How June 1992 reshaped fate of MQM's top three

Dr Imran Farooq’s story, seen within MQM as its key strategist, was among the most dramatic to emerge after the June 19, 1992, military operation against the party, which was once the sole voice of urban Sindh.

He survived nearly seven years hiding in the basement of an MQM leader’s house in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority area. But when he resurfaced in London, he could not survive — and was eventually killed.

Farooq, like Azeem Ahmed Tariq and even MQM founder Altaf Hussain, belonged to a middle-class family, as did most MQM leaders in those days. But after the 1992 operation, their fates diverged. Of the three, Altaf Hussain was the only one to survive. He has lived in London since January 1992 and is now a British national, while his party has remained unofficially defunct since August 22, 2016.

The 1992 operation was a turning point in Sindh’s politics — particularly in urban areas like Karachi — and marked a dramatic shift in the MQM’s trajectory. Many of its leaders met tragic fates: some were killed, others left the country, hundreds were arrested, and several joined MQM-Haqiqi — some willingly, others under pressure.

That state-led campaign against the party also resulted in political turmoil. After MQM withdrew its support, the Pakistan Muslim League  backed government of Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah faced a survival challenge, until those handling the operation reportedly forced some MQM lawmakers in the Sindh Assembly to join the government. The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which was also opposed to Shah, faced a similar crisis when some of its members of the provincial assembly (MPAs) were also forced to switch loyalties.

Interestingly, on the day the operation was launched, former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was in London. When Hussain contacted him, he was unaware of the developments. He assured the MQM leader that he would reach out to the concerned authorities.

Farooq could not survive for long after resurfacing. In my last conversation with him, weeks after he came out of hiding, he told me he was writing about his ordeal during the years he spent underground. “Mazhar bhai, I’m mentally and physically exhausted,” he said, “but I’m trying to recall those years in one room.”

One of the MQM leaders who remained in touch with Farooq during those years revealed that he was given a satellite phone through which he was asked to stay in contact with Hussain and three to four other party leaders. “It was never easy for him to live such a lonely life for so many years, but he was rock solid,” a prominent MQM leader said.

“Since it was difficult to trace the satellite phone, he continued limited political activities, which at least kept him active; otherwise, it was even difficult for him to see sunlight,” she added.

Meanwhile, Dr Nadeem Nusrat,— once very close to Hussain and among the few who accompanied him when he first left for Saudi Arabia and later settled in London — has, for the first time, written about his three decades with the party in a book titled Tareekh Ka Qarz, spread over four volumes, two of which will be available in the market soon. He has written in some detail about what went wrong with MQM and Hussain.

About Farooq, Nusrat revealed that while he was underground, a private meeting was once set up between him and the former sector commander of a premier intelligence agency, the late Brigadier Aman. “The meeting was arranged on the assurance from Brig Aman that he (Farooq) would not be arrested or harmed — and the former kept his word,” the MQM leader discloses in his book.

While Nusrat shared his account as a frontline leader once close to Hussain, other party sources revealed that Farooq’s departure from Pakistan was a rushed decision. When he landed in London, a team of MQM lawyers was there, and he applied for political asylum.

Azeem Ahmad Tariq, the second most important figure in the party and often regarded as the possible successor to Hussain, could not sustain the pressure and surfaced within months after the operation. At one stage, he wanted to quit the party but was stopped by Farooq through his satellite phone connection. However, his assassination in his house on May 1, 1993, at a time when he was about to quit MQM, remains a mystery. His widow, who now lives in the US, is also a key eyewitness, as she was present when he was killed.

Hussain belongs to a middle-class family, and for over three decades, his plainly-built house — 90 in Azizabad — symbolised the party headquarters and hosted many top political leaders seeking his and his party's support. Among them were former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, sitting President Asif Ali Zardari, Awami National Party founder Khan Abdul Wali Khan, and many others. Today, 90 Azizabad is history, and the party led by Hussain is considered ‘unofficially defunct’ following his controversial remarks and alleged anti-Pakistan slogan during a phone address from London on August 22, 2016.

Hussain is considered a firebrand speaker, while Tariq was the political face, and Farooq was regarded as the strategist of the party. Among the three, only Hussain is alive, living in self-exile since he left for London in January 1992, reportedly after being warned by former Sindh chief minister, the late Jam Sadiq Ali. He first went to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and from there proceeded to London with some of his close party leaders.

In MQM, everyone has a story to tell, particularly those who remained close to Hussain. Some blame him for where the party stands today, citing his refusal to return and the ‘violent factor’ that ultimately led to MQM’s downfall. However, it would be unfair to place all the blame on him, as the way the establishment used MQM for political gains and later abandoned it is another story altogether.

Farooq never intended to lead the party or form a new one. The fact that he remained underground for nearly seven years while staying in the party is yet unexplained. It is also true that he seemed to lose some of his edge after resurfacing and rejoining MQM at the London Secretariat. After Tariq, the assassination of Farooq raised further questions about the violent ends met by the party’s top leaders.

MQM and its politics now feel like history, though the party still exists in fragments, its story of political glory and the tragic fate of its key leaders remains one worth telling.

The writer is a columnist and analyst of GEO, The News and Jang

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