutral students (all Mohajir).
In 1981, APMSO decided to join the United Students Movement (USM) – an anti-IJT/anti-Zia alliance of left-wing and progressive ethnic-nationalist student groups at the KU such as the Baloch Students Organisation (BSO), Punjabi Students Association (PSA), Pakhtun Students Federation (PkSF) and Jeeay Sindh Students Federation (JSSF).
During the same period another left-wing anti-Zia/IJT student alliance had also sprung up at KU. It was called the Taleba Ittihad (Student Alliance) and was formed by the National Students Federation (NSF) and the Peoples Students Federation (PSF), the student-wing of the Pakistan Peoples Party.
APMSO did not perform well at the 1980 student union elections at KU, but managed to double the number of its votes as a loose component party of USM during the 1981 union elections.
By now APMSO had also started receiving Mohajir student activists from the left-wing (and rapidly disintegrating) NSF.
The arrival of former NSF members helped shift Altaf and Azeem’s rhetoric further to the left.
In a 1981 speech, Hussain described APMSO as a progressive and secular student party working against ‘Punjab’s hegemony in Pakistan’s politics and economics’ and against the ‘mullah-feudal nexus.’
Hussain had already been arrested (in 1979) by the police for allegedly burning the Pakistani flag to protest against the supposed ill-treatment matted out to the Mohajirs by the Punjabi ruling elite.
Altaf Hussain with members of the APMSO outside a Military Court where he was charged for allegedly burning a Pakistani flag in 1979. He denied the allegations.
Perturbed by the rapid growth in the membership of the APMSO, the fundamentalist IJT went on the offensive against it, especially at the KU.
It barred the entry of APMSO leaders from KU in 1982 and also attacked APMSO members.
IJT had been enjoying the majority of the Mohajir students’ votes in student union elections in Karachi across the 1970s, but now saw the growth of APMSO as a threat to IJT’s chances of retaining Karachi’s major student unions. What’s more, the APMSO had already joined an anti-IJT alliance, the USM.
APMSO members were ‘expelled’ from the KU by IJT at a time when IJT was involved in a tense electoral and armed tussle with progressive student groups across Karachi’s colleges and universities.
Altaf Hussain with APMSO activists on a Karachi University bus, 1978.
APMSO moved its operations to the Mohajir majority areas in Karachi (mohallahs), and in 1984 the senior members of the outfit launched the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) – an ethnic Mohajir party that was to serve as the senior partner of the APMSO.
Altaf Hussain shaking hands with APMSO member, Farooq Sattar, at the Karachi University in 1981. Sattar today is a leading member of the MQM and a Minister in the current PPP-led collation government in Sindh and at the centre.
APMSO was radicalised when in 1985-86 the first (of the many) major clashes took place between Karachi’s Mohajir and Pushtun communities.
The Pushtuns were supported by the Pushtun speaking Afghan refugees who had poured into Pakistan during the US-Saudi funded Islamic Muhajideen insurgency against Soviet and Afghan militaries in the Soviet-occupied Afghanistan.
Many of these refugees arrived in Karachi with sophisticated weapons and drugs.
The sudden growth in the population of Karachi began putting great pressure on the city’s infrastructural resources and also triggered a two-fold growth in the crime rate.
The simmering tension between the Mohajir community and the Pushtuns erupted in widespread violence when a Mohajir college student, Bushra Zaidi, was crushed by a speeding mini-bus that was being driven by a Pushtun.
College and school students poured out onto the streets to protest. The protests soon culminated into clashes between the students and the police and ultimately between the Mohajirs and the Pushtuns.
DAWN photo of female college students protesting against Bushra Zaidi’s death, April 1985.
Video of Altaf Hussain speaking during MQM’s first major convention at Nishtar Park in Karachi, 1986.
Faced by the superior firepower brought in by Afghan refugees, MQM dispatched a delegation of APMSO members to Hyderabad to meet a militant group from the Sindhi separatist student organisation, the JSSF.
Though Sindhi nationalists had been campaigning against Mohajirs ever since 1950s (accusing them of treating the Sindhis like ‘Red Indians’), Altaf began warming up to JSSF’s mentor and figurehead, Sindhi scholar, GM Syed.
APMSO were given some firearms by PSF in the early 1980s, it was JSSF that sold the APMSO its first large cache of AK-47s that were then used to tame the heavily armed IJT in 1987 and 1988, eventually breaking IJT’s hold at KU and in various other state-owned campuses in Karachi.
After the violent end of the Ziaul Haq dictatorship in 1988, MQM swept the 1988 elections in Karachi and got into a ruling alliance with the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) at the centre and in Sindh. But soon, both the parties’ student units were headed for a clash.
The tussle began as a turf war in universities and colleges of Karachi where IJT’s hold had weakened and where both APMSO and the PPP’s student wing, the Peoples Students Federation (PSF), moved in to claim the space left behind a retreating IJT.
Student unions that had been banned by Zia in 1984, were revived by the first Benazir regime. But student union elections were only held in the Punjab, even though elections did take place in some colleges of Karachi and were mostly swept by APMSO candidates followed by PSF.
But lacking the chance to settle political differences through the ballot, clashes broke out between APMSO and PSF in the city’s major universities.
The clashes between the two student groups became so intense that the APMSO formed special militant units, Nadeem Commandos and Black Tigers.
The Black Tigers were initially created to check dissenters within the MQM.
PSF retaliated with its Karachi President, Najeeb Ahmed (a KU student), organising militant units inside the PSF.
PSF’s Karachi President, Najeeb Ahmed speaking at a PSF meeting at a college in Karachi, 1988.
Dozens of students from both sides lost their lives and in 1990, the clashes ultimately began straining the PPP-MQM alliance.
MQM resigned from the government (of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto) and joined the opposition.
The clashes came to a sudden halt when an armed group youth allegedly belonging to the Black Tigers assassinated PSF’s Karachi chief, Najeeb Ahmed (in late 1989), and by early 1990s, Benazir Bhutto’s first government fell (dismissed by the President).
Turmoil
APMSO and MQM ruled supreme in Karachi during the early part of the first Nawaz Sharif government (1991-93), but certain acts of violence against some army personnel stationed in Karachi by APMSO boys led the military to begin a ‘clean-up operation’ in Sindh (1992).
Though the military and Prime Minister Sharif claimed that the operation was aimed against the dacoits (highway robbers) of Sindh, the operation’s main thrust was always directed towards MQM/APMSO’s militancy and alleged ‘criminality.’
A 1992 newspaper photo of a group of APMSO activists gunned down by the police, allegedly during a ‘fake encounter’ in which APMSO youth were arrested by the police and then asked to run before being shot in the back.
By the time Benazir was reelected in 1993, the military had handed over the proceedings of the ongoing operation to the police and paramilitary forces in Karachi (the Rangers).
The operation was aggressively led by Benazir’s interior minister, Naseerullah Babar.
Gruesome acts of violence were committed by both the sides and the regime also used extra-judicial ways to eliminate the militant backbone of the MQM.
Dozens of policemen were slaughtered by MQM/APMSO militants, but hundreds of MQM/APMSO activists were also put to death in the most brutal manner.
In 1992-93, when an anti-Altaf faction of MQM (MQM-Haqiqi) emerged (backed by the military intelligence), Altaf Husain escaped to London and Azeem Ahmed Tariq was assassinated.
By 1996, leaders of the Nadeem Commandos and Black Tigers were also eliminated.
The operation only came to an end when through a military coup General Parvez Musharraf toppled Nawaz Sharif’s second government in October 1999.
The leveling
In 1998 MQM and APMSO changed the word Mohajir in their names to ‘muttahida’ (united) to suggest that they were no more a Mohajir ethnic party. It now began explaining itself as a secular, centralist national party.
In 2002, MQM became any ally of the Musharraf dictatorship and a new crop of leaders, both in MQM and APMSO, began the process of rebuilding the two organisations.
Altaf still presided over both the outfits as chief (from London).
APMSO also began regenerating its militant wing. This wing came into play during the 2007 anti-Musharraf Lawyers Movement (which, MQM being a Musharraf ally was against).
MQM and APMSO were accused by anti-Musharraf parties and the media for instigating violence on the streets of Karachi when Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Chaudhry (who had been dismissed by Musharraf) arrived to hold a lawyers’ rally in Karachi.
In May 2007, fierce gun battles erupted on the streets of Karachi between APMSO militants and armed men belonging to the youth wings of Awami National Party, Jamat-i-Islami and Pakistan Peoples Party.
The violence began when MQM/APMSO gunmen allegedly fired upon anti-Musharraf/pro-CJP rallies that were moving towards the airport to receive the ousted CJP.
Dozens of people were killed in the ensuing gun battles and riots.
A montage of three different but related events that were taking place on May 12, 2007. On top an APMSO activist in Karachi throws a stone at a pro-CJP rally as a bus burns in the background; on bottom left, former military ruler General Musharraf waves to a ‘hired’ crowd at a rally in Islamabad; and on bottom right, Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry (who was fired by Musharraf on corruption charges), arrives at the Karachi airport. The violence in the city forced him to return to Islamabad.
After the 2008 elections MQM joined the PPP-led coalition government along with the Pushtun nationalist party the ANP.
But this time around truce between the three parties’ student-wings has held on campuses of Karachi. However the more militant members of the wings that got involved in street crimes and were initially used as muscle by the three parties, many of them went ‘rouge’ and have gotten involved in vicious battles of turf in the city targeting each another to control the lucrative land scams and bhatta (extortion) business.
All three parties, the PPP, MQM and ANP are now struggling to reign in these ‘rouge elements.’
Nevertheless, the APMSO today continues to be the dominant political student organisation in Karachi’s state-owned colleges and universities.
And though armed, it does not contain any special militant units like the ones it bred in the 1980s and 1990s (Black Tigers and Nadeem Commandos).
A number of former APMSO leaders have now gone on to become leading members of the MQM.
Bibliography: Hussain, Altaf: My Life’s Journey (Oxford, 2011); Talbot, Ian: Pakistan: A Modern History (Palgrave Press, 1998); Verkaaik, Oskar: Migrants & Militants (Princeton University Press, 2004); Gayer, Laurent: Guns, Slums & Yellow Devils (Cambridge, 2007); Waseem, Muhammad: Ethnic Conflict in Pakistan: A Case of MQM (Pakistan Development Review, 1996).
Nadeem F. Paracha is a cultural critic and senior columnist for Dawn Newspaper and Dawn.com
The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.
I often disagree to NFP but quite agree with this one.
APMSO/MQM is the same chain, most of the APMSO student cadre graduate on to become party members of MQM. Is APMSO involved in violence ? Not hard to find out if you look at the newspapers over the last 30 years, any student who has attended any Karachi intermediate college can attest to this, unfortunately from intermediate colleges to medical colleges to Karachi University, students do not have much choice but to join ‘ students group’ for their own protection as gang violence is commonplace in Karachi campuses and APMSO has the ‘muscle power’ and an excellent organization to protect their men and women. Was APMSO pushed into ‘gang violence’ ? Unfortunately, not, it seems power corrupts and APMSO/MQM is not oblivious to it.
Unfortunately with all the power and resources it yields APMSO/MQM over the last 30 years has run its constituents into a mess. Their is violence and crime rampant in-campus and off-campus. Cheating and fake degrees are common and educational standards falling all over. Professors and teachers if they don’t have ‘backing ‘ are harassed, threatened and pushed into allowing unfair means in exams. You would have thought that with all the good intentions of transforming into ‘muttahida’ they would change their style of doing business, alas not. Again power corrupts and once these students get taste of power, money and free pass in exams, it is hard turning around.
I sincerely hope the APMSO/MQM figure out the right way forward and learn from their leader’s positive experiences from living in UK and think about their constituents as sooner or later evolution would have its way and another group would emerge to challenge their hold.
Pakistan is suffering because of their own dirty policies. Punjabi, sindhi, pashtun and balochi all claim for karachi but in reality urdu speaking are the main stake holders. They belong to educated white collar community ( not a single urdu speaking family related to Wadera and jagerdar family). Unfortunately, MQM had to faced all tribals who were sent from different provinces to fight with migrants. Mr. Paracha article should explain why there was no urduspeaking movement in KPK, Punjab, Baluchitan or interior Sindh…..answer is urdu speaking was fighting to save their kids and rights in region where the were living. Mr.Paracha should write about worst government system lead by Punjabi and Sindhi jagerdar. Unfortunately, Pakistan is suffering because of own policies by killing educated Urdu speaking youngsters and b Quota system. By reading this articles I can say that, Karachi should be separate from Sindh or from Pakistan so Urdu speaking can live peacefully. Pakistani talent was martyred in 1990ss and now there is generation gap. Unfortunately new generation cannot compete international talent…..game is over……
You are right Salman, Karachi being separate from Sindh and Pakistan will solve a lot of problems and create much needed peace following liberal and tolerant ways and not being ruled by wadera from PPP. But here is an issue: the people of Karachi are very patriotic too and will not want to break away!
I was in university at that time. Muhajirs were not given their legitimate rights. Altaf Hussain’s demand was valid. Every ethnic minority was being represented by one party or another. Burger bacho! stop thinking that PTI will bring a revolution.
Nadeem Paracha did not mention that APMSO was the first party to give the idea of middle class leadership. What about their dynamic leader Mustafa Kamal?
That is very true Minhaj. I think this should have been mentioned.
Mustafa Kamal is really an icon for those who aspire to become future leaders.
Politics of Chaos and Anarchy. As a youngman I personally saw the acts of terror in Karachi committed by various ethnic parties. Violence breeds voilence, the normal peace loving and hard working people of Karachi sufferred immensely while few Politicians from these ethnic parties made billions.
I would strongly advise any true Pakistani to refrain from supporting any party that is built on ethnic principles. Although my family was living in UK, I moved back to Karachi and started a small but successful business but the violence in the late 1980s compelled me to rethink. After marriage, my wife (hails from Punjab) did not feel safe living in Karachi, let alone raising a family.I tried relocating to Punjab but could not adjust myself socially and in the end moved back to UK. Although both myself and my partner are from Punjabi background but we always considered ourselves to be nothing but Pakistanis and both of us speak Urdu at home.. Karachi was once a peace loving, tolerant and wonderful City and I have some wonderfull memories of this City. My social circle albeit was small but consisted of people from different ethnic backgrounds. I have not been to Karachi for almost 8 years, most of my friends have moved to either Canada or USA. Lost time I was there, I felt like a total stranger. We still have a family house in Karachi,, not sure why?
I would love to see peace returning to Pakistan, including Karachi. We can only do this if we think like a Nation. Sadly Pakistan appears to be heading towards disintegration as everyone blames others for their misery. Rebuild Pakistan for your children and please stop this ethinc nonsense. Although I am not associated with any political party but I am often told by my relatives in Pakistan and most of overseas Pakistanis that this time around they are going to vote /support PTI. I am not trying to convince anyone to vote for any Political party as this is a matter of choice. But your vote will determine our Country’s destiny; so use is wisely.
Kind Regards
Arshid
Hi! Your comment show your lack of knowledge. All parties are engaged in an armed conflict. If they don’t own a militant wing, they use state machinery to oppress other party workers. You look like those enchanted PTI souls who have never interacted with the lower middle income segment of the society.
I as well belong to a Punjabi background and my whole family have been living in Karachi since I remember…We live in a area which is densely populated with Urdu speaking families with no fear and problem at all. I roam around the city without any problem. Not only me but 1000s of families are living here without any issue. My whole family and I have always voted for MQM as I don’t think any political party can stand beside the vision MQM has for Pakistan. I am witness of their educated and liberal approach and I don’t see any political party can meet the standards MQM has set. I am fully confident that MQM is the only solution for Pakistan. My next vote will also go for MQM…
vision of MQM ? care to elaborate?
I myself hail from an Urdu Speaking family but support PTI.My parents have lived in the eras of 1960s and 70s and they had pleasant memories from their childhood and teenage.My relatives have also seen criminal activities and terror of MQM. They have lived during the times in 1980s and 90s, and have witnessed the darkest period in the history of Karachi. I am also against policies and actions of MQM, or more precisely criminal factors of MQM since the party and its student wing APMSO have also been having certain sincere and dedicated people who do work for the masses
For middle class, I would like to say/remind that unlike few other ethnicities of Pakistan, Muhajir/Urdu Speaking community never had any element of feudal or feudalism in it…even those who hail from feudal backgrounds/families had left all their estates back their in India after migration.Therefore, MQM didn’t have any feudal within its ranks after its formation. It was something that they would continue with, after they changed their name to Muttahida Qaumi Movement from Muhajir Qaumi Movement. But all thanks to dirty politics of Altaf Hussain and many other criminal elements of MQM, the party never got that much exposure as it would have got.Over the times, sometimes they talk about feudal system, and sometimes they play ethnic card even after using the name ”Muttahida”….so much contradictions and confusions.
Do they think that people from other regions of Pakistan have got no proper education,there are just feudal societies beyond Karachi?One can even see hateful and arrogant remarks of many MQM supporters who use negative remarks against Punjabis and Pashtuns.Such comments are not hard to find either if one searches through YouTube,Facebook and Orkut.Altaf Hussain ignited feelings of anger and hatred among Urdu Speaking youth back in 1980s and now MQM’s dark past continues to haunt them.How are they going to respond when shown their statements,manuals and speeches from the past where they clearly target Punjabis and other ethnicities AS A WHOLE.
Perhaps, if Altaf Hussain leaves the scene for good, then we may get a better picture or environment in Karachi.Altaf and his gang have actually hijacked the entire city of Karachi and thousands of Urdu Speakings to date.
I currently live in Canada and have analysed politics of Pakistan based on my own understanding and knowledge about human behaviour and Pakistan’s history,demographcis and social fabric.
Many people from Karachi have got a love and hate relationship with MQM where they have knowledge about all troubles and crimes perpetrated by the party, but at the end of the day they would still vote for MQM saying that they are after all “our own” unlike other parties. I myself have seen a couple of my relatives and family friends doing this. Such sort of thinking and complex need to be treated else they would continue to affect our morals and ethics. Everyone in Pakistan needs to think as a Pakistani first,and what’s good for the nation as a whole.
I salute you for being such a brilliant human.
Long Live Altaf Bhai
Long Live Muhajir.
I am <uhajir and follower of MQM. But i prefer only Muhajir Qaumi Movement, i dont follow the name of Mutahida Qaumi Movement.
Mohajir means who did hijra than why do people who belong to MQM
call themseleves mohajir even though most of them are born in Slums
of Karachi and never migrated from from anywhere ? Unless they are
Biharis who migrated from Dhaka to Orangi town,Karachi during the
days of Ayub Khan and after the fall of East Pakistan.
No doubt you are!! a party like MQM can teach hatred and racism only.
Name of MQM and its contours of outfit relate with word terrorism as like one can see in this column,None of violance had been showing in NFP previous writting about IJT
you are biased….
It is such a sad story.. that young generation and students were used for political violence by ht political parties and still some political parties are using Arms to gain their control..
As reader I am much surprised the way NFP paracha has twisted the facts and tried to write an article as analysis which has weak links with the historical facts which led the formation of APMSO and then its transformation to MQM.
NFP has not mentioned the factual points about sense of deprivation and threat to the muhjir students inside only one public university KU. Muhjirs were always supported IJT in Karachi but IJT never protected the rights of Muhajirs in KU or any other public sector colleges. When muhjirs students were being harassed by PSA or PSF etc they were left un-attended. There was time that respectable families did not allow their daughter to attend KU for higher education only due the fear of uncertain situation of Harassing and disrespect. There were Students wing to talk about admission and other problems of all ethnicity but there was no body to talk about problem faced by Muhajirs. We have seen Bhatta Collection PSA from medical stores near Civil Hospital in 1970s.
Even if Altaf Hussain was sympathizer of IJT he has to leave it only because of impotency of IJT for the protection of right of Muhjirs.
NFP has tried to mix two very different and distinct entity i.e., mqm and apmso as same. APMSO is student wing which has never participated in any activity of violence. I feel that there is some misconception and either due to lack of information or duet to some other reason best known to NFP he has tried to count murder of Njeeb in the account of APMSO / MQM but innocently he forget the role of PPP for his killing on his misbehavior with Qaim Ali Shah. Khalid Bin Waleed from MQM was charged with the murder of so called brave police SHO but he could not prove the claim in court. I feel that the people who put KBW name in FIR should be investigated by Najmi Alam so that actual murderer of Najeeb should be exposed.
Most of the time people like NFP try to malign the mqm by involving its men in beating of Kaleem in Landhi Khel, actual fact was that the same day ISI has tried to give control of Landhi Khel from MQM (Altaf) to MQM (H) after failing their design what Major Kaleem was doing civvies in Landhi Khel.
I am some time unable to understand what to do with those videos available on youtube of ANP, PPP and JI showing firing with guns if only MQM is responsible for death of 14 of its own worker. what Sherry Reman was doing in her Pajero at drig road and who was friring from the roof top of her pajero.
When NFP talks about APMSO he forgets its positive out come. it is the only students wing which is providing political leadership on regular basis. its debat club, its youth parliament, its study aid project, its other program out weighs its weakness if any.
What are you talking about, Junaid Bhai? Did you even read the article. Text between para 43 till 47 is all about how IJT treated APMSO.
Nabeela Behan, if i have clearly understood you, you feel that i am not aware of those points in these paragrph then you are requested to read what i have written the word impotency of IJT is enough the way they treated Altaf Hussain and Muhajirs in those days. Impotency means unable to deliver. I request if there is any point other than this then please, reply so that i can answer it to express my point of view.
I HIGHLY APPRECIATE GOOD SERVICES BY ALL PAKISTAN MUHAJIR STUDENT ORGANISATION.
Fact not mentioned is that MQM/APMSO has ruled karachi/hyderabad for last 20 years and besides few new roads have not delivered anything substantial to the masses they represent. MQM and ANP are playing fear tactics to keep their vote bank. Its time MQM and ANP vote bank should switch to PTI and break this cycle of fear.
Mufti sahab…. stop begging people to vote for PTI…. do something concrete for the people of Karachi and they will vote for your. But the problem is your leader is busy in sheltering Taliban and does not have time for anything else.
At least the PTI leader is in Pakistan unlike Altaf Hussain, who is running a mafia in Karachi. I am a so-called Mohajir!! As if we did not have enough divisions in Pakistan, Altaf Hussain created one further division! As a kid, I never knew why I was not being called a Pakistani within Pakistan, as opposed to Mohajir! Jaagoo!!!
Absolutely,I agree.20th is over and 21st have also completed more of a decade.
It’s high time for Karachihites in particular to follow old faces.it’s a time to discipline yourselves and join the hands PTI at least for the generations to come.
Although the writer has given some historical accounts that are not known to many of the readers but seems that regarding the recent history of the APMSO the author has mistakenly linked the allegations raised against MQM with that on APMSO. In last 10 years APMSO has not only provided a lot of leadership to MQM but has provided a lot of facilities and opportunities to the students of Pakistan specially the Karachi. APMSO regularly organize Book Fairs, Science Exhibitions and Model Tests for the students of colleges, universities and technical institutes. Beside organizing such events APMSO also organize debate and declamation contest in universities.
This I would agree ! one thing that MQM has better than PTI is a student wing which give leadership into main party. Maybe PTI is a newer party .
This is the best article that covers all of Karachi Politics with detailed explanation of present day situation.