The MQM Boycott
The announcement by the MQM(A) that they will boycott the forthcoming elections has come as a great shock to the people of urban Sindh in particular and to the masses of Pakistan in general. The party is representative of Karachi and Hyderabad in the real sense and their absence from the electoral hustings would deprive these cities of a genuine voice in the National and Provincial Assemblies.
On the evening of September 28, it seemed that matters had been settled amicably at the highest level between the Army and the MQM hierarchy. Barely 48 hours later, the whole agreement was in shambles, what had gone wrong during this short interim period? From all accounts it seems that a small incident has been blown out of proportion subordinating the public interest to personal egos. Stating of the incident that seems to have triggered off the fresh squabble is not important, but it has brought back into focus all the suspicions in a rush and fostered misunderstanding between a primary national institution and a small but potent political force with a legitimate role to play on the national scene.
