May 19, 2007	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 02, 1428

LAHORE, May 18: Already struggling to make inroads into Punjab, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement has suffered a setback in expanding its organisation in the province after the May 12 Karachi violence.

The events unfolding since then and the general sentiment against the party have made it difficult for the MQM leadership to make a fresh attempt for a political foothold in Punjab in near future.

Rival political parties and alliances like the PPP, the PML-N, the MMA and the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf also understand that the MQM will not be able to establish its political presence in the province. They also believe that the Karachi carnage has confined the MQM to where it used to be in the past.

Their view is however rejected by Dr Farooq Sattar, deputy convener of MQM’s central coordination committee who is responsible for establishing the party in Punjab. He hopes that his party will bounce back to consolidate its foothold in the largest province.

“Yes, we face difficulties right now because the propaganda against us has been vociferous under a conspiracy. But we will frustrate these designs because party workers in Punjab understand the situation”, he said while talking to Dawn.

The MQM leader said the ‘conspiracy’ had been hatched at a time when the party was successfully sending its political message to the people of Punjab, NWFP, Balochistan and Azad Kashmir and its organisation was expanding. He said the party had decided to face all odds with courage and commitment to the national cause. “We have also decided to resume contacts with workers in Punjab within a few days and hope that misgivings will be removed”.

The MNA also reiterated party’s offer for an independent inquiry into the May 12 incidents. He particularly mentioned the invitation extended to ANP president Asfandyar Wali to supervise the inquiry so that reality came to surface.

However, other political parties rejected the MQM explanation and alleged it was involved in the bloody incidents.

Punjab MMA president Liaquat Baloch told Dawn that the MQM had tried ‘with the help’ of the regime to expand its organisation to the province but it never had a political base here. “It has been and continues to be an ethnic party; this is its real face which it exposed on May 12”, he said.

Punjab PML-N president Sirdar Zulfiquar Ali Khosa says that the MQM has no chance in the province like in the past. He said way the party “resorted to fascist tactics in bathing Karachi in blood reminded the people of its bitter past.”

Punjab PPP general secretary Ghulam Abbas says the MQM will only face disappointment in its efforts to make its political presence in the province felt. “The MQM has exposed its real face by poisoning the country’s political atmosphere in helping Gen Pervez Musharraf sending a message that repression will be the answer to peaceful political activity”, he added.

The MQM established last year an 18-member supervisory committee for the purpose of establishing its organisations in Punjab, NWFP, Balochistan and Azad Kashmir in an effort to demonstrate that it was a party having a national outlook and that its programme catered to the aspirations of the people of all the provinces.

The committee, headed by Dr Farooq Sattar at present, was able to penetrate in Punjab to establish its organisation in what it claims all the 35 districts. Besides, it was able to form allied wings in many districts.

A number of political parties resisted the MQM move in some districts but the opposition by the ruling PML was the most aggressive. Its office-holders physically stopped the MQM bodies and criminal cases were registered against the PML people in Sialkot for their resistance.

However, the reaction shown by the people of the province and different political parties after the May 12 carnage in Karachi has changed the situation altogether, jeopardizing the MQM expansion plan. Sentiments have been so high as to force advocate Tahir Naeem, the head of the MQM’s lawyers forum and legal aid committee, resign from the party the next day. Similar resignations by MQM activists have come from other parts of Punjab as well. Besides, the Multan district bar resolved to impose a ‘life ban’ on inviting MQM leaders to the bar and the Lahore District Bar Association has asked lawyers having political affiliation with the MQM to either leave the party or face expulsion from the bar.