KARACHI, 20 November 2002 — Muttahida Qaumi Movement, the party which commands control over the Mohajir migrants from India, has been facing a dilemma over the vital issue of government formation in the sensitive southern province of Sindh. It has held negotiations with another Sindh-based party, the Pakistan People’s Party, but since it was assured support by the government of action against its rival, the Haqiqi faction of the MQM, it quickly changed its mind.
It has now agreed to side with the Quaid-e-Azam faction of the Muslim League whose leader Chaudhry Shujaat is due here in a couple of days for final negotiations with the mainstream party of Altaf Hussain. Police and the Rangers went into action on Monday night to arrest Haqiqi leaders, including former Transport Minister Badar Iqbal, and seal off the offices of the breakaway faction, which since its inception in 1992, had enjoyed the backing of the army.
The Haqiqi headquarters, known as “Baitul Hamza” in suburban Landhi colony, was surrounded by the paramilitary Rangers force. Two of its principal leaders, including Amir Khan, were confined to the premises of the huge bungalow, located on the main thoroughfare of an area which had remained forbidden for Altaf supporters.
The coordination committee of the Altaf faction had asked President Pervez Musharraf to rehabilitate some 12,000 families to their houses in Landhi, the nearby Malir colony, and the Lines area in the heart of the city, from where they were uprooted since almost 10 years now.
Under orders from Musharraf, police and the Rangers had moved to flush out the Haqiqis from their hide-outs and had arrested some 50 of them. But the Altaf party felt that the measures taken by the local administration were not enough. they said that security should be provided to families wishing to return to their homes, which had not yet been done.
The director general of the Rangers, a two-star army general, and the city police chief, Asad Ashraf Malik, visited the places to supervise the operation against the Haqiqis, and had deployed a huge force to guard against possible violence.
A second problem which the MQM has been facing relates to the appointment of the chief minister for Sindh. The party with 45 seats in a 168-strong house, feels strongly that it must be allowed to have its chief minister. However, those in Islamabad, supporting it against Haqiqis, want the top slot to go to the National Alliance of former President Farooq Leghari.
