MQM Chief Altaf Hussain has declared that his
party is coming to Punjab with full political force along with its political
thought and philosophy. Addressing a seminar under auspices of Thinkers and
Writers Forum at Lahore Press Club by phone from London, he said MQM will
jumpstart a full-fledged struggle for the rights of suppressed people of Punjab.
It is perhaps for the first time that the MQM leader and for that matter any
politician from smaller provinces has made remarks that are reflective of the
ground realities. An overwhelming majority of people of Punjab, like majority in
other provinces, is confronted with numerous problems that remained unresolved
during the last six decades. But unfortunately Punjab is made target of undue
criticism by politicians and as a consequence parties originating in other
provinces do not get any foothold in Punjab. We believe that the MQM has the
potential to gain ground in the province to its own advantage and to the
advantage of the downtrodden people of the entire country, as for any revolution
to take place and succeed the support of Punjab is a must.
We say so because there are a number of political parties operating in Punjab but they do not represent the layman in the stricter sense of the word. At the moment, PML (both factions) and PPP have meaningful presence in the province but none of them vouches for the politics of the middle class. PML, on the whole, is a conglomerate of privileged class where the poor have almost no representation. Peoples Party, during tenure of its founding father Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, did touch hearts and minds of the people but presently it is somewhat totally detached from the masses and has become a party of the elite. In this perspective, MQM, which established itself in Karachi and brought forward middle class leadership can certainly take advantage of the situation to make its presence felt in Punjab. MQM has already changed its nomenclature from ‘Mohajir’ to ‘Muttaheda’ and it can become a national party by distancing itself from parochial politics.