On June 6th 2014, the exiled leader of Pakistan’s Muttahida Qaumi Movement Party, Altaf Hussain, was released on bail by police in London after he was arrested and questioned on suspicion of money laundering. It is not the first time Hussain has been investigated by British authorities since his arrival in the country in 1992. In September 2010, Hussain was questioned after senior MQM leader Imran Farooq was murdered in London – but no one was formally charged. In any event, there were celebrations in parts of Karachi, as Pakistan’s largest city struggles to return to some semblance of normalcy.
Leaving aside the money laundering investigation, the British government has repeatedly failed to investigate Altaf for the crime of inciting terror on the streets of Karachi. On numerous occasions, Altaf has delivered fiery sermons from his headquarters in London to incite sectarian tensions in Karachi. He routinely employs inflammatory language against his opponents and threatens them with terror expressions such as ‘body bags’. Yet, despite this, the British government has never tried him for the offense of glorifying terrorism or even battered an eye-lid in this regard. In contrast, the British government has tried several people for glorifying terrorism on the flimsiest of evidences.
The tacit support of the British government to Altaf Hussein suggests that the MQM leader is being exploited to fulfil Britain’s general policy of destabilising Pakistan. Using the Mohajir card to incite sectarian tensions is just one tool in her bag of destabilization tactics. The others include: providing support to the nationalist elements in Baluchistan and assisting some of the Taleban to carry out strikes against Pakistan.
The government of Nawaz Sharif is fully cognizant of Britain’s clandestine support to Altaf, but instead of pressing for Altaf’s indictment, Sharif is offering Altaf all kinds of legal and moral support. Sharif’s stance may appear at odds with popular sentiment in Pakistan, but is not surprising. Altaf has always been an ISI asset. The MQM was created by the Pakistani military to erode the popular base of Pakistan’s Peoples Party in Karachi, and is still used by the military to this day to keep the different sectarian factions (fiefdoms) operating in Karachi under control.
The magnitude of Altaf’s complicity to promote the objectives of both Britain and the Raheel-Nawaz government, is ignored by many of MQM supporters, but is widely sensed by the Pakistani public. Yet despite this over whelming ground swell of support to take action against both him and his movement, successive Pakistani governments have balked at the idea, and this has left Karachites to rot in the ensuing terror violence.
Only through Islam can the different warring factions of Karachi and its people unify, and leave in peace and harmony. Allah says in the Quran:
وَاعْتَصِمُوا بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلَا تَفَرَّقُوا وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَتَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنْتُمْ أَعْدَاءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُمْ بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا وَكُنْتُمْ عَلَى شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِنَ النَّارِ فَأَنْقَذَكُمْ مِنْهَا كَذَلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ
“And hold fast, all of you together, to the cable of Allah, and do not separate. And remember Allah’s favour unto you: how ye were enemies and He made friendship between your hearts so that ye became as brothers by His grace.”
(Ali Imran: 103)
And for those who are sceptical towards reconciliation and repeatedly question how reconciliation can be achieved after on years of hatred and bloodshed, they should ponder on the meaning of the following ayah:
وَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِهِمْ لَوْ أَنْفَقْتَ مَا فِي الْأَرْضِ جَمِيعًا مَا أَلَّفْتَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِهِمْ وَلَكِنَّ اللَّهَ أَلَّفَ بَيْنَهُمْ إِنَّهُ عَزِيزٌ حَكِيمٌ
“And joined their hearts. Had you given away all the riches of the earth you could not have joined their hearts, but it is Allah Who joined their hearts. Indeed He is All-Mighty. All-Wise.”
(Al-Anfal: 63)
Written for The Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Abu Hashim