ONCE considered a kingmaker in national politics, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) appears to have been relegated to a mere pawn on the political chessboard as it is conspicuously absent from the current political discourse that revolves around a controversial constitutional amendment package, forcing it to cry out loud about being “taken for granted”.

Earlier this month, the PML-N had failed to present a controversial constitutional amendment package in the National Assembly and the Senate after it failed to secure a two-thirds majority in parliament.

Although it claimed to have support of the PPP, MQM-P, PML-Q, Istehkam-i-Pakistan Party, Balochistan Awami Party, Awami National Party, PML-Z, National Party, and a few independents, the party lacked the required numbers. It had tried its best to secure the votes of the opposition Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) but failed.

While Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari reiterated on Tuesday his party’s firm support for a constitutional amendment to establish a Federal Constitutional Court and Awami National Party chief Aimal Wali vowed on Wednesday to support the amendment package if Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was renamed as only ‘Pakhtunkhwa’, the MQM-P has kept mum over the contentious issue with its chairman and federal Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui currently in New York with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to attend the UN General Assembly.

Although the PML-N did not need MQM-P votes to form the government at the Centre after the Feb 8 general elections, it requires the support of MQM-P’s 22 MNAs and three senators to get two-thirds majority in both houses of parliament.

‘Taken-for-granted’ MQM-P earns ire of voters for failing to negotiate a better deal over constitutional amendment package

However, the little importance the PML-N had given to its junior coalition partner over its proposed constitutional amendment package has strengthened the widely held belief that the ruling party as well as the PPP know that the Karachi-based organisation is being “managed” by powerful quarters and they don’t need to make any concession for the votes of MQM-P parliamentarians to get a two-thirds majority.

Conversations with several current and former MQM leaders revealed that the PML-N had intentionally ignored the MQM-P and did not take it into confidence about their constitutional amendment package.

It was only a few hours before the proposed bill was to be tabled in parliament on Sept 15 that it had sent Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar to meet the MQM-P parliamentarians to save the party from further embarrassment.

They say that the MQM-P leadership might have tolerated the PML-N’s cold shoulder, but the high-profile treatment JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman received publicly from the ruling party and the PPP made things even more difficult for them.

The MQM-P leadership began facing intense criticism from both within and outside the party on the night between September 14 and 15, which only intensified as party members questioned the decision to unconditionally support the PML-N without securing any benefits for their constituents.

Realising the resentment within the party, senior MQM-P leader Dr Farooq Sattar openly complained on the floor of the National Assembly that his party was being “taken for granted” by the PML-N. He said that the PML-N had sent a delegation to meet MQM-P lawmakers “only after the MQM-P pointed out the neglect”.

A video clip of Dr Sattar’s NA speech quickly went viral on social media, sparking a flurry of memes and queries from users who tagged party leaders and asked them what benefits they had gained from backing the PML-N.

“It has become increasingly difficult for us to dispel a perception that certain quarters are controlling our every move,” a senior MQM-P leader said, adding: “The PML-N probably thinks the same that we are being managed.”

When asked if the powers that be were preventing the MQM-P from demanding a development package or something else for its voters from the PML-N, another senior leader replied in the negative, saying: “It seems it is not on their [leadership] priority list. They just want more ministries.”

“What Farooq Sattar said is the case,” says senior MQM-P leader Nasreen Jalil. “We realise that the PML-N and the PPP have the numbers to form the government…and because the MQM-P is unlikely to support the PTI, we have no option but to support the PML-N. Hence, we are being taken for granted.”

Former Sindh governor Dr Ishratul Ibad seems quite unhappy over the downfall of the party he was once closely associated with.

“What else to say if Dr Farooq Sattar himself said on the floor of the National Assembly that the PML-N is taking MQM-P for granted,” he says.

In his view, the root cause of this “cold shoulder” by the PML-N lies in the MQM-P’s desperation to join the government soon after the February 8 general elections. “They [PML-N] have seen how desperate they were, and now it seems they are treating them accordingly,” he says.

He believes that the MQM-P missed an opportunity to include a clause on empowered local government in the proposed constitutional package. “This would have enabled the MQM-P to tell its voters it fulfilled its election manifesto promise,” he told Dawn.

Dr Ibad, however, thinks the opportunity still exists since the ruling PML-N and the PPP are still seeking consensus on the package. “Unfortunately, I don’t see anyone in the MQM-P capable of seizing it,” he lamented.

Former convener of unified MQM Dr Nadeem Nusrat, who heads Washington-based Voice of Karachi group, was also critical of the MQM-P when he stated that Sardar Akhtar Mengal and Maulana Fazlur Rahman had achieved “a lot more with fewer seats than the MQM-P has done with over two dozen members in the National Assembly and the Senate”.

“I have been holding my criticism over the MQM-P’s persistent failures for a while, but the situation is now getting out of hand. The party has held ministerial positions in the last two governments and is again an ally of the current government. Despite this, it has failed to resolve even the fundamental issues of urban Sindh,” he states.

Regarding Dr Sattar’s “taken for granted” comment, he said that the MQM-P was an ally of the federal government and held a ministry in the cabinet.

“Their leadership must raise these issues with the prime minister. If the government continues to ignore their demands, the least honourable thing the party can do is to quit the government. I remember some of their statements insinuating about parting ways with the government. I think it is about time to give that idea serious consideration.”

While PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has taken ownership of the constitutional amendment package, apparently the MQM-P is ready to lend its support without seeking much political concessions.

“Both the PML-N and the PPP have no objection to the constitutional amendments being done. For various reasons, MQM-P is not in a position to oppose these amendments,” former MQM deputy convener Nasir Jamal notes.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2024