IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author): “Information on the activities of the Mohajir Qaumi Mahaz (MQM) in 1992, especially with respect to the national government of Pakistan and the Sindh provincial government [PAK12609]”, Document #1177112

Information on the activities of the Mohajir Qaumi Mahaz (MQM) in 1992, especially with respect to the national government of Pakistan and the Sindh provincial government [PAK12609]

Soon after the replacement of the Sindh chief minister in March 1992, the leader of the Mohajir Qaumi Mahaz's (MQM) labour union, who was a prominent member of the ruling Islamic Democratic Alliance (IDA), was killed in Karachi (UPI 21 Mar. 1992).

Operation "Blue Fox," whose objective was to round up "bandits and terrorists" in Sindh, started in June 1992 when MQM factions began fighting with one another (FEER 2 July 1992, 23). The army was sent to several cities including Karachi and Hyderabad, and to the countryside in order to re-establish law and order (Asiaweek 5 June 1992). The army proceeded to dismantle the MQM and arrested members of political parties as well (FEER 6 Aug. 1992, 18). Protests and public meetings were officially banned in Sindh (AFP 29 July 1992). The government had previously been supportive of MQM's activities in Sindh in order to counter the influence of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and of Sindhi nationalist parties (Asiaweek 5 June 1992; 28 Aug. 1992; FEER 2 July 1992, 23). Following the army intervention in Sindh, the MQM left the IDA and its main leader, Altaf Hussain, has been in self-imposed exile in London (FEER 6 Aug. 1992, 18; AFP 29 July 1992).

Although the army has promised to be impartial in the conflict between the MQM and other groups in Sindh, it has reportedly crushed the Mohajir movement and revealed torture cells used by the Mohajirs against their opponents (The Economist 3 July 1992; FEER 6 Aug. 1992, 18). The president of Pakistan has granted the army a personal immunity from civil and criminal liability during the operation in Sindh (FEER 6 Aug. 1992, 19). The MQM is currently on uncertain grounds, mostly due to the fact that it disassociated itself from the government and that it is divided by an internal power struggle (Carnegie Endowment 17 Nov. 1992). The Pakistani minister of interior, Chaudhary Shujat Hussain, has categorically stated, on 6 October 1992, that the army would not withdraw from Sindh before law and order was fully restored in the province (BBC Summary 9 Oct. 1992).

The MQM took over the municipal governments of Karachi and Hyderabad in the late 1980s (FEER 6 Aug. 1992, 18). In Karachi, the police was therefore controlled by the Mohajirs, and policemen were mostly Mohajirs (Department of Political Science, Wake Forest University 10 Nov. 1992). However, since the army intervention in Sindh, the municipal corporations have not been functioning, and elected representatives are barred from effective control of the cities (FEER 17 Nov. 1992). The police forces in Karachi and Hyderabad have also undergone changes in the government "Operation Clean-up" (The Economist 3 July 1992). A splinter group, the MQM Haqiqi, has developed in 1992 within the MQM and has distanced itself from the militant views of Altaf Hussain (FEER 6 Aug. 1992, 19).

References

Agence France Presse (AFP) 29 July 1992. "Tension Builds Up in Pakistan Ahead of Opposition's Protest." (NEXIS)

Asiaweek [Hong Kong]. 28 August 1992. "The Trials of Nawaz Sharif."

_____. 5 June 1992. "Pakistan: An Army Swoop in Sind."

BBC Summary of World Broadcasts. 9 October 1992. "Pakistan: Interior Minister Rules out Army Withdrawal from Sindh." (NEXIS)

Carnegie Endowment, Washington. 17 November 1992. Telephone interview with a professor specializing in Pakistani issues.

The Economist [London]. 3 July 1992. "The Clean-up."

Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER), Islamabad. 17 November 1992. Telephone interview with the Pakistan correspondent.

Far Eastern Economic Review (FEER) [Hong Kong]. 6 August 1992. Hamish McDonald. "Things Fall Apart: Sindh Crisis Pits Army Against Politicians," p. 18.

_____. 2 July 1992. Salamat Ali. "Streets of Fire: Urban Violence Invites More Army Intervention," p. 23.

United Press International (UPI). 21 March 1992. "Pakistan Police Arrest 48 After Killing."

Wake Forest University, Department of Political Science, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. 10 November 1992. Telephone Interview with a professor specializing in Pakistan politics.

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