Telling London heat

Published July 4, 2015
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

Karachi has been sizzling. London’s been simmering, with the highest temperature in a decade registering this week. But the heat some Karachi-origin political figures have been facing here appears unprecedented too.

The London plan, some say the brainchild of a Pakistani journalist based here, formed the rather spurious basis for the banning of the National Awami Party and the imprisonment of Pakhtun and Baloch leaders during the first government led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in the 1970s.

After the ouster of ZAB in 1977, London became the hub of political activities aimed at trying to save the ousted prime minister from the gallows and home to many, many exiles belonging to the Pakistan People’s Party.


Benazir Bhutto and other politicians may have lived in London while in exile before moving on. But Altaf Hussain hasn’t budged an inch.


Over the years, Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and innumerable other Pakistani politicians have made London their home whilst in exile, either forced or self-imposed. The iconic city by the Thames served as the host to the signing of the so-called Charter of Democracy by the PPP and PML-N leaders.

More recently, it was London which, if PTI leader Imran Khan’s and PAT chief Dr Tahirul Qadri’s opponents are to be believed, provided the backdrop to a plan to overthrow the civilian government in Islamabad via street protests, following which the dharna was staged in Pakistan’s capital.

Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Attaullah Mengal may have lived here while in exile before moving on, even returning home when they thought the circumstances permitted, but one of Pakistan’s politicians has been a permanent fixture here for over two decades.

Yes, MQM leader Altaf Hussain has not budged an inch after arriving here, after reportedly being shaken badly when he found a note bearing a ‘death threat’ in his personal chambers in his citadel of Azizabad in Karachi in the early 1990s. His alarm was understandable. His fortress had been breached and not without inside help.

Subsequently, he was granted asylum in the UK, along with a number of senior party figures, and on completion of the mandatory period given British citizenship. Pakistani public figures have always been wary of owning up to dual citizenship not just for the fear of falling foul of the electoral laws but also for concerns regarding the propriety of such a move.

But not Altaf Hussain. He proudly released a photograph of himself, of course donning his Ray Ban aviators and holding his British passport close to his chest to the press. And, like most MQM releases when its physical hold over Karachi was vice-like, I doubt there was a paper at home that dared ignore this milestone.

In the photograph, where one vividly recalls Mr Hussain smiling a big smile, he seemed to be chiding his foes back at home with a ‘come and get me now if you can’ message. Over the years, his party’s militant policies may have incurred the wrath of the authorities at home and paid a heavy price in life and liberty but the leader stayed safe and secure in his north London home.

His grip over the party may have waned somewhat as a new generation of activists and officials replaced the older one but his charisma for his supporters and his histrionic abilities often on display during his telephone addresses to party loyalists, meant that for the MQM mainstream his magic was as irresistible as the Pied Piper’s was to those who followed his tune.

Who knows if it was this long period in exile in safety and a well-funded existence which made the MQM leader and/or his key lieutenants careless or was it just their usual, default style of politics that mistakes were committed?

But there can be no doubt mistakes were made. Over the coming months, the extent to which these mistakes cost the party leadership will determine how grave these were. The police investigation so far into two cases appears to be making headway.

One was the murder in London of one of the party’s founding leaders Dr Imran Farooq, who had developed fundamental differences with Altaf Hussain, and the other the discovery of a huge amount of cash from the latter’s residence in a Met (Metropolitan Police) raid.

Perhaps, many in Pakistan would argue what’s the big deal if the leader of one of the most powerful parties in the country is found with a stash of cash not much bigger than what a lesser mortal, a mere model, was trying to carry abroad in her hand luggage recently.

But since 9/11 concerns regarding terror funding mean any unexplained pile of cash, and half a million pounds is seen here as a massive amount, recovered from any individual is a serious matter. Insufficient explanation will lead the police to believe the funds are the ‘proceeds of crime’.

Murder on UK soil is seen as an even more serious crime. As the UK police conclude their investigation, they will put their case files up to the Crown Prosecution Service. It’ll be the CPS’s call to ascertain whether there is sufficient evidence for a case to be tried in court. Although nobody would speak on record, there are suggestions that a sufficient body of evidence exists for a trial.

As recent leaked details of the police interviews of some of the suspects in the money-laundering case suggest, there is an individual (or two) prepared to talk to the media to save their own skin. Those who may have ordered the ‘hit’ on Dr Imran Farooq would be hoping a similar chink is not found in some of those being ‘interviewed’ in that investigation.

God knows what might transpire if a chink is actually found.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

abbas.nasir@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2015

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