Pak Poll Diary: In and out of exile

Pakistan is a revolving door for its politicians, all of whom have taken regular turns to come in and go out of the country in succession.

What's more amazing, all the years spent away doesn’t impact their parties too much.

At a rally in Attock, Nawaz Sharif, says he is surprised himself.

"Out of sight, out of mind, that’s normally the way," explained the PML-N leader as he basked in the chants of the crowds that came to see him, "Its a miracle my party cadre has stayed intact.

"The elections results of course would only serve to make him and Benazir, were she alive, happier, and still more surprised.

Both the PPP and the PML-N- that have come up trumps have had a leadership that’s lived abroad for the most part of a decade.

Clearly for Pakistan, "Out of sight is definitely NOT out of mind". Exile in a sense is considered a penance, a hardship according to most Pakistanis I meet.

Despite the reality of Nawaz Sharif's Saudi palace, and Benazir's Wentworth estate, they say both leaders spent the most miserable years abroad.

More proof, I think is that despite all the threats she faced from the establishment and from the extremists, Benazir decided to return to Pakistan, and stay on even after that deadly bombing in Karachi.

On a trip to Karachi last week, I saw a glimpse of another leader who has spent several years in exile. Or rather, I heard a glimpse.

For lakhs of his supporters at the MQM, Altaf Hussain is king. And he rules from his home in London where he fled in 1992 after two assassination attempts on him.

My first glimpse of him comes at a press conference to inaugurate the MQM's latest media center. The party may lack a leader in person, but not for funds.

Its media center in "90", the Azizabad area that is known simply by the number of Altaf's house, is a journalist's dream- with wall to wall television screens that show every news channel known to Pakistani man, national and international.

Surprisingly for the all the hi-tech gizmo around me, Altaf himself communicates with his people through a rather low-tech telephone, whose speaker is hooked up to a microphone.

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Altaf calls in for the press conference giving a speech, with pauses where he asks journalists for a response, while a still photograph of him smiles at us from a monitor above.

Even so, nothing can prepare me for the election rally at night. As we enter the Shamiana, one of a massive four that have been set up across Karachi, we are struck by how disciplined the MQM workers are.

Thousands have gathered under this tent, most of them Mohajirs, many of them middle class professionals: doctors; lawyers; computer engineers. They sit quietly as their leader begins his 'speech' via phone, only interjecting with questions when he asks them to.

I go up to a young couple that is listening with eyes glistening. Ubaid and Nasreen are in their twenties so they must have been infants when Altaf Hussain left Pakistan - doesn't it bother them they have never seen their leader, I ask?

After all this isn't a cult, and Altaf isn't a religious leader, this is one of Pakistan's larger political parties.

"The results are visible enough for us, " they say, "Karachi has seen more development under the MQM than any other party. After what happened to Benazir, I wouldn't want to ask Altaf Hussain to return," says another supporter, Dr. Noor.

Outside the tent- the MQM and Altaf Hussain are seen as divisive forces, who fuel Sindhi-Punjabi and Sindhi-Pukhtoon rivalries, along with older allegations they are 'agents of India'.

Imran Khan calls Altaf a criminal who incites "terrorist activities" from abroad. But Altaf's control of Karachi is complete, and Imran can no longer even visit Karachi after police said the threat to him after his showdown with Altaf was too high.

The MQM's control is made stronger by these elections where they ran neck and neck with the PPP in many constituencies, winning a sizable number of provincial and national assembly seat- proving once again the 'out of sight out not of mind' theory.

And as he thinks about his future after the bodyblow he has received in this election, President Musharraf may well want to try a stint in exile himself. Who knows?