De-coding Nishtar Park Bombing

De-coding, Nishtar Park Bombing

By Ali K.Chishti

On the evening of 4^th of November, 2006 at Nishtar Park, Karachi, during a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's birth, a bomb went off near the wooden stage, where local Sunni clerics under the umbrella of Sunni Tahreek were sitting.

57 people were killed in the blast and over 150 others were wounded. The Pakistani police said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber who deliberately targeted the religious leaders. Amongst the dead were chief of Ahl-as-sunnat (The Sunni Community) and prominent social figure Haji Hanif Billio, chief of Sunni Tehreek (Sunni Movement) Iftikhar Bhatti, Sunni Tehreek’s senior leaders Abbass QadriAkram Qadri and Jamiat-ulema-e-Pakistan’s (The Society of Pakistan’s Islamic Clergy) leader Hafiz Taqi.

Flash-back,

In 1992 Sunni Tahreek a political religious organization was formed to promote interests of Barelvi Sunni Muslims by Riaz Hussain Shah of Multan. Essentially the Sunni Tahreek strongly opposed the giving of important religious posts to the Deobandis and was primarily opposed to the Banuri Town Mosque in Karachi which was headed by Nizamuddin Shamzai.

Just before that external factors contributed hugely to stoking sectarian conflict in Pakistan. The Iranian revolution evoked a strong reaction throughout the Muslim world which was a cause of concern for certain Arab states. In the process, Pakistan became the battlefield in an intra Islam proxy war. Iran and Saudi Arabia supported their respected allies.

In the middle of the war, the Barelvi political aspirations in the Jamiat al Ulema-e-Pakistan (JUP). The JUP which was primarily led by Maulana Ahmed Shah Noorani which was once politically strong in Karachi was weakened by the secular, liberal then Mohajir Qaumi Movement now Muthida Qaumi Movement (MQM) which ate up all of the support which various religious and political parties had in Karachi and most of Urban Sindh.

The Karachi based, Sunni Tahreek was infact a splintered section of JUP and was the vocal, militant and sectarian. Other offshoots of JUP includes Dawaat-e-Islami and the Punjabi Sunni Tahreek.

D-Day,

On the evening of 4^th of November, 2006 at Nishtar Park, Karachi, during a ceremony to mark the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad's birth, a bomb went off near the wooden stage, where local Sunni clerics under the umbrella of Sunni Tahreek were sitting.

57 were killed and more then 80 were injured. Post-bombing angry crowds lter went on the rampage in the city, accusing the police of failing to provide adequate security. Three days of mourning has been declared. After the Eid Milad massacre people spread out into the city of Karachi and started burning vehicles. Abdus Sattar Edhi stated that he had deployed 100 ambulances and 300 personnel, but the people had attacked them. Eight ambulances were destroyed while the dead bodies were still inside them. At Liaquat Hospital the crowd attacked the staff as a result of which doctors, nurses and the other staff ran away and the wounded were not treated on time.All religious parties have developed a culture of violence and their youths do it with professionalism. In the end these are the forces of anarchism because they will ensure that no governance is able to succeed.

Allegations,

Karachi’s volatile politics and past grievances were wisely cashed after the Nishtar Park bombing where certain political parties somehow tried to gave out an impression that Nishtar Park bombing were the work of a political party which dominated the politics of Urban Sindh. Obviously, the whole issue was cashed in a way to milk more and more political mileage out of it.

The wily old Qazi Hussain Ahmad the then leader of Jamaat-e-Islami referred to a Voice of America broadcast about an earlier accident at a Dawat Islami mosque in Karachi and implied that the blast was plotted by the United States. He said it was tragic that the government too was aligned with the enemy.

On the basis of his sources of information, he said it was no suicide-bombing; it was in fact a device fixed under the stage and ignited through remote control. Rafi Usmani of Darul Ulum Karachi told ARY the same day that the government had cleared the stage for security therefore the responsibility was on the government.

Obviously, nothing that inquiry later turned up suggests that the stage was booby-trapped. In fact all video films of the stage after the killing show it completely undamaged. Qazi Sahib’s accusation as usual was untenable; he was taking revenge about MQM because of the dent MQM put on JI’s making it a pressure group by snatching away her voters then a political party. Qazi Sahib obviously wanted to kill two birds with one stone by accusing the government, by which he means the MQM. The MQM and his party are at loggerheads in Karachi.

Speaking to GEO TV channel MQM chief Altaf Hussain clearly said that it was a case of suicide-bombing by one “particular” extremist organization. He referred to the Hangu bombing on the day of ashura that year (36 Shias killed) and clearly hinted at who the culprit was. Earlier, on April 7, 2006 Allama Hassan Turabi of Tehreek Islami (Shia), after narrowly escaping a bombing in Karachi, had pointed to the acquittal of Lashkar Jhangvi-Sipah Sahaba killers at the High Court a day earlier and complained that the same sectarian killers had done the deed.

Responsible,

It is as strange as it gets. Obviously has we have previously seen that a certain faction or a group had been on a constant rampage in Pakistan to destroy anyone and everyone who had different belief’s as compared to theirs.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB) which had previously been ridiculed and undermined by it’s competitive agencies because of it’s civilian carder is oppose to there image is a professional force. It is this investigative and intelligence agency whose brave officers helped solved the riddle of Nishtar Park bombing.

Two teams were sent out to Attock and Naushera, NWFP to investigate. It was during the investigation that the Intelligence Bureau received information about the presence of Lashkr-e-Jhanvi Sindh Ameer Rahimullah in Kalapul area, who was talking on his cell phone in Waziristan with his co-leaders.

The IB Sindh personnel started tracing Rahimullah and got his location at Kala Pul bridge. The IB personnel conducted a raid and after resistance, arrested Rahimullah and took him to their headquarters for interrogation. Moreover, the IB informed the CID departmental head regarding the arrest of the LJ Sindh Ameer by their personnel.

Later, a CID team, including SSP Mohammed Fayyaz Khan and SSP Raja Omer Khataab, reached the IB headquarters and started interrogating Rahimullah.

During the course of investigation, Rahimullah disclosed that his other aides, including three suicide bombers, were present in Baldia No-9, Sector-F, and were loaded with huge quantity of weapons and explosive material.

A Joint Interrogation Team (JIT) of the IB and the CID personnel conducted a raid with police contingents and initially cordoned off the area. After taking positions, they went to a nearby mosque and made an announcement to warn the residents not to come out of their houses. Soon after the announcement, the terrorists opened fire, which the police retaliated. A brief encounter took place. During the encounter, the terrorists also threw nine to 10 hand grenades due to which a Police Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) was damaged and two Constables, Wajid Ali and Mehmood, received minor injuries.

SSP Mohammed Fayyaz Khan and Raja Omer Khataab said that all the three -- Sultan Omer, Siddiq Mehsud and Zubair Bengali -- were suicide bombers of Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. Sultan Omer was the brother of Sultan Saifullah (suicide bomber of Nishter Park), Siddiq Mehsud was a relative of Baitullah Mehsud while the third person Zubair Bengali was the relative of Abdul Karim Bengali, the suicide bomber who had killed Allama Hassan Turabi. Regarding deceased Shaukat Afridi, whose body was recovered from the rubble, they said that Shaukat Afridi was a trader of oil and a resident of Defence Society. On May 8, 2008, Shaukat Afridi, son of Haji Mohammed Sakhi, resident of Defense Phase-VII, was kidnapped by the militants from Clifton Block 2. They later called his family and demanded a ransom of Rs 500 million for his release but the family told the kidnappers that they could not arrange that much amount.

After negotiations, the matter was settled at Rs 50 million but the criminals refused to release him and again asked for the same amount.

Deceased Shaukat was a trader of oil and supplied oil to Nato forces through his tankers. The officers disclosed that two militants were killed in the firing of the police. The third militant Waseem Bengali received a bullet wound, who after killing Shaukat Afridi blasted the house with remote control bomb made with RDX.

The officers disclosed that LJ Sindh Ameer Rahimullah, during investigations, disclosed that a few months ago he, along with the killed accomplices who were all trained in Waziristan for suicide bombings, came to Karachi to achieve their targets, assigned to them by their leader Qari Zafar. He further disclosed that they were funded by Abid Mehsud, a commander of Baitullah Mehsud group, for the purchase of arms, explosives and vehicles.

Rahimullah also disclosed that in Allama Hasan Turbai case, he had dropped suicide bomber Abdul Karim at NIPA Chowrangi in a red color car and in the Nishter Park case, in which the top leadership of the Sunni Tehrik was killed, he had trained and dropped Sultan Saifullah near the Nishter Park.

Regarding the attack on SSP Raja Omer Khataab, LJ Ameer Ali Hasan disclosed that he had personally manufactured the bomb and fixed it in a bicycle and later went to the Saddar area and parked it near a petrol pump. It was further disclosed that Waseem Bengali was assigned to kill SSP Khurram Waris and before Eid they were ready to make a suicide attempt on SSP Waris. They had also on their hit list two Shia Ulema and the task was assigned to deceased Saddiq Mehsud and Sultan Omer.

Rahinmullah would later accept his involved in Nishtar Park bombing and would talk in detail as to how a suicide bomber was prepared and brought to Karachi with his handler from NWFP.

Rahinmullah would later would refuse all charges at the court; typical Jeahdi tactic but interestingly, the two IB officials inspector Mohammed Ibrahim and Sub-inspector Fazalur Rahman, posted at the IB’s anti-terrorism section (ATS), were shot dead on Frere Road at around 7:20pm by two attackers who came on a motorbike Honda-125.

Jandullah, Jamaat and Al-Queda

Jandullah, Jamaat and Al-Queda

Recently, the Karachi Police had found an organization named, “Jandullah” for the terror attack cum bombing on the Moharram Ashura procession killing more than forty-five people in Karachi. The name Jandullah was previously linked to a similar organization based in Baluchistan who had carried out attacks in Iranian Baluchistan and another organization which had previously carried out attacks in Indonesia and was an off-shoot of Jamaat-e-Islami, Indonesian chapter.

However, the Karachi based Jandullah chapter is apparently a lot different from it’s Baluchi and Indonesian counterparts. The creation of the Karachi-based Jandullah (Army of God) was a prime example of al-Queda’s changing face in Pakistan. The group was founded originally by Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wings, Islami Jamiat e Talba’s Attar Rehman, a Karachi University student of Statistics who was arrested in June 2004 on the charge of masterminding, a series of terrorist attacks in Karachi, targeting security forces and government installations. The eldest son of a local businessman, he grew up in a middle-class neighborhood in Karachi and worked actively for the radical Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan.

Rehman’s journey to terrorism began after he in 1991 when he went to Afghanistan to receive military training at a jihadist camp setup by Jamaat-e-Islami linked, Harkat-ul-Mujahideen close to Afghan border. Rehman who was an active member of mainstream Islami Party, Jamaat-i-Islami and founder of Jandullah told his interrogators that he formed Jundullah after the arrest of top al-Queda operatives n March, 2003 including that of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad – the master mind of 9/11 who was caught from Rawalpindi, Pakistan from the residence of a Jamaat-e-Islami’s serving deputy mayor.

Amir Mir a journalist par excellence; an authority on Jehadi nexus, whose books had been banned in Pakistan wrote, “Jundullah was just another name for Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which had stuck up a strong working relationship with al-Queda.” He also reveals that “the other organization suspected of close operational ties with al Queda is basically Harkatul Muhahedin al-Aalamai an off-shoot of the Jamaat-e-Islami’s Jedahi Organization, Harkatul Mujadedin “.

It is however interesting to note that two of the al-Aalami militants including the al-Aalmai ameer, Mohammad Imran bombed the US consulate in Karachi; the bombing was similar to the bombing of Egyptian Embassy bombing in Islamabad which later, Osama Bin Laden’s deputy in his book “Knights under the Prophet’s Banner”. Ayman Zawahiri took full credit for the attack, noting that his first choice for the target was the U.S embassy there, but it was so strongly fortified that he judged it too hard to hit. Imran the ameer of al-Aalami claimed in court to be a member of Harkatul Mujahedin and said that al-Aalami was the product of the rangers and security denying the split between the Harkat. Obviously the creation of such splinter groups had two reasons alone 1) to create a smoke-screen to take the heat away from the parent organizations like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Harkatul Mujahedin who are closely linked with certain rogue elements within in the state and members of Jamaat-e-Islami 2) to confuse the investigating agencies who were using the divide and rule to get rid of the powers of the jehadi factions gone rouge.

Jundullah was initially a well-knit cell comprising of some 20 militants, most of them in their twenties and thirties; educated from professional working classes. The group would take on doing the “unthinkable”; they planned on to assassinate, army’s top commander in Karachi, General Ahsan Saleem Hayat who later appointed by General Mushraff as hs second in-command of the Pakistan Army.

In June, 2004, Rehman a former student leader of IJT and now a founder of Jundullah attached the motorcade of the Corps Commander Karachi, General Ahsan Saleem Hayat who narrowly escaped but 11 people including eight soldier, were killed in the attack right in the centre of the city.

Later, Rehman did not show any sign of remorse when he was presented before a high-security anti terrorism court in Karachi. “I have not done anything wrong” he shouted as he emerged from the courtroom.

Later Jundullah would also attack on army, rangers, police stations and a car bombing outside the US-Pakistan cultural centre in Karachi. Among others who were arrested for their association with Jundullah was Akmal Waheed, a cardiologist and his brother Arshad Waheed an orthopedic surgeon. Both men were active members of Jamaat-e-Islami and were associated with Jamat-i-Islami’s Medical Wing, Pakistan Islamic Medical association; they provided active medical treatment and shelter to top Al-Queda fugitives and had been linked for treating Osama Bin Laden’s kidney’s too.

On 07/03/2004 the Karachi police arrested the brothers after the cell phone numbers of the two doctors were found in Ata-ur Rehman mobile phone memory. Dr. Akmal Waheed and Dr. Arshad Waheed were suspected of assisting wanted militants to escape from the authorities and providing medical treatment to three fugitives: Abu Massab, Gul Hasan and Qassam-al-Sani, who were wounded in the Gen. Hayat Attempt, without informing the police. Their arrest was capped in secrecy for a while, which caused the family to believe they were kidnapped for ransom. The arrest of the Waheed brothers was made public only on 07/13/2004.

The police also found out that the Wahed brothers also treated Shahzad Bajwa, alias Abdullah, the depute of Ata-ur Rehman, after he sustained injuries, on 03/19/2004, during an attack on a mobile van of Pakistan Rangers, at Shan/Bismillah Taqi Hospital in Karachi.

The Waheed brothers were sentenced on 03/14/2005 to 7 years imprisonment.

The police claimed that “The car recovered from the accused (Akmal and Arshad Waheed) is the one which was hired by earlier arrested Jundallah’s Amir in Karachi, Ata-ur-Rehman, which later on, had remained in their use.” Ata-ur-Rehman, the chief of Jundallah, had confessed that Dr Akmal Waheed and Dr Arshad Waheed had close links to him and were extending help by all means, the police spokesman added.

Dr. Arshad & Akmal Waheed were, eventually, acquitted. on 07/11/2006, in an appeal court. Following his acquittal Dr. Arshad Waheed shifted his activity to South Waziristan and was running a clinic in Wana, FATA region. Dr. Arshad Waheed was allegedly killed in a US missile attack, on 03/16/2008, in Wana, South Waziristan.

Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan apparently a close aide and ideological father of Jundallah and Harkat slammed everyone for arresting the brothers privately but a slap on their faces came when Al Qaeda’s media wing Al Sahab Media Foundation released the third part of a series of videos entitled “The Protectors of the Sanctuary.” This was also the first time Al-Queda had use URDU in there language instead of Arabic which was significant...

The 40-minute compilation video commemorates Dr. Arshad Waheed Shaheed, the Wana based kidney specialist who had links with all Jamaat-e-Islami, Jundallah and al Qaeda and who was killed in a U.S. missile attack in March 2008.

It is pretty much apparent that Al-Queda has successfully established working relationship with various jehadi and sectarian organizations originally made up by establishment to counter the Indian’s in Kashmir through proxy and helped prolonged our ill-thought off policy of Strategic Depth. It is also important to note; why a large number of Jamaat-e-Islami has linked up and sheltered Al-Queda members? It is also an established fact now that the GHQ attack master-mind was also a Jamaat-e-Islami member apart from the fugitives form the attacks on the Sri-Lankan team took refuge at Mansura, JI’s headquarters in Lahore. A connection which is often ignored: at times deliberately.

The writer could be reached at akchishti@hotmail.com

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Decoding G.M Syed

by Ali K.Chishti
Sindh Diary

Born in 1904, G.M Syed was a descendant of a saint buried in his native village of Sann. He would later become one of the most controversial and paradoxical public figures of Pakistan. After founding the Sindh Hari Committee, he became an active Muslim League leader during the 1939 communal riots in Sukhar for which he would later, during a visit to India in the 1980’s would apologize. Syed would later also apologize to the people of Sindh for having “moved the resolution demanding the creation of Pakistan in the legislature of Sindh before independence and partition”.

G.M Sayed was indeed one of the greatest Sindhi political visionaries ever produced. It was G.M Syed who joined Muslim League and ultimately did a lot for Sindhi Nationalism and founded Jiy-e-Sindh Movement, after the creation of Pakistan. In “The Sole Spokesman” by Ayesha Jalal writes interesting accounts of G.M Syed’s politics before the partition; that G.M Syed was in open revolt against Ghulam Hussain’s ministry whom Jinnah mistrusted and obviously there was history behind it. By September 1945 a bitter three-way struggle for League ticket had broken out between G.M Syed, Khuhro and Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah. The clash between the President of Sindh Muslim League (G.M Syed) and the Province’s premier climaxed in the former’s expulsion from the organization in January 1946. G.M Syed complained to Jinnah was that the Minister’s support of the landed elite’s interests was unpopular and was retarding the Pakistan cause. G.M Syed was obviously over-shadowed.

In 1947 post-partition, Syed had founded the Sindh Progressive Party (SPP) which laid down the foundation of Sindhi nationalism. From the very inception, the SPP opposed the two-nation theory and initially sought great provincial autonomy for Sindh; a very constitutional approach. In subsequent decades, Syed would demand independence of Sindh out of frustration and nothing else. By 1953, Syed consolidated Sindhi nationalist groups like the Sind Awami Jammat, Sindh Jinnah Awami League, Dastoor Party and Sindh Hari Party to form the Sind Awami Mahaz which became the fore-runner to the creation of the Jiya Sindh Mahaz (JSM) which was formed in the 1960’s.

The religious aspects of G.M Syed’s politics had widely been ignored. He was secular to the core and mocked mullah’s hijacking of Islam and was a victim of many fatwa’s in return by the hard-line mullah’s. He was not only a political giant but preached religion too claiming to be a descendant of the Prophet because of the “Syed” linage. S.M Syed took his inspiration from a range of men he considered prophets of mysticism including Bhudda, Christ, Muhammad and even Gandhi, the philosopher Ibn Arabi and Rumi the poet who was executed for his famous theopathic cry, “ I am God/Truth” (Ana’l Haq). G.M Syed is in fact one of the main persons who turned Shah Abdul Latif Bhati of Bhit Shah into a Sindhi National poet.

The politics of Syed was evolutionary ; the program of Sindhi Awami Mahaz was the de facto recognition of separate nationalities in Pakistan an for full provincial autonomy, leaving only defense, foreign affairs an currency with the centre which now most of the political parties had embedded into there manifestos. The Mahaz started an agitation on one of the most popular issues which had hurt the national pride of the Sindhis i.e, against the separation of Karachi from Sindh arguing that the central government had taken a decision on this without the consent of the people of Sindh. Obviously G.M Syed’s championship of the cause of the Sindhi oppressed classes didn’t win many friends and G.M Syed’s demands were seen as treason against Pakistan.

Interestingly, Altaf Hussain the then leader of Mohajir Qaumi Movement (now Muthida Qaumi Movement) representing the New Sindhis aka Mohajirs in Sindh the second majority ethnicity of Sindh was cordial. G.M Syed and Altaf Hussain’s first meeting was when G.M Syed approach Altaf Hussain to condole on the death of Altaf Hussain’s mother in late eighties and with Altaf Hussain’s visit to the leader when he under-went a major surgery. G.M Syed although had some grievances but largely acknowledged the role of Mohajirs in developing Sindh and referred Altaf Hussain as his own son. A lesson for the new faction of Jiyay Sindh who is racist to the core. Altaf Hussain would later write in his book defending G.M Syed ‘s call for full provincial autonomy and numerous exchange’s between the two leader. Altaf Hussain writes “Safer-e-Zindagi”, “G.M Syed is misunderstood; there is a reason as to why a person who had advocated for Pakistan, now want’s a Sindhudesh.

The Establishment should come forward and listen to his grievances atleast ; he is a great leader”. Altaf Hussain would later call, “Karachi” as the capital and inseparable part of Sindh apart from sturdily supporting Sindh Cause too.
The 1973 Constitution had promised provincial autonomy which G.M Syed had always wanted but the domineering policies of late Zulfikar Ali Bhutto scuttled provincial autonomy. This made GM. Syed lose all hope within the framework of Pakistan and he began to take a harder line. He proposed the formation of “Sindhu Desh”. However, the regimes of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Mohammad Khan Junejo and Benazir Bhutto (All Sindhis) weakened the movement of Sindhi nationalists.

In later days JSM under G.M Syed reached the pinnacle of it’s prestige and power during this period inviting a sense of importance from General Zia who used the Sindhi nationalities to douse the flames of anti-Islamabad feelings. The establishment also played her role in actually promoting violence between the two biggest ethnic groups in Sindh which were obviously failed by some-what understanding between G.M Syed, Altaf Hussain and Benazir Bhutto during that time. Karachi Declaration was signed apart from calling of restrain and peace by all sides in Sindh.

The death of G.M Syed has left a void in Sindh. He was the last prominent figure hailing from the era of freedom struggle who believed in standing by his principle. G.M Sye, the only other Gandhian and Pakistani politics, the first being Ghaffar Khan, will be remembered for making the ethnic Sindhis aware that Pakistan was created for the social, political and economic domination by a few minority groups and religion was merely a tool to legitimize this domination.

The coming together of Sindhi nationalists groups under one umbrella after the death of their guide and teacher, G.M Syed in April is an important development in Sindh. During his life time, his Jiy-e-Sindh Movement had split into many factions; all with the various versions of G.M Syed’s ideologies forgetting G.M Syed’s real goals of peace and non-violence being a Gandhian and peaceful co-existence with honor.

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Pakistan's Economy

WHO IS ALTAF HUSSAIN?

De-codinig Altaf Hussain

The following paragraphs are from Ali K. Chishti’s upcoming book, Journey of Life, Altaf Hussain of Pakistan

He sacrificed his health and comfort for the nation. He has ruined his eyes by reading history and writing speeches at night when everybody is asleep, which is why he always wears

sunglasses. When after listening to his speech, the audience once asked him when he was going to get married, he smiled and answered: “there’s time for everything, and when it comes, along with the right person, I will send you a card. For the time being I am married to the MQM”. Many outside observers wonder what constitutes Altaf Hussain’s charisma? This is something beyond my reach to answer but I had always thought that a charismatic figure takes his charisma from the symbols of power he is associated with. This is to some extent true in the case of Altaf Hussain, but more important, I think he derives his charisma from the fact that he transforms himself into a living symbol of an ordinary man. He presents himself as an ordinary man, almost without character traits of his own. This enables one to project one’s own notion of simplicity onto the leader. His charisma seems to grow with every image of hope, power, suffering and justice his followers invest in him.

Altaf Hussain’s grand-father, late Mohammad Mufti Ramazan was Mufti-e-Sher (Grand Mufti of the Town) of Agra, UP, India and his maternal grand-father Haji Hafiz Raheem Bhux was a reputed religious scholar widely regarded for his religious knowledge throughout India. His father, Mr.Nazir Hussain was a Station Master in Indian Railways who later migrated to Karachi, Pakistan to work as an office worker at a local mill. His father died on the 13th of March 1967 and his mother on the 5th of December, 1985.

Altaf Hussain was born on the 17th of September, 1953 in Karachi and by 1969 he completed his matriculation from Government Boys Degree School at Jail Road and Intermediate (science) from City College, Karachi. After that he went on to complete his Bachelors of Science (BSc.) from Islamia College, Karachi in 1974 apart from completing his Bachelors in Pharmacy (B.Pharm) by 1979 from Karachi University. After completion of his bachelors in pharmacy he later enrolled for his master’s degree which he could not complete due to certain security threats on his life and the over-whelming burden of leading his organization he formed on his shoulders.

Since Altaf Hussain was from the middle classes he went on to work as a trainee at Karachi’s famous, Seventh Day Adventist Hospital apart from actually working for a national and multi-national pharmaceutical firm but later moved to live with his brother to the United States where he stayed for a period of one and a half year.

Earlier during the university days he formed what was then called All Pakistan Mohajir Student’s Federation (APMSO) on the 11th of June 1976 and just before that in 1977, he took part in Nizam-e-Mustafa Tahreek as a worker apart from heading student organizations like National Student’s Action Committee as General Secretary and later as its President.

Altaf Hussain as Chairman of A.P.M.S.O worked tirelessly for the rights of local students studying at Karachi University. When the things went out of hand in Karachi University and the security treats increased; Altaf Hussain and his fellow student were forced to leave educational institutes in Karachi, he went on to form Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) on the 18th of March, 1984 which later turned into Muthida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in 1997 which happens to be: Pakistan’s Third Largest Political Party.

Altaf Hussain during his earlier life as a student joined the National Service Cadet Scheme as a volunteer in 1970-1971 and later joined the Baloch Regiment of Pakistan Army and was trained by army in both Sindh and Baluchistan.

Altaf Hussain had been imprisoned thrice and the first time he was arrested was when he protested for the Repatriation of Pakistanis from Former East Pakistan (Bangladesh) on the 14th of August, 1979 at Quaid-e-Azam’s Mausoleum. He was sentenced by the then Martial Law Government of dictator, General Zia Ul Haq for a period of nine years vagarious imprisonment and five lashes which he completed but the lashing was stopped by Sindh High Court. The second time, he was arrested was at the Gath Phatak interior Sindh on his way from Hyderabad to Karachi after the historic convention of MQM at Hyderabad on the 31st of October, 1986. And finally his third arrest was a voluntary one, on the 30th of August 1987 out of disgust against the police brutalities and to stop the police raiding and torturing MQM’s workers and treating their relatively indecently.

A lot of cases were registered against him during his long political struggle and one of most hilarious yet disgusting was that Altaf Hussain stole a police man’s cap and it was only after the MQM’s unprecedented victory during the local council elections in Karachi and Urban Sindh that he was finally offered a “bail” which he rejected immediately which actually resulted in an uncompromising release of himself along with all the detained workers of MQM in January, 1988.

Altaf Hussain has got six brothers (five of them are elder than him) and all of them are married. His eldest brother, Nasir Hussain and one of his nephew’s were extra-judicially and brutally murdered during the infamous crackdown against MQM during the infamous Operation Cleanup aka Genocide in 1992. Altaf Hussain lived in a 120 sq feet residential house in a Federal B Area, Karachi before being forced to live in exile due to the a major security threat and continuous attempts on his life in London where he stays to this day and maintaining a strong sense of bond via his telephonic addresses and video conferences with his party workers, followers, voters and party sympathizers who adore and had previously honored him with the title of, “Quaid-e-Tahreek” (Leader of the Struggle) and even Peer (spiritual leader).

MQM a political organization which Altaf Hussain founded can be described as in many ways. Many social scientists describe MQM as a remarkable phenomenon of mass mobilization. To many of MQM’s members and supporters, the MQM is primarily a revolutionary party fighting for the rights of the underprivileged strata of the urban population. It is celebrated as a party of the “poor people” or “common man”, promoting social equality. They see the MQM as a revolution against ruling elite of landlords, bureaucrats, and the military and stress upon the humble, lower-middle class background of their leaders. For them, the party is also a source of hope, pride, joy and liberation. In 1988 and 1990 large groups of supporters took to the streets to celebrate as a cultural liberation, the party’s unexpected election victories in a way that was reminiscent of the days when Pakistan was created.

Altaf Hussain’s MQM is seen as a one man party which deeply relies on the charismatic leadership of Altaf Hussain. MQM itself is a cadre based tightly knit organization. The organization prides itself on discipline within its ranks. The organization imposes a premium on its cadres for strict adherence to, what it sees, are essential tenets for building a strong organization. In its pamphlet on training workers, it lists four essential elements of a strong movement: “(1) “absolute faith (literal translation from Urdu) in the leadership; (2) elimination of individuality; (3) strong sense of common purpose; and (4) complete knowledge of, and agreement with the ideological basis of the organization.

As oppose to middle-class counter elite movement Altaf Hussain’s MQM spoke of the lower middle classes as well as the educated professionals and sought to combat radical religiousization and discrimination that had developed over time by taking their issues to the street and informal neighborhood meeting points, not formal assembly halls or campuses. The old elites, whether identified with landed interests, the military or the Islamic “establishment” as represented by the perennial Jamiat Islami were fiddling while Rome was burning. The entrenched disputes of the post-colonial elites were responsible for the fragmentation of the state, but equally dangerously some now opted out entirely by retreating into the safer and more profitable realm of business.

In 1997, Altaf Hussain turn toward a discourse of class and justice rather than ethnicity and revolt something which he wanted back in 1992 and in 1989 but couldn’t due to the Operation against them which annihilated 15,000 of his followers including his brother and nephew extra judicially. MQM in 1997 change her name from Mohajir Qaumi Movement to Muthida Qaumi Movement meaning the movement of the united nation rather than the Mohajir nation.

Altaf Hussain’s MQM during the first local bodies election boycotted the elections under President Mushraff and took part in the national elections in 2002 to emerge as the third largest political party in Pakistan. In 2005, Altaf Hussain’s nominated mayor, Mustafa Kamal under Haq Parast Panel (the righteous panel) won the elections to become the Nazim of the city where he went on to transform the city of Karachi, the main hug of Altaf Hussain’s support, into a world class city and was nominated as “one of the three” best mayors of the world by the Foreign Policy Magazine apart from receiving unprecedented support even from Mr.Hussain’s and MQM’s opponents.

Today Altaf Hussain’s MQM is a universally accepted political organization in Pakistan and around the world with a large vote bank working towards a secular, progressive, liberal and enlightened Pakistan which the founder of Pakistan, M.A Jinnah wanted.

Altaf Hussain now lives in a modest house at Edgwere, London where he runs MQM to this vary day as a leader, founder, fatherly figure and a brother. He wants to come back to Pakistan although the workers and lovers fears for the worst and wants him to guide them from safety. What not lot of people don’t realize is that Altaf Hussain apart from being a politician is an excellent cook, host and a poet.