KARACHI: In a speech marked by a discernible reduction of bellicosity, Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain said on Wednesday that the Army and the Rangers be deployed in Karachi on a full-time basis to stop it from frequently descending into violence. Mr Hussain set alarm bells ringing late on Tuesday night when he asked the beleaguered people of Karachi — where more than 300 people were killed last month alone — to stock up on ration for at least a month. He said the people must do that even if they had to sell valuables. That the major portion of the Wednesday speech by the MQM chief was in English indicated that he sought to address the international audience in addition to his party’s senior leaders and general workers at the Lal Qila ground in Azizabad. This impression was strengthened by a statement issued by British Foreign Office Minister for South Asia Alistair Burt after speaking to Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad over the phone. Mr Burt expressed his concern “at the continuing violence and loss of life that Karachi has faced in recent weeks”. He said: “I warned that inflammatory statements from any political party risked making the situation worse and that all political leaders and their parties have a duty to refrain from inciting violence and to reduce tensions and restore calm. “Our Deputy High Commissioner in Karachi, Francis Campbell, has met representatives of all main political parties in Karachi to encourage them to work towards stability in Karachi and the wider region. I have asked my officials to reiterate these points directly with the leadership of the MQM and to discuss our concerns.” REFERENCE: Altaf wants army to quell violence By Mukhtar Alam | From the Newspaper August 4, 2011 http://www.dawn.com/2011/08/04/altaf-wants-army-to-quell-violence.html Blood borders How a better Middle East would look By Ralph Peters http://www.armedforcesjournal.com/2006/06/1833899 
A superpower is a state with a dominant position in the international system which has the ability to influence events and its own interests and project power on a worldwide scale to protect those interests. A superpower is traditionally considered to be a step higher than a great power. Alice Lyman Miller (Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School), defines a superpower as "a country that has the capacity to project dominating power and influence anywhere in the world, and sometimes, in more than one region of the globe at a time, and so may plausibly attain the status of global hegemony." It was a term first applied in 1944 to the British Empire, the Soviet Union and the United States of America. Following World War II, as the British Empire transformed itself into the Commonwealth and its territories became independent, the Soviet Union and the United States generally came to be regarded as the only two superpowers, and confronted each other in the Cold War. REFERENCE: Superpower http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superpower#cite_note-stanford-0 China an Emerging Superpower?By Lyman Miller http://www.stanford.edu/group/sjir/6.1.03_miller.html
LONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Chief Altaf Hussain has said that international powers were hatching conspiracy for the division of Pakistan, Geo News reported. Addressing an emergency meeting of Rabita Committee in London and Karachi, MQM Chief said that whatever being done in Karachi is a conspiracy against the integrity of Pakistan. Altaf said that he would accept martyrdom but never compromise on his ideology and mission. He asked the party activists to chalk out future plan under his teachings if former would have been killed. He told that they know everything about the game being played against them. Altaf further said that Urdu speaking people could not be made slaves forcibly, adding that they are peace loving people and want to live in the same. REFERENCE: International powers conspiring to divide Pakistan: Altaf Updated 9 hours ago http://www.thenews.com.pk/NewsDetail.aspx?ID=22385&title=International-powers-conspiring-to-divide-Pakistan:-Altaf
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Friday, September 09, 2011, Shawwal ul Mukarram 10, 1432 A.H
http://jang.com.pk/jang/sep2011-daily/09-09-2011/u81210.htm Updated at: 0400 |
Aaj Ki Khabar with Absaar Alam - 7th sep 2011 part1
URL: http://youtu.be/qd0MZQ_hnf0
First the almost deafening silence, that smacked of an intent to shy away from the maverick Zulfiqar Mirza’s litany of accusations most damning. Perhaps for the first time in a long time, the MQM’s pugnacious top brass that is usually so fast on the draw (no pun intended) considered that not getting into the fray was the better part of valour, allowing Mirza’s diatribe to fade away in the public eye. That was not to happen. There was a timid beating-about-the-bush kind of response post-Eid by Faisal Sabzwari, but with the bit between his teeth, Mirza would not be deterred to let go. He had stirred up a storm and the electronic media was lapping it up, and drawing from his enormous cache of documentary evidence, the MirzaLeaks continued unabated, painting the MQM as a treasonous, fascist party that harboured murderers and torturers and which thrived on killing and crime. The media focus was sharp and repetitive, and the Mirza indefatigable. Thus after nine days of most eerie quiet, came Mustafa Kamal’s ineloquent, abrasive bombast that was not just rambling but conveniently selective in answering back Mirza’s specific allegations. It was mostly a set of denials which rang hollow, especially the one that revolved around the alleged letter that the MQM’s London-based, British citizen chief had written in 2001, immediately post-9/11, to his Prime Minister Tony Blair, citing the party’s secular stance and credentials and offering a set of services, including bringing Karachi to grinding halt and providing human intelligence in the war on terror, with the quid pro quo that the ISI be defanged to prompt ‘the rise of future Osamas’. Dubbing the letter a fake, one of Mustafa Kamal’s major planks was that Benazir Bhutto had written a similar one to US Senator Peter Galbraith (whom he could not even correctly name) after her government was removed in 1990. The only problem was that Benazir had never denied that the missive was not hers. On substantive allegations, Mustafa Kamal was conspicuously silent. These include the antecedents of the notorious Kamran Madhuri (the man must be comfortable in his masculinity to carry off a moniker like that), its involvement in the murder of Geo TV’s reporter Wali Khan Babar and the little matter of extortion and allied antics. But he did sing the famous MQM theme song when in a tight corner, the sob story of the Mohajirs being victimised, followed by the blatant threat that their ‘silence’ not be construed as ‘weakness’, and singling out the media for its ire. The use of the ‘M’ word, and the ethnic reference, was so frequent that it made one question whether the change of nomenclature to ‘Muttahida’ was now defunct. Regardless of Zulfiqar Mirza’s motives – whether he did it on his friend and mentor’s bidding or, miffed at his sacking, on his own – the MQM’s predicament is that a wide swathe of the people believe him. Mirza would not have been able to strike such a chord with the citizens across the country, especially in his native Sindh, had the MQM not been what it is. Now there may be other, similarly ruthless actors reacting to the MQM’s tactics in the same coin, posing a threat to its hegemony on Karachi. Such tactics may be immoral, but what chance of survival would they have in front of the MQM’s resolute pursuit of total control, denying every other entity its rightful representation in constituencies that it considers its realm? And what chance of fair elections where every political party is allowed to contest without the threat of being shadowed by the MQM’s sector commanders (why would a political party with middle class pretensions and boasts of Ganga-Jamuna cultural background, need such a formidable militia?). The MQM may fret and fume, they may shout themselves hoarse, protesting their innocence but it would be to no avail: its image has received an irreversible dent not only because of the present allegations by Mirza, but because of their none-too-angelic past. This, by the way, is well-known to all, and the MQM has only itself to blame. Though it was good, thoroughly entertaining theatre with mayhem restricted to the small screen, but with none-too-focused an investigation into the allegations, this latest spat too may still come to naught. What Mirza has revealed after all was mostly from the official record, actually sitting there for some while, and no one was indeed in a hurry to indict anyone. This is not likely to change. The powers-that-be are said to be ‘concerned’, the Supreme Court is in Karachi and the Rangers have been unleashed to take on ‘the killers and the extortionists without discrimination’. The status quo may yet prevail – and almost every which way. In a spot now, the MQM may wriggle out by walking back into the PPP’s tight embrace – again to depart and draw its pound of flesh when the noose is slightly loosened. The ANP too apparently stands placated by the MQM’s expressions of brotherly coexistence. The PPP is none too badly off either. It’d be bolstered by the weight of MQM’s votes in the coalition, hoping it would get past March and the Senate elections on a happy and victorious note. And also whether fake or real, Mirza’s tirade has brought another windfall for the PPP: the bristling Sindhi sentiment has been soothed, bumping off Nawaz Sharif’s ambition of aligning with the nationalists there to dent PPP. The irony is that, if at all, the game changer may yet come from abroad, from England where Scotland Yard is said to be close to resolving Dr Imran Farooq’s mysterious murder. By the way, another allegation that Mirza had left at the MQM and its supremo’s door. REFERENCE: And mayhem ensued…By:Agha Akbar Friday, 9 Sep 2011 3:26 pm http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/?p=119685 http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2011/09/and-mayhem-ensued%E2%80%A6/
ISLAMABAD: Former Sindh minister Dr Zulfikar Mirza burst against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement last month but the issues had been pinching the ruling party hardliners for almost two years, reveals WikiLeaks. A secret cable sent by then US consul general Stephen G. Fakan in Karachi to Washington through its Islamabad Embassy on February 9, 2010, shows that both the Pakistan People’s Party and the MQM had constantly been discussing the contentious issues of the local government system in Sindh and the law and order situation in Karachi with the Americans for two years. According to the cable titled “MQM and PPP spar over law and order, local governance”, the members of the two parties have been blaming each other for the continued violence in Karachi during their separate conversations with the US diplomats. Moreover, it shows the Americans believe that “the terrorist attack in Karachi on Ashura and several recent periods of elevated target killings in the city have been the backdrop to the debate on the future of local governance in Sindh”. The cable reveals that three PPP provincial ministers – Agha Siraj Durrani, Pir Mazharul Haq and Zulfikar Mirza (the then provincial home minister) – had been in constant contact with the US diplomats over the issues of law and order in Karachi and local government system. According to the cable, Mr Mirza had once told the Americans that the PPP was ready to accept the MQM’s demand to retain the Nazim-based system introduced by Gen Pervez Musharraf. “In November 2009, Sindh Home Minister Mirza told CG Fakan, that to keep the national and provincial coalitions together the PPP would compromise, agreeing to retention of the current system with some amendments,” says the cable. The cable quotes Sindh Minister for Local Bodies Agha Siraj Durrani as having told the Americans that “the MQM wants elections under the present Nazims and will agree to administrator-appointment only if elections are held within 90 days. If elections are not held, the system reverts back, and the original Nazims resume office”. On the other hand, then MQM minister for youth affairs Faisal Sabzwari reiterated that the party would only concede with such assurances, noting that reverting back to the 1979 commissioner system would create unspecified “serious issues” between the parties. Whereas Mr Durrani told the US diplomat that the PPP believed that the elections under the Nazims would not be fair and free because most Nazims of the 23 districts of Sindh were “hostile to the PPP” and the deadlock awaited decision by President Zardari as “it appears to be futile to hold any further meetings with MQM”. Mr Durrani said the “MQM’s intransigence kept them from negotiating at the lengthy prior meetings and that the party brings fresh demands at every meeting and goes back on whatever was agreed upon during the last one in an attempt to maintain their hold over Sindh”. The PPP also requested an MQM list of people whom it trusted to be appointed as administrators. The only issue agreed to in the January 13 meeting was that a report about the discussions, agreements and disagreements would be prepared for Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Governor Ishratul Ibad, updating them of progress at each meeting. Showing distrust in the MQM, senior minister and a leading member of the PPP-MQM core committee Pir Mazharul Haq also said the PPP “wanted documentation of everything discussed in the core meetings as MQM changes its stance every time (we) meet”. The agreement between the PPP and the MQM in January last year over the appointment of caretaker administrators in place of Nazims had surprised the US which is evident from the cable which says: “In an unexpected development on January 16, both parties agreed to appoint caretaker administrators – but again without a formal mechanism to execute that decision.” “Coalition partners (MQM and PPP, with the ANP on the periphery) have yet to agree on a path forward, instead seeking extensive amendments to the existing governance system and working to diminish the other party’s strength in Karachi and across the province,” it says. “This violence pits the MQM against the PPP on law and order – Karachi Nazim Mustafa Kamal versus Sindh Home Minister Zulfikar Mirza, each blaming the other for not suppressing the onslaught,” says the cable. Through the same cable, the US consul general informed his bosses about the February 2 proceedings of the Sindh Assembly when Dr Zulfiqar Mirza in a “fiery speech” blamed the MQM for Karachi’s target killings prompting the latter to stage a walkout and hold a news conference. “Local Government Minister Agha Siraj Durrani also reprimanded the Karachi Nazim for interfering in the provincial government, claiming that Kamal was suffering from mental imbalances,” says the cable, adding: “As a result, the tension moved into the streets resulting in the killings of 11 members of the PPP, MQM and ANP.” That evening, the Sindh Governor (Mr Ibad) called CG Fakan asking him to help settle everyone down and to urge the parties to continue negotiations,” it says. Later, calls between President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and MQM chief Altaf Hussain brought assurances from the top that the two parties remained committed to the coalition. But taking nothing to chance, Interior Minister Malik was dispatched to Karachi on February 3, to return all parties back to the negotiating table. In a February 4 meeting, the MQM assured Mr Fakan that they would take the high road, but noted that the PPP and Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza remained “quite rigid in negotiations”. The Karachi Nazim and the deputy Nazim discussed resolution details in vague language that leaves several outcomes open – elections would be held either within 90 or 120 days or not held entirely in the event of “unforeseen events” (for the law and order situation). The prevailing opinion in the PPP remained that these clauses provided the MQM with incentive to create and maintain continued unrest and violence in Karachi for the stipulated 90 days, preventing party-based elections in order to revert to their certain control through the original Nazims. However, the MQM contacts worry that, even in the absence of “unforeseen events”, the PPP will not hold elections at all. In his comments, the US consul general said: “Karachi is in a vicious cycle where both parties may have reason to affect unforeseen events, negotiate again and come to the same impasse in a few weeks or months.” “The two parties numerically need each other, but that does not mean that have to like each other, or even get along,” the CG commented. Through another cable, the US consul general not only informed Washington about appointments of Lala Fazlur Rehman as administrator for Karachi in place of Nazim Mustafa Kamal and that of Mohammad Altaf Katri as administrator in Hyderabad replacing Kanwar Naveed Jamil of the MQM. The secret cable shows that Mustafa Kamal had already predicted before the US diplomats that Lala Fazlur Rehman would replace him in Karachi. “Ex-Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal’s prediction was correct as DCO Rehman will take over Kamal’s old office until the elections. Despite his party affiliation, and being ethnically Pathan, Rehman has worked closely with leaders of both PPP and MQM and presents a suitable leadership compromise for both leading parties,” says the cable. Later, Sindh Home Secretary Arif Khan also met the Consul General Fakan and offered insight into this choice. “Despite calling him a falling down drunk, Khan firmly stated that Rehman was the best candidate for the job and asserted that when he is charged with a serious responsibility, Rehman breaks the bottle and will show restraint,” the cable says. “In an interesting aside, according to Khan, the administrator candidacy discussion went all the way up to Zardari who also questioned Rehman’s capabilities due to the excessive drinking”, Mr Fakan said in the message. REFERENCE: Issues with MQM pinching PPP for 2 years: WikiLeaks By Amir Wasim | From the Newspaper September 5, 2011 (4 days ago) http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/05/issues-with-mqm-pinching-ppp-for-2-years-wikileaks.html
Aaj Ki Khabar with Absaar Alam - 7th sep 2011 part2
URL: http://youtu.be/HRkQwJnxvYo
LAHORE: Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s (MQM) second attempt to stop former Sindh home minister Zulfiqar Mirza from pushing the party further into the dock using a torrent of documented allegations has proved counter-productive since the war of words the party chose to resort to on Tuesday has opened more fronts for attack than closing them down. Bringing forth another pawn from party ranks forward in the shape of former Karachi nazim Mustafa Kamal, the MQM apparently intends to browbeat the erstwhile-tamed media into submission by flexing its muscles. Musfata Kamal sounded quite agitated when he said, without mincing words, that the party had remained silent for a week or so to gauge the behaviour of the media following Zulfiqar Mirza’s outburst and termed the media as biased and hostile towards the MQM. He claimed that the media had been portraying the MQM and its leadership, particularly Altaf Hussain, as a villain and Zulfiqar Mirza as a hero. Is the alleged hostility of the media towards the MQM another loss to the party in consequence of Zulfiqar Mirza’s unique outburst? The ‘unmasking’ of the party for the first time and the falling of the curtain it erected with the help of successive military establishments over its three decades of violent existence is better left to be judged by the people than the party itself. The media coverage of the MQM, till late, was being manouvered by the party through acts better befitting the Italian Cosa Nostra. Concealed threats, arm-twisting and a carrot-and-stick approach were amongst the methods being used to force the media into silence. The vernacular press and the English language press have remained a target since the party laid its claim on the economic hub of the country, initially on an ethnic and linguistic basis, a fact the party renounced with changing political realities. A renewed threat to the media in general in the form of MQM’s exiled chief Altaf Hussain’s new chum, Mustafa Kamal, appeared to be an exercise in futility in the prevailing circumstances. Mustafa Kamal has hurled a thinly veiled warning at the media at the wrong time, though it is well in keeping with the party’s past behaviour when it had complete political control of the country’s main port city. Mustafa Kamal failed to address the issue of journalist Wali Babar’s murder, a reason for media bodies to jump in the fray that has engulfed all and sundry. Political control of Karachi has been a bone of contention between old and emerging political powers in the city and the recently staged unruly and grisly wave of target killing has its roots largely in the machinations of the MQM, which has apparently devised a fascist policy that would make Hitler proud to stay in total control of the city. No political party in the country has ever permitted its workers or constituents in the areas of its control to defile the walls with slogans such as “Quaid ka jo Ghadar hai…who maut ka haqdar hai.” Such things, apparently, do not apply to the MQM. The journalist fraternity has witnessed the highhandedness of the MQM and, on many occasions, was forced to kowtow the line, which is a fact that can been verified from all those who had even a remote association with the community’s trade union body, the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists. The murky political horizon of Karachi will not be cleared unless a level playing field is provided to all political players, something the MQM avoids like the plague, as well as the creation of a media coverage which is not as coerced as has been the case since the MQM gained power. The return of the city to its former days of relative glory is possible only if the wavering electronic media is allowed to become responsible and the independent media allowed to thrive in a political atmosphere where the different ethnic and linguistic stakeholders of the city are allowed to coexist in harmony. REFERENCE: The conundrum of the media in ‘MQM’s Karachi’ By Muhammad Akram Thursday, September 08, 2011 http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2011\09\08\story_8-9-2011_pg7_27
ISLAMABAD: Today Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) may be pondering long and hard over the reconciliatory gestures made by People’s Party but there was a time when it was keen to join the coalition led by the PPP, whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks has revealed. According to a secret cable sent to Washington by the then US Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne W. Patterson, parliamentary leader of MQM Dr Farooq Sattar commented to the then visiting US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher on March 28, 2008 (three days after the newly-elected National Assembly voted Yousuf Raza Gilani as the prime minister) that in 2002 too his party wanted to work with the PPP. However, the MQM was forced to align with the PML-Q after the PPP spurned its “advances”. Dr Sattar said his party was again eager to work with the PPP. But the PPP was not serious about taking the MQM on board, he regretted, accusing PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif of leading PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari up the garden path, according to the cable classified by the then deputy chief of mission in Islamabad, Peter W. Bodde. Mr Sattar described the “marginalisation” of religio-political parties as the best outcome of the 2008 general election but thought that the conservative religious vote was “camouflaged” and went to the PML-N because of Nawaz Sharif’s alleged connections with slain Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and other extremists. The MQM leader expressed concerns that Mr Sharif was attempting to take the PPP down that road too. MNA Haider Abbas Rizvi and Sindh Assembly member Sardar Ahmed were part of the MQM delegation. “(Mr) Sattar commented that PPP co-chair Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif make strange bedfellows. (Mr) Sattar believes (Nawaz) Sharif wants to force elections in a year, so that he can become prime minister,” says the cable, adding: “The PPP could have formed a government without Nawaz (Sharif), (Mr) Sattar commented, but the Nawaz’s party succeeded in isolating the PPP by preventing the MQM from joining the new government.” The cable quoted Mr Sattar as saying that the MQM had been ordered by party chief Altaf Hussein to respect the PPP mandate. “However, (Mr) Sattar worries the PPP is not serious about taking them on board as partners,” it says. The cable reveals that the MQM had voted for Mr Gilani in the election of prime minister on its own and without any give-and-take with the PPP. “Its last minute decision to vote for PPP Prime Minister Gilani was a gesture of good faith,” the cable quotes Dr Sattar as telling Mr Boucher. Mr Sattar stressed that even if the MQM remained in the opposition, it would be a constructive and positive opposition party and would support the PPP as long as it moved Pakistan in a positive direction and that “his party intends to vote issue-by-issue”. “(Mr) Sattar explained that the MQM was attempting to distance itself from its violent reputation of the 1990s as it now hopes to be considered a legitimate and serious political party. He asked for support in addressing allegations by the US government that the MQM was a terrorist organisation,” says the cable. The MQM leader told Mr Boucher that the party had sponsored fundraising campaigns for the victims of Hurricane Katrina and the Southeast Asia tsunami and helped Nato bring relief goods to the Pakistani earthquake victims in 2005. “The MQM was the only party in Pakistan to hold a solidarity rally for the victims of September 11,” Mr Sattar said. REFERENCE: MQM voted for Gilani without deal with PPP: WikiLeaks By Amir Wasim | From the Newspaper Yesterday http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/08/mqm-voted-for-gilani-without-deal-with-ppp-wikileaks.html
Aaj Ki Khabar with Absaar Alam - 7th sep 2011 part3
URL: http://youtu.be/wUiHhbNWJzA
Zulfiqar Mirza's anti-MQM Quran-swearing drama last week was both unexpected and mesmerizing. But Mustafa Kamal's belated retort this week was a damp squib. Mirza's lips curled spitefully and his mouth spat venom. But Kamal couldn't decide whether to parry with his heart or thrust with his mind. In one breath, Mirza attacked the MQM as a "terrorist party" and Altaf Hussain as its "deranged anti-Pakistan leader". But Kamal threw away the game by blowing hot against Mirza and cold against the PPP and Asif Zardari. Mirza was playing on the national, regional, religious and ethnic support of the PMLN and ANP, and sympathies of the JI, JUI and PTI. But Kamal was reduced to hurling threats about the unspoken consequences of pushing the "muhajirs" to the wall. Mirza emboldened the media to weigh in with its own fears about the MQM and won it over to his side. But Kamal couldn't hide his anger against the media's "pseudo-intellectuals and Yahjooj Mahjooj". In the event, Mirza was totally believable while Kamal lacked any credibility at all. Kamal should have ignored Altaf Hussain's purported letter to Tony Blair shortly after 9/11. But he chose to prove it was a fake because the MQM's London office is in Edgware and not Colindale (as noted on it) and insisted that the two locations were as far apart as earth and sky. A Tube Map of London put paid to that - the two stations are two stops and five minutes apart on the Northern Line. A quick visit to the official MQM website reveals a statement by Altaf Hussain in October 2000 bearing the Colindale address. Kamal also couldn't make up his mind whether to disclaim the first part of the letter wherein the MQM is offering its services to the international community or to claim credit in the second part for the fair and just political demands it is making on its erstwhile friends. And removing the letter from their official website, as the MQM has now done, won't help. Kamal erred by constantly warning the media and the MQM's political foes "not to push the Muhajirs against the wall". There was such a veiled menace in his threat that one was instantly reminded of all the conspiracy theories alleging its secret US-backed Jinnahpur agenda. The Muhajir card ill-serves the Muttahida's long-term mission statement to become a national multi-ethnic party with roots in the other provinces. Indeed, its manifesto emphasizes its middle-class values and anti-feudal sentiments rather than its historical migratory baggage. Kamal ignored several key allegations made by Mirza. He did not deny that Mrs Nasreen Jalil had written letters to various foreign ambassadors in Islamabad protesting MQM's innocence and exhorting the international community to side with the "Muhajirs" of Pakistan. He did not deny the allegation of an MQM hand in the coldblooded murder of Wali Babar of Geo/Jang Group. He did not defend the CPLC chairman, Ahmad Chinoy, whose Khidmat e Khalq Foundation is accused of allowing its ambulance-vans to transport dead victims of MQM terrorism as well as arms and ammunitions for MQM cadres and mafias. He did not rise to the defense of "Ishtiaq Policewala" who is alleged to be a ruthless target killer on behalf of the MQM. And so on. Zulfiqar Mirza, meanwhile, is continuing to shoot his mouth off, thereby risking putting his foot in it. The "Quran drama" cannot consciously be revisited again and again as a political ploy without putting people off. Nor is it wise to thump one's chest and proclaim one's great feudal land-holding antecedents in an increasingly urban and alienated middle-class national environment. Certainly, most Pakistanis are likely to empathize with Kamal for his humble origins as a telephone operator at 90 Azizabad in Karachi who rose to become a good and effective mayor of the teeming and complex city of Karachi than a crony of Mr 10 Per Cent! Of course, it is only a matter of time before he is forgiven by Mr Zardari for his sins and welcomed back into the party as an honourable and brave fellow Sindhi. The MQM has been unprecedentedly weakened by its recent political somersaults. It can't run with the PPP and hunt with its opponents. It cannot call for a national anti-feudal revolution one day and reassert its "mohajirism" the next. Nor can the MQM sustain its anti-media tirades and threats in this day and age of over 100 channels and 60 million viewers. It must come to terms with the fact that the demography of Karachi has changed significantly in the past twenty years and will not allow the MQM to claim a monopoly of power over the city. Therefore it would be wise on MQM's part to act swiftly and join the PPP government so that it is not caught in the crosshairs of Zulfiqar Mirza and the media. Most important, the MQM should play more than its part in restoring peace to Karachi since it now stands to lose the most from fomenting violence as political strategy. REFERENCE: MQM is finally outplayed - Zulfiqar Mirza's anti-MQM Quran-swearing drama last week was both unexpected and mesmerizing. But Mustafa Kamal's belated retort this week was a damp squib. Editorial By Najam Sethi TFT CURRENT ISSUE| Septempber 09-15, 2011 - Vol. XXIII, No. 30 http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=2011-09-09&page=1
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