launched the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) – an ethnic Muhajir party that was to serve as the senior partner of the APMSO. On August 8, 1986, a day still celebrated by the party as the moment the MQM came to the fore as a political force, Altaf Hussain drew thousands of Muhajirs to a rally in Nishtar Park where he declared Muhajirs a fifth sub-nationality within Pakistan. A year after the rally in Nishtar Park, MQM swept the local bodies’ election in Karachi and Hyderabad. 1988-2016 After the 1988 General Elections, the muhajir nationalist MQM emerged as the third-largest political party of Pakistan, in alliance with PPP. Differences developed between the PPP and Muhajirs after dozens were killed at an MQM congregation by Sindhi nationalists, and the alliance fell apart in the wake of ensuing violence. In 1990 Pakistani general election MQM won 15 NA seats and 27% of the total vote in Sindh, but this time MQM lent its support to Nawaz Sharif's Islami Jamhoori Ittehad instead. In June 1992, a massive ‘Operation Cleanup’ was launched to rid the city of terrorism but muhajirs was selectively targeted. After the operation ended, MQM staged a comeback and a second crackdown against MQM was carried out during the tenure of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, in which many associated with the party were killed. In protest against these military operations many muhajirs boycotted the 1997 Pakistani general election, and this resulted in MQM winning only 12 NA seats and 20% of the total vote in Sindh. After the military takeover in 1999 by Pervez Musharraf, the muhajirs backed Pervez Musharraf strongly till his resignation in 2008. During Musharraf's era, many muhajirs lent their support to Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal and this caused a decline in the vote banks of other parties especially the MQM, which in 2002 Pakistani general election won 13 NA seats and 15% of the total vote in Sindh. But after Musharraf's fall from power, MQM again started to dominate Muhajir politics, and this became apparent when MQM swept 2008 Pakistani general election and 2013 Pakistani general election in Karachi and won 19 NA seats and 18 NA seats respectively. MQM cotinued to dominate the political scene of Karachi and Hyderabad until 2016 when it broke up into four factions and collapsed. 2016-Present Amid a fractured MQM, the populist leader Imran Khan's PTI started to dominate Karachi's politics with a multiethnic