MQM by any other name

The Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) announced on 26 July that it was changing its name to Mutahida Qaumi Mahaz (United National Movement). The proposal is not new. It was first floated in 1991, and party chief Altaf Hussain had even appointed a "Chief Organiser" in Islamabad to oversee the opening of national offices in the other provinces. Soon afterwards, however, Mr Hussain had to flee to London, following a split in the MQM which made it unsafe for him to remain in Karachi. (The split delivered Mr Hussain´s MQM-Altaf and MQM-Haqiqi, led by former party stalwart Afaq Ahmed. Both factions have their political base in the Sindh cities of Karachi and Hyderabad.)   The name-change was formally announced at a press conference by Senator Ishtiaq Azhar, convenor of the MQM´s Coordination Committee. The 30-member committee has been expanded to include three more people, one each from Punjab, NWFP and Balochistan.

The change of name may be viewed by some as a positive step in the context of Pakistani politics, for it clearly represents an attempt to have a wider ethnic appeal than the Urdu-speaking ´refugee´ community which forms the group´s base. Certainly, the announcement was welcomed by parties like the right-wing Jamat-e-Islami, from the ranks of which a great proportion of the MQM membership is drawn. In fact, the rise of the MQM in Hyderababd and Karachi meant the Jamat downfall in those cities, and this may explain why the Jamat would welcome the MQM announcement. A nationwide focus would dilute the MQM´s support base in the two urban centres.