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Clashes between JeI and MQM to worsen
Site requires registrationCLASHES BETWEEN ETHNIC MUTTAHIDA Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Jamaat-e-Islami for control of Karachi have spread out to the cityâs over 30 educational institutions, drawing in their student cadres. Violence, in the past two weeks, has resulted in injuries to dozens of student-activists on both sides, many of whom have had to be hospitalised. Violence began April 14-15 following attempts by activists of Islami Jamiat-e-Tulaba, JIâs student wing, to set up an office on the premises of Sir Syed University of Engineering and Technology. This got the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation (APMSO) going, which came out in force to prevent the IJT from establishing its formal presence on the campus. Similar skirmishes between the two groups were later reported at the University of Karachi, NED University of Engineering and Technology, Urdu University and Islamia College, among other institutions. The rising level of violence forced senior police officers to hold a meeting with leaders of the two student parties as well as the JI and the MQM. But while police sources claimed the two sides had reached a modus vivendi, violence erupted again on April 20. Both sides have accused the other of breach of agreement reached at the meeting. Most analysts are agreed the student wings are clashing because the parties are egging them on and using them to establish control over educational institutions. This reminds observers of the early eighties when the Mohajir party rose up to challenge the domination of the JI-IJT combine. The JI and the MQM were the main rivals in last Octoberâs elections. While the MQM has seen some erosion in its vote-bank, the JI has witnessed an incline in its fortunes. Both are now fighting turf battles, the MQM to regain the space it might have lost, the JI to press its advantage and reclaim what was its territory until the MQM came along and decimated it. âWe had hinted earlier that the Jamaat will disturb Karachiâs tranquillity,â says Kunwar Khalid Younus, an MQMâs member of national assembly. âThey [JI] are desperate to create chaos in the educational institutions, just the way they did during General Ziaâs regime,â he said. Younusâ concern refers to the time when the IJT ruled the universities and colleges of the city and the APMSO activists were routinely beaten up by IJT cadres. âThe MQM hooligans attacked our workers because we propagate Islamic values and talk of the Muslim ummah,â Mairajul Huda Siddiqui, city amir of Jamaat-e-Islami, told TFT. Siddiqui admits clashes in the cityâs educational institutions are related to the political situation. âThe MQM is not happy to see the city government run by us. Soon after they came to power, their minister tried to destabilise the devolution plan,â says Siddiqui. Tension between the two parties has been running high for many months. The city government is run by the JI while the MQM is the dominant component in the provincial coalition. The MQM ministers, particularly the local government minister, have been trying to make it rough for the city government. For its part the JI accuses the provincial government and MQM ministers of supporting the APMSO. âThe APMSO cadres are fully supported by Governor Ibad and other MQM ministers,â accuses Mairajul Huda Siddiqui. In the last elections JI won four national assembly seats from areas considered secure for the MQM. The situation worsened on January 15, when during by-elections for a Karachi seat, two MQM activists were shot dead. The MQM accused Siddiqui and Jamaatâs secretary general Syed Munawwar Hasan of the murders. Both parties also put out press releases during the Iraq War. While the MQMâs self-exiled chief Altaf Hussain told the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal to go to Iraq, the MMA termed the MQM the B team of American FBI. Posted by: Paul Moloney 2003-04-25 |
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