The recent spate of targeted killings in Karachi has garnered much media coverage, with news agencies reporting that 41 people have died in the commercial capital since the beginning of the year, “including 10 MQM workers, 10 from a breakaway faction called Haqiqi, and 16 members of a committee set up by the ruling party in Lyari to control violence in the area.” Most of the victims were reportedly killed because of their political affiliations.
According to BBC News, “It was the discovery of the decapitated body of an activist from the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) in the old city area of Lyari which sparked off the latest round of violence.” Speaking to the LA Times, analyst Ikram Sehgal described the current situation in Karachi, “Think of Chicago or New York a century ago.”
Despite joint calls by PPP and MQM leaders to restore order to the city, this is not the first time such a conflict has erupted. Dawn’s Huma Yusuf reported,
Karachi has a long history of ethnic conflict, sectarian violence, land mafias and intra- and inter-party tensions. All these have been in play during this past fortnight, making it abundantly clear that a discerning approach to Karachi’s violence is required. Policing and investigations into recent incidents must be informed by knowledge of ‘local’ social, political and economic factors, which in this city of 18 million differ from locality to locality. For that reason, the MQM’s request for the Rangers, the army and intelligence agencies to maintain law and order in the city is akin to slapping a band-aid on a deep, infected wound.
For many of us not from or currently living in Karachi, such a complex situation may seem daunting or difficult to understand. Below are some FAQ’s to better breakdown the nuances of this conflict:
Q: Who are the main parties in this conflict and how did it escalate out of control?
While Karachi has many rival gangs and factions, the main parties in the current conflict are workers or gang members associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which controls Karachi, and the Pakistan People’s Party, (PPP) which controls the provincial government of Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital.
While some of the recent killings have been linked to the general crime syndicates, many have been attributed to the land mafia, noted a journalist currently covering the story in Karachi.
The LA Times, in its coverage, noted, “Rival gangs aligned with political parties are at war in part because a large number of long-term land leases are about to expire, some dating back nearly a century to the days of British rule, with ownership reverting back to the local government.” Although Sehgal told the news agency, “This is all about land. It’s incredibly valuable and it’s up for grabs,” the journalist I spoke to noted,
For political expediency things are being blamed on just the land mafia or just the Baloch gangs in Lyari whereas it’s really a broader mix of elements. Some of it may be about land but in the end it’s all political and some say it has been linked with the abolishment of the local government system.
Ultimately, Karachi has a long history of factional violence and gang warfare, so many of these factors have become yet another reason to reopen old wounds.
Q: Why has Lyari been the hot spot for the recent violence and attention?
Lyari Town, one of 18 constituent towns in Karachi, is dominated by ethnic Balochis, who form a major vote bank for the PPP. The area has become the center of the rise in killings due to the lawless nature of the area, populated by gangs involved in activities like extortion and drugs. The journalist I spoke to noted, “The Baloch [in Lyari] have been an easy target because they don’t have proper representation in the government. The PPP gets their votes from this group but they don’t adequately represent them.”
In response to the government’s subsequent deployment of paramilitary forces to Lyari, (which led to nearly 50 arrests), Lyari’s People’s Aman [“Peace”] Committee launched a protest on Monday against both PPP and MQM leaders. One organizer of the rally told reporters, “The government is victimizing its own people to appease its political allies, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. We demand an operation in the whole city without any discrimination.” My journalist source, who has been reporting on the story, noted that many believe the government is undertaking this operation to show that “something is being done,” and targeted Lyari because it is an area that “can easily be disturbed without great political repercussions.”
Q: How effective have these paramilitary troops been in restoring some semblance of control in Karachi?
As the targeted killings increased over the weekend, Interior Minister Rehman Malik ordered patrols by police and paramilitary rangers to curb the violence, while asserting that political parties were not involved in the killings. While this appeared to work, at least temporarily, the LA Times noted that many in Karachi “didn’t expect it to last.” The aforementioned journalist source, based in Karachi, echoed, “The rangers that have been sent in with the police won’t make much of a difference, particularly since the police is politicized and doesn’t come under the jurisdiction of the city government.
Q: If violence between rival gangs and factions associated with political parties is not a new phenomenon, how can the cycle be broken?
According to Dawn’s Huma Yusuf, recognizing that the dynamics of Karachi’s violence is locally defined (i.e. not associated with militancy in Swat for example) and entrenched in a long history is “the first step towards effectively maintaining peace and stability.”
In the opinion of the journalist I interviewed, one immediate and long-term solution is developing a better funded and “de-politicized” police force, which can provide a more solid foundation for law and order. He noted, “29,000 police with around 90 odd police stations in a city of 18 million is completely inadequate.”
Although joint statements by the MQM and the PPP in the aftermath of these killings is significant, a top-down political solution will not be sufficient in fully addressing the multiple problems that exist on the ground. If the government seeks to achieve a long-term solution, [not just a strategy that places a band-aid over the problem] it must address the systematic root causes behind the violence and the inter-rivalries. Whether it’s the drug, land, or tanker mafia, this has ultimately been a struggle for power with continuously dire consequences.
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Karachi is the economic hub of Pakistan and undoubetedly the militants have struck the heard of Pakistan on this occasion. The people of Karachi should keep their nerves as raising violence at this time can be really devastating for the country and that is what the terrorist want.
Violence breeds further atrocities, two wrongs cannot make a right. Such lawlessness in a cosmopolitan like Karachi will give opportunity to splinter cells of TTP to strengthen its roots. The state needs to restore the respect of law and for this certain unpopular decisions may need to be taken
I think an important addendum to the above piece is that the violence in Karachi is localized and is not related to militancy in the country or even the city. HOWEVER, it is important to recognize that both are not mutually exclusive, especially since militants often use drug trafficking as a means to fund their operations. It would be interesting to track the connections between organized crime and militant groups in Karachi.
kalsoom:
my info is a bit dated…(2008 …when i talked with folks there)
the journalists do not/cannot/chose not to talk about this in public
lyari is the playground of the “agencies”…they supported rival gangs and take a cut of profits (think iran contra)
doubt if things have changed dramatically since
****
the other factor is abundance of guns
thank Zi(n)a for it
Qoute “It would be interesting to track the connections between organized crime and militant groups in Karachi.”
@kalsoom there have been alleged rumors of that the infamous Rehman dacoits had links with TTP. While the current turmoil in Karachi cannot be attributed to these elements I think we cannot disregard the concerns that such elements can take benefit of the prevailing situation.
Ammar,
I completely agree. In fact, here’s a good related piece from the NYT on this very topic: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/world/asia/29karachi.html?pagewanted=all
Kalsoom,I admire the variety and depth of articles on your blog.
I think you are well conected too,so I am wiriting this letter to,
Mr.President Zardari,may I suggest to initiate: “building a world class football stadium movemet in lyari”.
I know people of this locality have world class potential.
I strongly believe that when we,the citizens,will start building something we will have no time to fight and destroy.
Pakistan Zindabad.
It is not just Karachi that is suffering from suicide attacks. Last year was the most deadly in the history of Pakistan. 500 attacks and blasts. Can one imagine?? I am sad for my country. We all must fail the militants and distort their foolish ideology of killing innocent civilians and winning the land over! May Allah bless Pakistan with peace. Ameen.
Rs. 1 billion were given for the victims of the violence in Karachi. We keep criticizing the west but what we don’t understand where does all the grant disappear once it is released to our country. If more transparency existed in Pakistan I do not think the victims would have suffered as much as they recently have.
Karachi has been enduring violence days and nights for the last couple years on a regular basis. During this period the death toll has reached in hundreds. It is home to about 18 million people and serves as business hub of the country. The government says that there is evidence that those causing trouble in the city have links to the Taliban. Political killings have recently been escalated. Members of the ruling alliance of three parties been shot dead.
A couple of weeks ago, the mafia made their presence felt once again in Karachi when they killed a political figure Raza Haider, senior leader of the city’s dominant political party, along with two guards. After this sad incident , government claimed to bring the cold-blooded culprits to law. This incident triggered the chaos and violence deteriorating the law and order situation throughout the city. Outbreak of violence following the deadly attack resulted death of several innocent people.
Federal Interior Minister stated that this assassination could be the work of Taliban-linked militants. But MQM, representing the city’s majority Urdu-speaking community, blamed the attack on a rival political force, the Awami National Party which is a representative of Karachi ‘s ethnic Pashtun population. It has been seen that these two major political forces have routinely blamed each other for deadly attacks on their activists. It won’t be totally wrong to say that these outbreaks of violence in the city has exposed the helplessness and inability of the government to perform its basic duty which is to protect its citizens.