OVER the past few days, there have been visible signs of flux within the MQM. On Wednesday, party chief Altaf Hussain, in an emotional speech to his workers gathered at the party headquarters in Karachi, announced the dissolution of the coordination committee, a key body within the party’s organisational structure.

Though the immediate reason behind the move was what the Muttahida head called the committee’s lack of response to the killing of a party activist in Punjab, Mr Hussain openly criticised committee members for other reasons as well. He lambasted their “corruption” and censured them for “selling streets and playgrounds” in Karachi. The internal shake-up seemed to be complete on Friday as new members of the committee were announced.

A similar scenario was witnessed a few months ago when Mr Hussain disbanded the Karachi Tanzeemi Committee, another powerful organ within the Muttahida’s administrative machinery. However, the party’s internal political rumblings have rendered it unable to perform on the governance front. It has joined, left and re-joined the Sindh government several times both during the current administration as well as the previous set-up, though it currently sits in the opposition.

During this period it has failed to serve as a robust opposition force, while during its time on the treasury benches with the PPP no major moves were made to improve governance. While it is true that the MQM’s strength lies in the now defunct local government — Karachi was significantly developed during Mustafa Kamal’s watch — the party is now failing to make its mark in the provincial legislature.

The Muttahida must realise that unless it sets its house in order, other parties will look to court its vote bank in Sindh. The PTI’s profile in the province seems to be rising, if the last two rallies are anything to go by. Last month, Imran Khan’s party staged a decent show in Larkana, while Friday’s shutdown and rally in Karachi indicate that the PTI is feeling increasingly confident on what the MQM considers its turf. While the PTI cannot at this juncture match the Muttahida’s organisational structure in Sindh, if the latter party fails to resolve its internal crises, things may change. After all, the PTI polled a respectable number of votes in last year’s elections on numerous Karachi seats that were considered MQM ‘territory’. The election numbers indicated changing voting trends in the metropolis. If it fails to focus on good governance, the Muttahida might find itself facing a serious political challenge in Sindh.

Published in Dawn December 14th , 2014