KARACHI, PAKHTUN, MUHAJIR AND ZARDARI

ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE ARTICLE BY SALEEM SAFI PUBLISHED IN DAILY JANG ON 12^TH JULY 2011

Chairman of Pakhtun Fikri Jirga Ameer Hamza Marwat has completed fifty years of his life but his ambitions are still young. He is a well-read man and has led an active political life. He was a close confidant of Khan Abdul Wali Khan and he had also been a member of the central working committee of his party. He refused to change when the party transformed and said good bye to it in 1995. He was always in the list of the trusted people of Khan Abdul Wali Khan who always solved all the problems relating to Sindh through him. He came to my office a few days ago. There was a detailed discussion on the past and the present situation of Sindh. Flipping through the pages of the history he told me about some events that were not only strange but also immensely interesting.

Ameer Hamza Marwat told me that after the riots of 1986 Khan Abdul Wali Khan and Altaf Hussain were endeavouring to relieve the strain between the Pakhtuns and the Urdu-speaking people. When Altaf Hussain was in jail, Khan Abdul Wali Khan tried to meet him there but the Sindh Government was not giving permission. In those days Hakim Ali Zardari was the central senior vice president of the ANP and Alam Shah was the provincial president. As Khan saheb had a lingering doubt that Hakim Ali Zardari wanted to add fuel to the fire instead of dousing it, therefore he used to contact the MQM leaders through me (Ameer Hamza Marwat). At that time Zardari saheb used to say, “Two thieves are fighting after coming on our land. Let them fight.” Wali Khan did not get permission to meet Altaf Hussain in the jail but he came to Karachi for a public meeting. Hakim Ali Zardari used very strong language against the MQM in this public meeting and tried to give the impression that he was a true sympathiser of the Pakhtuns. He addressed the Urdu-speaking people with derogatory terms in order to provoke them but when Wali Khan came to speak he adopted a completely different line. First speaking in Urdu he said that the Muhajirs did not have any dispute with the Pakhtuns. The works that the Muhajirs are doing cannot be done by the Pakhtuns and what the Pakhtuns are doing cannot be done by the Muhajirs. Both are not the antagonists of each other, rather both are in need of each other and hence there is no cause for their fighting. Later he spoke in Pashto and addressing the Pakhtuns he said that you had come here for work and labour instead of fighting and usurping. This speech by Wali Khan improved the environment. Then contacts began from the MQM side and I used to meet Altaf Hussain on behalf on behalf of the ANP. When the path became even then Afzal Khan Lala and Ghulam Ahmed Bilour also hold talks. In this manner Khan Abdul Wali Khan came to Nine Zero. Here when the journalists questioned Khan Abdul Wali Khan if he accepted the Muhajirs as the fifth nationality, he replied that he had no objections at the idea of the Muhajirs being a separate nationality. Altaf Hussain thanked Khan Abdul Wali Khan over this and a new journey of friendship between the ANP and MQM started.

When I started my journalistic career the MQM and the ANP were on intimate terms. I saw MQM leaders personally either in the public meetings and conferences of the ANP or I met them in the houses of people like Ghulam Ahmed Bilour. Now that the ANP and the MQM have come in confrontation with each other, I have been thinking as to what transpired during the past few months that the ANP and the MQM have once against taken positions against each other in Karachi. This question was continuously haunting me but the meeting with Ameer Hamza Marwat eased my difficulty. I now fully understood as to how the feud between the ANP and the MQM has eased the path for the bloodletting of innocent Pakhtuns and Urdu-speaking people after empowerment of Zardari saheb and his crony Zulfikar Mirza. Marwat saheb had eased the problem but the riddle was finally solved by news circulating in the inner political circles of Islamabad. According to sources a meeting was being held in the presidency with the head of Muslim League (Q) and his colleagues. Conversation was being held in Urdu and Punjabi language. When Karachi was being discussed in detail the president spoke to a Sindhi minister and boastfully said, “Do you believe in my politics or not? See in what manner have I entangled the Muhajirs and the Pakhtuns.” It is said that a smart bird never gets caught in a snare, but when he gets caught, both of his legs are entangled in the trap. Zardari saheb occasionally makes speeches in Punjabi language and feels proud in saying that he has learnt Punjabi language. But he forgot that a Punjabi in the meeting could also understand Sindhi language. So someone who was present in the meeting leaked this out and nowadays it is being discussed in circles in Islamabad. President of ANP Sindh rarely uses brain in politics but I wonder what has come over the MQM leaders that they are not understanding this play and allowing themselves to be used by falling prey to the plots of these boasters. The big-talker who cannot impede the path of a killer and gun-toting criminal but barefacedly bullies an unarmed reporter and camera man of Geo News. They are so brave that they have not been able to take the name of the killers of their leader from their tongue, but are trying to affect bravery by snatching office card from the camera man and the reporter. They cannot go out of their homes in the absence of police and troops in their own government. Journalists and anchor persons have even gone from Karachi to Waziristan and that too without any security. Can these brave dare to go out on the streets of Karachi without any police and troops? One can clinch the title of conspirator by creating discord between others but one cannot get counted in the list of the braves by these methods. A brave man will never raise his hand on the weak. It is not bravery to threaten unarmed camera man and reporter with a bevy of police and armed persons. If someone wants to become brave then he should stand in the way of the killers and thugs that have made life difficult for every Sindhi, Muhajir and Pakhtun. He should free the innocent people of Sindh from the dacoits and should wipe tears off the face of the wailing Baluch mothers.