Author:
Publication: The Times
of India
Date: October 5, 2000
``Partition was the biggest
mistake in the history of mankind'' suddenly declared Altaf Hussain, exiled
chief of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM), Pakistan's third largest political
party, in London last month. Even as Pakistan-watchers tried to digest
the import of his statement and the Pakistani media lambasted Hussain for
his ``ultimate betrayal'', the first-ever MQM delegation arrived in New
Delhi. The MQM is presently headed by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, who
resigned from Nawaz Sharif's government as industries minister, as a protest
against harassment of MQM workers by the Pakistan's army and police.
Pakistan's political culture, Siddiqui tells Mahendra Ved, is one of ``loton,
lifafon aur looteron" -- opportunists, bribe-takers and criminals.
Excerpts from an interview:
Altaf Hussain's statement
that Partition was a big mistake has startled many.
It was not a casual remark.
It is a reflection of many years of experience, study and pain experienced
by Mr Hussain and many of his compatriots. He was referring to the
root cause when he made this remark. It was to emphasise the magnitude
of the suffering people have undergone in terms of life and property, both
in India and Pakistan. In Pakistan, the effects of the division are
visible even today after 53 years. You can say the MQM has decided
to step up its campaign. We brought together acknowledged leaders
of the Balochs, the Pathans and the Sindhis. These national minorities
realise the need to come together. It is history in the making.
It is a sincere effort, let me assure you. We have a joint platform.
It is too early to say how we will work from here on. But it is the
first step towards a joint struggle.
Your description of minorities
as `nationalities' is perplexing.
They are actually sub-nationalities,
distinct from one another. The point we underscore is that they have
common problems and they have a common adversary: the majority Punjab province
and the dominant Punjabi, are all-pervasive as a political class and in
civil and military bureaucracy. When we criticise the Punjabi, it
is not so much people of that province but the ruling class which has exploited
the minorities. You will be shocked to know that from provincial
chief ministers onwards, even the police SHOs are selected by their principal
instrument, the ISI.
The Punjabis, Pathans,
Balochs and Sindhis are sons of the soil in terms of geography. Mohajirs
are refugees who do not belong there, but you talk of ``mohajir nation''.
Don't you think "mohajir" is a negative concept? Because, nowhere is a
refugee allowed to share power.
Well, our forefathers
migrated to Pakistan, but we are now sons of the soil. Secondly,
a mohajir is a migrant, not a refugee. People down the ages have
migrated and found a place under the sun through hard work. This
is what we did. Please note that the US is a nation of immigrants.
Since MQM remains a party
of immigrants, how do you explain its rise?
We are also a party of
the middle classes, the lower and the middle-middle classes, in a feudal
society. Whenever the democratric game is played, the numbers count.
But Pakistan has never had real democracy, I would call it `pseudo', even
`feudo' democracy. In that setting, the PPP was a creation of Ayub
Khan and Nawaz Sharif's Muslim League was nurtured by Zia ul Haq.
We are not the creation of the Establishment. We have been born in
martial law and have grown in adversity. We have been consistent
in our opposition to the army rule and to the landlords. So we stray
close to the masses. The older generation among the mohajirs thought
we were ``laundon-lapaadon ki jamaat'' -- a party of the young and the
lumpens. They took time to accept us.
Now our support is clear,
particularly in urban Sindh. The Sindhis vote for the PPP and the
Punjabis vote for the Muslim League. We would have done much better,
but successive regimes have ensured that we cannot even open offices in
provinces outside of Sindh.
How does a young mohajir
look at India?
There is a sea-change
with the change of generations and with the advent of technology and media.
Our elders saw Pakistan as a mission and worked for its success.
But the young do not have that mission. They have an identity crisis.
A young mohajir sees that five decades separation has harmed both India
and Pakistan -- Pakistan more so. You have become the world's largest
democracy, but we have missed the bus. You have sustained your plurality,
while we have witnessed repression. We think India and Pakistan must
talk and resolve their differences. It is good for both. It
will strengthen our political and social institutions. Money spent
on defence could be diverted to health and education. To me, the
nuclear bomb is not important, a nuclear scientist is.
Fine, but the root cause
of turmoil, according to Pakistan, is Kashmir, which is also fomenting
cross-border movement of drugs, arms and men.
The MQM is quite clear
on Kashmir. Let the will of the Kashmiri people prevail. Both
India and Pakistan must facilitate this. Beyond that, we have not
taken sides. We think Talibanisation is misinterpretation of Islam,
a threat to our religious, ethnic and linguistic identities. The
Taliban are an ISI creation. Even in Afghanistan, the Taliban are
imposed by the ISI. No sane people would have gone into Afghanistan
the way Zia did, but today, Afghanistan has made billionaires out of our
generals and bureaucrats.
Whether it is the army
rule, that of the PPP or of the Muslim League, the MQM has always been
targeted. So what is the solution?
End of army rule, break
up of feudal structure and decentralisation of power. Repeated fauji
governments have only weakened Pakistan.
What is your mission
here. What do you expect from India?
Our expectations are
from both India and Indians. They should take a proactive role to
help us restructure our polity. Altaf bhai will soon address Indians,
the Indian Muslims in particular -- even more particularly, Jammu and Kashmir
Muslims, especially a section that wants to be merged with Pakistan.
Draw a lesson from us. I ask them: Do you want liberation and death.
Do you want to become a colony of Pakistan? If India does not help us,
the whole region will be destabilised and Talibanised. After 53 years,
Pakistan is being ruled by 46 families. A population of 130 million
is being held hostage. We want India's help because it is no use
treating the symptoms alone without tackling the root cause.
How do you propose to
further your programme?
We certainly want our
rights within Pakistan, rather than outside it, unless we are pushed to
the wall. Nobody should think that we are against Pakistan and have
come here to seek the Indian government's help.
