The contemplation comes from an article by The Economist named 'Backs to the sea' .. Please read the article first and let's discuss the question I have posted at the end of it ..

Backs to the sea

Pakistan’s biggest city will also be a big embarrassment for its new government

His pudgy, mustachioed face is all over Karachi. Altaf Hussain lives in London, having fled his hometown two decades ago after an attempt on his life. But the fanatical followers in the party he heads, the Muttahida Qaumi Mahaz (MQM), or United National Movement, plastered buildings, flyovers and buses with his image ahead of the provincial and national elections held on May 11th. As usual in a city Mr Hussain runs by remote control, the MQM romped home. Of 19 parliamentary seats, it won 18. But it suffered two serious setbacks. And that is ominous news for a city with an appalling history of politically linked violence, where bloodshed is worsening again. Last year was the deadliest for two decades, with some 2,000 deaths.

The first setback for the MQM is that, nationally, the Pakistan Muslim League (N), of Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister-elect, won a big mandate. Mr Sharif will be able to form a government with a convincing majority in the National Assembly. The MQM has been used to being the third large national party in Pakistan, and an important partner in coalition governments. Not this time. The loss of leverage at the centre may make it even more intolerant of challenges in its Karachi fief.

The MQM was formed to represent the Mohajirs, Urdu-speaking migrants who came to Karachi after partition from India in 1947, when it was the capital of the new Muslim country. Karachi is no longer capital, but has expanded to a population of perhaps 20m today. The MQM has withstood challenges from parties supported by other ethnic groups: Sindhis (Karachi is part of Sindh province), Punjabis and, especially in recent years, Pushtuns fleeing instability near the Afghan border. The MQM has a cadre of competent technocrats and has run a relatively efficient local administration. But it has also remained on top in the violent world of intimidation and murder that scar the city’s politics.

The second setback for the MQM is that the party that supplanted it as the third-biggest nationally also threatens its dominance of Karachi, even among Mohajir voters—and it seems unlikely simply to go away. The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), or Movement for Justice, is led by Imran Khan, a former cricket star. He has become a political hero to the country’s educated young, and even their parents, as well as to others fed up with the feudal, corrupt and violent world of Pakistan’s usual politics. In Karachi, the PTI was runner-up to the MQM in most constituencies. And it now has a National Assembly seat there. It won this after re-voting on May 19th in 43 of one constituency’s 200-odd polling stations, called because of alleged vote-rigging.

That victory was marred by death. The night before the re-vote, a senior PTI politician in Karachi, Zohra Shahid Hussain, was murdered. Men on a motorcycle attacked her and shot her through the head. The police speculated that it was a chance mugging, but her colleagues say the killing resembled a gangland hit. Mr Khan blamed Mr Hussain, the MQM’s exiled chieftain, as “directly responsible” for the murder. The MQM denied this and is to sue Mr Khan for defamation. Mr Khan said he also pins the murder on the British government, which has long tolerated Mr Hussain’s running a party steeped in violence from an address in London’s suburbia. The London police are now investigating Mr Hussain, a British citizen, after receiving complaints about a speech he broadcast to his followers in Karachi on May 12th, which the PTI took as inciting violence against its workers. He was misinterpreted, says the MQM.

Speaking on the day of the fresh voting, Arif Alvi, the successful PTI candidate in the well-off constituency of Karachi at stake, said that the previous night the district was kept awake by gunfire into the air. He likened this to MQM tactics before the strikes it sometimes calls—violence designed to intimidate people into observing the party’s orders. The MQM boycotted the rerun, wanting fresh voting in all of the constituency’s polling stations. Despite a large presence of police, soldiers and paramilitary rangers, turnout was low in a relatively poor part of the constituency, Hijrat Colony. In this area of lean-to shacks and cramped breeze-block houses, accessible down a dirt track crowded with donkey carts and tuk-tuks, residents said men on motorcycles had toured the previous night, telling people not to vote in the morning.

The good burgers of Karachi

Turnout was higher in the posh school that served as a polling station in a well-heeled part of town. Here were members of the “burger class”, the well-educated elite that has hitherto tended to shun politics, and is now, nationwide, a leading force in what Mr Khan calls the “tsunami” the PTI has started. Some well-dressed middle-aged residents were voting for the first time. They used to think their votes would be wasted. (Besides, voting is one of the few tiresome chores that is hard to delegate to a servant.) Others used to vote for the MQM.

Karachi’s endemic political violence is one of the most intractable of the myriad problems facing Mr Sharif’s new government. Making up perhaps 20% of the country’s GDP, the city is hard for even a Punjabi-based government to ignore. Besides its gangster-style politics, it is also home to extremists from the Pakistani Taliban and other terrorist groups.

The MQM is both the best-organised of the parties and the one best able to bully and intimidate its rivals. “It is a fascist party,” says Mr Alvi. And it is wounded. During wave after wave of migration into Karachi, it has defended the Mohajirs, some of whom see themselves, having quit India for Pakistan, as Pakistan’s truest citizens, and some of whom, to the MQM’s evident dismay, just voted for the PTI. Some Mohajirs feel that, unlike Pushtuns, Sindhis and Punjabis, they have nowhere else to go. In the words of an MQM activist quoted in “Pakistan: A Hard Country”, a 2011 book by Anatol Lieven, a British scholar: “We have our backs to the sea.” And their party will not yield an inch.

Courtesy: 'The Economist' May 2013 ..
Link: http://www.economist.com/news/asia/2...ment-backs-sea


The Question:
Now, although nothing much new has been stated by the magazine and facts written are well known to general public in Pakistan .. My question relates to the very subject of this article: 'Backs to the sea' .. Is this the notion which they use to emotionally blackmail the people who support them of their free-will .. ? I mean, who has ever said to Muhajirs that they can be driven out of Sindh .. ? It is MQM who time and again talks of parting away instead .. So why do they have their backs to the sea, portraying as they have no where else to go and like they are being coerced to be eliminated .. ? I can find no other meaning to this 'backs to the sea' notion .. What do you guys think .. ?


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In order to grasp the true feeling behind their BACKS TO SEA; we need to have a glance at history. There are two kind of Muhajirs in Karachi if I am wrong please correct me. One type consists of those who came here at partition phase one i.e 14 August 1947. Second type consists of those BIHAARIS who favoured to live with Pakistan in phase 2 partition 1971. Many of those Bihaaris still live in camps neither they are accepted in India at heart, nor in Bangladesh. Their relatives in Pakistan kept hoping for their settlement in Pakistan as vowed by the government but unfulfilled. These people have been denied their true identity... Pehly ye logh khud ko ezaat dilany main Muhajir kehty they or ab muhajir kehlaty kehlaty unki Paksitani shanakht kaheen khoo gae hai. What happened with them in Ayub and Zia era is responsible for their such attitude. When you exploit any faction of people you are preparing an armed conflict for future. As far as MQM is concerned they have transformed themselves from ethnic Muhajir quomi Movement to national agenda of Mutahida Quomi Movement. In my humble opinion MQM has been weakened internally during last 5 years. They need to restructure themselves as they are doing by restructuring Rabta Committees.

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Everyone Dies But Not Everyone Lives!

Up to some extend i agree with your point of view. The 1st migration was held during partition 1947, but the clear picture is that almost that was the largest migration on the earth at that time, people moved from India to Pakistan and from Pakistan to India. Majority if Sikhs moved to Indian province of Punjab and Muslim came from all over the India and vast majority of Muslims settle in Punjab. Even my forefathers belongs to Bihar but at that time my grandfather was government officer, at time of partition my grandfather was posted in Multan. My father born in Multan, he did graduation from Punjab University and appointed as a government officer in HBL, at that time HBL was the government bank. Now our family belongs to Punjab, we are all Punjabi and we are good Punjabi speakers as well (It is good to say that we are Pakistani First). Apart from this, My grandfather's Brother, He was also the government officer but he was appointed to east Pakistan. At that time majority of people were not aware about East or West Pakistan, even they didn't know, the 2nd migration took place after indo pak war in 1971. This time people moved from Bangladesh to Pakistan, The people of Bangladesh deliberately killed Urdu speakers, majority of Urdu speakers belonged to Indian province of Bihar and UP. That was the history and now majority of people forget that history, more then 200 thousand people killed in Bangladesh and many people went to Jail in the name of Jangi Kaidi (War Hostages). After 1971 war, the Urdu speakers, who lived in Bangladesh and India moved Pakistan again. More than 95% people moved to Karachi. Up till now these people call themselves mojhairs and mqm says that they represent these mohajirs but on this time, on the day of election, people of Karachi shows some resistance and oppose mqm. Kindly don't balm bihari for that.
LOVE PAKISTAN, LOVE PAKISTANI'S

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Knowledge is power and Ignorance is death (Hazrat Ali a.s).

I never blamed Bihaari for that. I just quoted from history. If all people whether they are Punjabi, Saraiki, Sindhi, Pashtun, Baloch or Muhajir clothe themselves into Pakistani; all problems will be solved.

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Everyone Dies But Not Everyone Lives!

@ sabahatbhutta

The case with Biharis is different and so is with those trapped in equal circumstances in Bangladesh .. Question was regarding people of Sindhi, Urdu Speaking or Sindhis, Migrants and others .. Why do they have their backs to the sea .. ? Who has ever threatened to evict them and where .. ? And do you see no coercion on people who gather at calls of MQM every now and then .. ? Are they all there, every time, acting on their own free will .. ? Who is the real representative of the people of Sindh .. ? Do they really need a man living abroad to represent them .. ? Why is an allegation on Altaf always taken as an allegation on Sindh and on all who dwell there .. ?

@ Syedanjumhussain

Thanks for the history bro but no one's blaming Biharis ..

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You Have To Keep Breaking Your Heart Until It Opens .. !! Rumi ..

That's The Simple Solution, You are 100% Right.

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Knowledge is power and Ignorance is death (Hazrat Ali a.s).

@every one
dear guys I know mqm closely. mqm doesnot represent muhajirs/urduspeakers. rather I would say mqm and altaf has destroyed the carees/future of urdu speaking youth. mqm when was formed, was told to the urdu speakers that all the people of pakistan i-e sindhis, pakhtuns, balochs, punjabis, gilgities and kashmiries are your enemies. they labelled sindhis, balochs and pakhtuns as jahils, and punjabis as mukhbrs.mqm played key role to increase the psyche of ethnocentrism among urdu speakers. and they further included in their manifesto that we (MQM) will separate 40% area of sindh from pakistan and will create a new state or at least we will make a new provence(muhajir suba) for urdu speakers, and will also eradicate the quota system in sindh.
my simple question is that mqm was all in all authority form 2002 to 2008 in sindh, but none of the any clause of its manifesto was fulfilled.
in simple words altaf has hostages my Urdu speaker brothers and sisters, in one way or other it has nothing to do with urdu speaking, there are 30 to 50 men in mqm who enjoy all the authority, common urdu speaking is still sufferings from the grievances which he/she suffered during partition 1947 or before creation of mqm.
karachi is the most developed in each aspect of life, but there are hardly 2 to 3 urdu speakers who qualify css exam, despite having all the educational facilities in karachi. as all urdu speaking youth is bound to obey nine zero, so none is allowed to make his/her own identity.
where as sindhi youth who in order to create sense of superiority among urdu speaking by mqm, was labelled as jahils, could easily get reasonable share in css exam, same is also with my pakhtuns and baloch brothers, if they(sindhis, balochs, pakhtuns) are jahils, how they pass such mighty exams. despite having no any reasonable development in rural sindh and in kpk and in balochistan.
need of the hour for my urdu speaking brothers and sisters is to avoid mqm politics, better to vote for p.t.i. play the role of voter only and don't engage themselves in regular politics. and own all the ethnicities of Pakistan as part of their own. and respect them.