MQM will always oppose Feudalism, says MQM Convener
Understanding between Gen. Musharraf, Benazir mainly attributed to extremism

Qudsia Kadri & Aamir Hassan
26-10-07

Getting off the train at Edgeware UK and waiting to be picked at the station by someone from the MQM Secretariat in London, I expected to walk into an expensive building with extravagant furniture and a lot of pomp and show. But I was indeed pleasantly taken aback when an extremely polite young gentleman called Qasim Raza picked me up and drove us to an apartment building. As we walked up the stairs to enter the secretariat, I was greeted by the young staff who all stood up to acknowledge me and I was seated in the conference room. Looking around the rather old and basic furniture, the wooden shelf with books, the small TV set, I did wonder as to why many of us believed that the working set up of the MQM leaders and workers in the UK would be grandeur personified.
Meeting and talking to Dr. Imran Farooq was not difficult at all and I was once again taken aback that when we put questions to him which were blunt and direct, and at one point I felt perhaps I had gone overboard when I referred to them as a fascist party. But as Imran Farooq took it all in his stride, we found him to be intelligent, polite, down-to-earth and totally non-aggressive in his speech and gestures. The fleeting thought which came to mind was that many of the party's lieutenants and leaders in Pakistan had a great deal of work to do as far as their aggressive posture was concerned. They have much to learn and emulate from persons and leaders such as Dr. Imran Farooq.
During the interview, Convener of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Dr. Imran Farooq said that the understanding reached between Benazir Bhutto and Gen. Pervez Musharraf could mainly be attributed to the rising menace of extremism. The understanding has wholeheartedly been welcomed by MQM but they believe that this reconciliation should be broadened further.
He recalled that extremism, which has rapidly risen, started off in 1979, when Pakistan supported Afghanistan in its war against Soviet Union. This was the time when a number of militant organizations and extremist groups were born to deal with the Soviet troops, which was a short term solution as when the war between Afghanistan and Soviet Union came to an end, these Jihadi organizations and extremists, who had nothing left to do, proved to be a threat for Pakistan as they entered our country and society and never left the territory of Pakistan.
Convener MQM said, "Initially, MQM did not support Gen. Pervez Musharraf and we boycotted the local bodies' election as we were of the opinion that an army general has no right to conduct local bodies' elections."
"After the tragic incident of 9/11, when Gen. Musharraf was faced with tremendous pressure from the west and he decided to strictly deal with extremism, we extended our full support to him as extremism was posing a threat to Pakistan's prosperity and we felt it was the right decision", he added.
To a query regarding coalition between MQM and PPP, Dr. Imran Farooq said, "It is too early to talk about coalition between MQM and PPP but when this stage comes, negotiations would certainly be held with PPP. We will try not to repeat those things that happened in the past between the two dominant parties of Sindh but that not only depends on us but on PPP as well and we hope that they have learnt a lesson from the past."
To a question regarding prolonged conflict between MQM and Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Dr. Imran Farooq said, "As far as Jamaat-e-Islami is concerned, MQM disagrees with their viewpoint and political agenda as this is contrary to MQM's agenda. However, conflicts and disagreements amongst political parties is a natural phenomena around the world but there is a solution to resolve MQM and JI conflict and it must only be through peaceful negotiations.
He said that despite being victimized from time to time, MQM never tried to victimize anyone during the past five years, when MQM has remained in the political set up as a ruling party. MQM only disagrees with JI and other political parties, when they go out on strikes every day or take out frequent rallies, which does not happen anywhere across the globe. Unfortunately, we in Pakistan always end up destroying our own assets and properties.
He was of the opinion that Pakistan was going through a very critical stage as the situation in the northern areas has gone out of control. The country is in a very fragile state and not only JI but all other parties must get united and forget their political conflicts to pull Pakistan out of this crucial stage.
To a query regarding difficulties faced by MQM leadership in having access to in-depth information on party's activities in Pakistan as the leadership has remained outside the country during the past 15 years, Dr. Imran Farooq said they are well aware of this issue and face many problems from time to time as it is not an easy task to control every thing being 8,000 miles away from Pakistan. However, the MQM leadership tries its best to ensure that no party worker misuses his/ her authority by enhancing its interaction at the grass root level.
To become well aware of the facts and ground reality is an extremely important thing for MQM leadership in order to take the right and timely decision, he said, adding that they take feedback from various MQM's unit in-charges, party workers and general public via telephones at MQM's Secretariat in London, where party workers take complaints 24-hours everyday for perusal.
Responding to these feedbacks and complaints, Dr. Imran Farooq pointed out that MQM has removed many elected representatives of the party, who were found guilty of corruption or have failed to come up to the expectations of the general public.
He said that MQM is the only party in the political scenario of Pakistan that has taken such a bold step of removing an elected representative on the complaints of the common man and the voters of the party.
To a question on MQM maintaining party's agenda since its inception in 80s, Dr. Imran Farooq was pretty much convinced that they have succeeded in maintaining the status of MQM.
He said, "Despite so many hurdles from time to time, we continued our battle and fought for the rights of the common man by participating in general elections since early 90s. The party has started gaining popularity in many areas throughout Pakistan which can be gauged from the fact that MQM is now represented in each and every district of Sindh while 33 unit offices have also been established in Punjab that depicts MQM's rising mandate in Pakistan."
"There was a time when we were disallowed to undertake any election campaign in the province of Punjab during the elections of 1993 and 1997 but not any more as our Party workers are now striving hard at MQM's unit offices in Punjab and we have started gaining popularity in the Punjab region", he added.
Convener MQM further stated that his party has gained popularity amongst masses due to its basic philosophy i.e. "Every citizen is Equal". "Even if an individual from the elite class joins MQM, we urge him to follow this philosophy and treat everyone equally without any discrimination", he added.
To a query regarding lack of expertise and intellectual wisdom, Dr. Imran Farooq admitted that the party was currently lacking intellectual minds and the basic reason behind this shortage was that MQM always suffered a number of propagandas from time to time. "Besides these propagandas, we also remained under federal operations since early 90s, which didn't give us time to address this issue, however, now as things have improved, we are focusing on equipping the MQM with persons with a vision, a vision to be able to formulate a strategy on the country's economic and social problems which will help to integrate and broaden the party's ambit.
Criticizing the Feudalistic set-up in Pakistan, he stated that this was the root cause behind Pakistan's slow economic development as compared to India. Feudal system, which has always been supported by various governments, badly affects our cultural and economic development.
"We are not against feudals but against feudalism as they, the Feudals, also have the right to live but don't have the right to breach the rule of law or undermine the poor segment of society. Due to a feudalistic mind set in almost all walks of life, the people have started inheriting feudalistic approach, which has resulted in lawlessness", he noted.
"It is because of this feudalistic approach that a rich man always escapes after breaching the law while the poor class receives all types of punishments. We will continue our fight against feudalism so that we can provide a society where everyone is treated equally under the rule of law as this is the only way to attain supremacy of law in Pakistan", he stated.
To a query on corruption, he said that corruption has invaded Pakistan's roots, which cannot be eradicated over night as this is being nurtured by feudalism, which persists in our political set up. In order to efficiently deal with the menace of corruption, the government must initially start its campaign from the upper side by identifying those elements who are involved in misappropriation of billions of rupees. It is very easy to apprehend a constable on charge of corruption but the real challenge is to catch the big fishes involved in massive corruption.
"At MQM, we always keep a vigil eye on MQM's elected representatives to ensure that nobody gets involved in corrupt practices and act sternly against those who are found guilty of corruption. MQM is the only political party that has removed its elected representatives either on charge of corruption or who have failed to come up to the expectation of public", he mentioned.
Commenting on the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), Dr. Imran Farooq said his personal viewpoint was that he was against it as it would give an impetus to all kinds of corrupt practices. However in the current scenario and the party's viewpoint would be to go along with it for backing the present reconciliation process of the government in the process of political reconciliation and harmony.
To a query on poor performance of KESC, Dr. Imran Farooq said that the MQM initially favored its privatization as they believed that the privatization would result in improved performance of KESC but they were wrong. Keeping in view the disastrous performance of KESC during last year's summer season, MQM recommended to the government to nationalize KESC or cancel the deal with existing management of KESC and resale it to a better company, which may provide some relief to the general public.
"We are well aware of the problems faced by the common man as the poor performance of KESC was also having a negative impact on development work carried out by MQM. Karachiites are not concerned about how many new bridges and underpasses have been constructed in the city as they rightly complain that what they would do with such development in the city, when there was no electricity at their homes"
To a question regarding MQM being a socialist or communist party, he said, "We don't believe in socialism or communism, we only believe in practicalism and realism. Equality is the only option for Pakistan, which would help the country to stand at par with some of the most developed countries across the globe, which have put special emphasis on equality.
In the end, delivering his message to each and every Pakistani, Dr. Imran Farooq said, "Everyone must realize that Pakistan is going through a very crucial stage and it is high time that we must unite to save our country from the ongoing situation. The government, political and religious parties must also realize their due role and forget their political differences by joining hands as the country is going through the 'Make or Break' period.