In a move to salvage the faltering party politics of MQM, Dr Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, hinted at a possibility of reconciliation and reinstatement of deposed party head Dr Farooq Sattar incumbent upon his acceptance of four names proposed by the MQM-P coordination committee for March 3 Senate elections. In reciprocal conciliatory move Dr Sattar is also ready to withdraw the candidates he had fielded for the Senate elections which had instigated this saga.

The attempt at a cordial compromise is a timely decision to consolidate whatever is left of the party’s influence in the upcoming election. However, the recent public discord between the party factions went a long way to maim the image of the once indomitable MQM troupe. The political strife has weakened the party morale and its hold on the metropolitan city which is a reason enough for electables to defer to superior contenders come the elections. The outright contestation of Dr. Sattar’s fledgling control post-Altaf Hussain as the party’s convener signals the frailty of the party’s political matrix.

However, the exceedingly democratic nature of the discord, from the divergence of opinions to the splintering of the group and now an attempt at a reconciliation under the consideration of a constitutionally just campaign all herald the evolution of a more accessible MQM as opposed to the hierarchal and personality driven mob it was famed to be. Barring the political drama, the dissent of party members against preferentialism in nominations in the case of Tessori, was ultimately considered and conceded to, a demonstration of how egalitarian politics can be the tenet of political parties. It has set a precedent for MQM in denouncing its one-man leadership, and that denouncement, it seems, has been acknowledged by Sattar who however does maintain that he was left shorn of decision making in this process. Where the reinstatement of Dr. Sattar is a move to amalgamate the party polity, the dynamics of the party vis-à-vis decision making will be certainly reconfigured.

Ultimately, if the organisation is able to maintain this demureness and comb out its differences, it might be able to revive its influence and inspire confidence, this time on the altar of democratic principles rather than through despotic coercion. One can only hope that the internal power struggle and its current detrimental affect on the functioning of the local government, with split loyalties within the City Council between the Bahadurabad and PIB factions, comes to a close as well.