Re: Why MQM gets votes and what can be done about it [split: Election Results]
I think anyone who supports PML-Q, PML-N, PPP is just as guilty as an MQM supporter. All 4 parties can be very thuggish when they want to be. I do not think an MQM supporter has anything to be ashamed of in particular.
This thread is about why people support the MQM - I ask myslf why people support PPP, PML-Q, PML-N etc.
Th MQM roots lie in a reaction to ethnic and linguistic differences and support by the Zia regime to weaken his opponents.
It must have been very difficult for muslims from India to have come to Pakistan and integrate especially when so many settld in Karachi, Hyderabad and other areas of Sindh. They created ghettos which bcame exploited by the Zia regime. Karachi must be considered a home turf for Urdu speakers and thy must no longer be reminded they are Muhajirs or Immigrants when they are just as Pakistani as the rest. Every ethniccity within Pakistan has a home area so why should the Urdu speaking community not have it?
Th MQM have organised thmselvs into a very effective group but they must not resort to violence and they must abandon AAltaf Hussain - i also would like to see Nawaz sharif and Zardari abandoned so its not exclusively Altaf who receives my hate.
The MQM must learn to live with others and work to the benefit of all not just their own areas.
On a social level the Urdu speaking community must feel it self under a lot of threat as their numbers ar not increasing as fast as the population of Pashtuns who are now assrting themselves within Karachi. In the UK we often hear stories of how Muslim immigrants are refusing to intgrate and creating ghetto's - I am guessing the MQM leadership has done a similar tactic with its voters with threats of Pashtuns taking over Karachis, Sindhis trying to force their identity upon them and Punjabis trying to exploit them. There maybe a lot of truth in these but the way to deal with thm is not conflict.
I suppose Urdu speakers do not want to become a minority within their own areas even though they probably made others a minority in Karachi.