On December 14, the outfit’s secretary general Dr Imran Farooq claimed that the situation can come under control only if Altaf Hussain is released. Altaf Hussain and ten other leaders of the outfit were arrested on November 2 that year which only increased the street violence in Mohajir dominated cities. Two months later, on October 31, rioting in Karachi and Hyderabad, another MQM (A) stronghold, left 12 persons dead. It began with the first public meeting on August 8, 1986, which was accompanied by aerial firing, street violence and damage to public property by participants. Violence has always accompanied the outfit’s political activities. To disguise itself as a broad social formation, the outfit dropped the term Mohajir from its title and renamed itself the Muttahida Quomi Mahaz (United National Front) In 1992, going against the civilian political executive, the army reportedly encouraged a split in the outfit helping create the MQM (H) under the leadership of Afaq Ahmed and Aamir Khan, who were earlier top members of MQM’s armed wing. Ever since it has been a major actor in Pakistan’s politics even as it maintains an armed cadre that has repeatedly indulged in urban terrorism. It came on the national stage with a massive rally in Karachi on August 8. For two years, the outfit maintained a low profile reportedly concentrating on building its cadre base in Karachi and Hyderabad. Altaf Hussain went on, in 1984, to form the MQM. The first assertions of a distinct ethnic identity were made by the All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation" (APMSO) founded by Altaf Hussain in Karachi in 1978. With the increasing power of the military over the State apparatus, the community found its pre-eminent position being increasingly usurped by the Punjabi dominated military-bureaucratic formation that effectively ruled Pakistan since Gen. In the immediate post-partition period, the community formed one of the most influential lobbies in Pakistan having been closely associated with the movement for the country and its founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah. Largely natives of India’s Bihar and Uttar Pradesh provinces, this community maintains a distinct identity for itself. They now constitute the largest segment in Sindh’s urban population. This ethnic term refers to refugees from India who settled in Karachi and other urban centres of Sindh province. The MQM sought to portray itself, in its initial years as an organisation of Mohajirs. In its latest display of clout in Mohajir dominated areas, it called for a boycott of local body elections held in July 2001 and ensured a low turnout in areas dominated by its cadre.
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After a series of strong measures taken by the State in 1998, the MQM (A) has largely reoriented itself into an exclusively political outfit. The two factions have been responsible for several incidents of urban terrorism even as the MQM (A) participates in Pakistan’s electoral process. A breakaway faction, created in 1992, retains the original name Mohajir Quomi Movement - with the suffix Haqiqi which means real - and is commonly referred to as MQM (H). The faction led by the founder Altaf Hussain was renamed Muttahida Quomi Mahaz and is commonly referred to as MQM (A). Originally formed as the Mohajir Quomi Movement (MQM), it is now split into two factions. The most potent threat to Pakistan’s internal security in the late Nineteen Eighties and early Nineties was posed by militia from the Mohajir community. (Previously known as Mohajir Quomi Movement)