What exactly went down on November 8 and 9? How did things swing so suddenly?

I felt that my presence was not being acknowledged and my voice was not being heard. We [MQM-P and PSP] have been engaged in dialogue for the last few months. My personal vision is that the MQM vote bank should not be divided. In social gatherings and elsewhere, we were being encouraged to do so in the larger interests of the Mohajir community. We were also indirectly communicated the message that the missing activists, unjust raids and arrests, and the legal offices which had been sealed would all come to a close if we merged with the PSP. Given our realities, my worker was asking me what the point of dissociating with Altaf Hussain was if this was to be our fate.

But we were meeting the PSP to address their concerns and to pacify them, not to shut down the MQM and merge with them. I also believe that them leaving the MQM was the wrong move. Our final negotiations had been held at a neutral venue. I had reached an understanding with Anis Qaimkhani in one-on-one talks. Qaimkhani was insisting on an outright merger, but I proposed that we start with confidence-building measures and build some kind of working relationship, before entering into an electoral alliance. We could have retained both parties’ identity in the new alliance. But Mustafa Kamal tried to use the occasion for political point-scoring. Unfortunately he did not stick to the point and has now lost the opportunity for reconciliation.

My point is clear: the MQM is a force to be reckoned with and it is here to stay.

What are the organisational challenges that you are facing today?

The leadership is entangled in arrests, seeking bail, and court hearings. This means that we have not been able to regroup organisationally and focus on our workers. We haven’t been able to resume our process of political education and training. We have been unable to find ideological fodder for the organisation. The new APMSO is also struggling at the moment.

It is widely believed that the PSP carries in its ranks activists who can turn the game during elections. Can you counter such elements?

If this is the agenda, and if this is the mafia that is being created, then this is all pre-poll rigging. This is our grouse: that it is not a level political field and politics is being engineered. The census, for example, is a case of gerrymandering [manipulation of electoral boundaries]. Karachi is a politically fragile city. And if the MQM falls, the vacuum created will be exploited by the right-wing, not by the PSP. That is why unity is the need of the hour.

Can you shed the tag of violence associated with the MQM?

We have already stopped collecting zakaat, fitra or animal hides. These inevitably led to political conflict and that is not a course we want to adopt. Clean politics is what we are aiming for. Our agenda now revolves around peace, stability and development.

Why is the MQM-P returning to identity politics? Does it show a weakness that you are only “Mohajir representatives”? And is it possible to undo the inherent prejudice of other parties towards the MQM with such politics?

I’ve even told Mustafa Kamal ‘don’t forget your big realities’. Article 140-A, census and the quota system are all lived realities of our people. But there is a certain indifference and insensitivity about Karachi in the echelons of power. If you assess the Apex Committee in Sindh, how many members from urban Sindh found representation? Not many, I can assure you. This attitude has brought us to such a point, when we are unable to accept difference and live with each other.

And what of the Altaf factor?

August 22 was a defining moment for us. If you could stand then, then all and sundry would follow you. That is what I did, stand up for my people. You have to realise that charisma is one thing but the psyche and need of the people is an altogether different beast. Our need is for unity.

I know that there are many who are still loyal to Altaf Sahib. But I feel that wisdom will prevail at the end of the day. Those still looking to London will slowly but surely realise that in order to do politics, we have to start afresh and build again.

Published in Dawn, EOS, November 19th, 2017