Amongst the killed was PPP leader and former law maker, Waja Karim Dad, who was shot dead by unidentified gunmen along with four of his associates at a restaurant in Kharadar locality. The political-ethnic violence in Karachi this year is described by observers as the deadliest since 1995, when 900 people were killed in the first six months of the year. Like always, Orangi Township and Lyari, which are no more than over crowded ghettos of the city’s poor, are bearing the brunt of the current wave of violence and have heart-wrenching tales. The Police are mere bystanders these days, telling the victims ‘not to bother them and get their own revenge’, going by the tale of a father of nine children, Sher Khan. His house was taken over by armed men on July 5 in Orangi No. 5, while dozens of houses in his neighbourhood were burnt by ‘terrorists’ who used ‘alcohol bottles filled with petrol’
The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) led by London- based Altaf Hussain has always been on the right side of whoever happened to be the winning horse. It has been friendly with the two main parties of Pakistan – the PPP and PML-N in turns and with the permanent establishment of Pakistan, namely the army.
This approach benefitted it organizationally, politically, and in all other ways and has been able to emerge as the loudest voice of the Mohajirs- the Urdu speaking people from India’s Uttar Pradesh and Bihar who had migrated to Karachi at the time of partition of the Indian sub-continent in 1947. And MQM has always managed to have its way with its demands. Like now, when it made President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani agree to a new power-sharing arrangement under which the Musharraf-era local government system is revived. It was this system that had helped MQM to broaden and deepen its hold over Karachi during Musharraf rule.
The Sindh PPP leaders are against the plan; so were the leaders of Awami National Party (ANP) which represents the Pashtuns’ interest in the province. Both were by passed to their dismay and anger.
When the Prime Minister flew into Karachi on Aug 22 for working out an action plan, the ANP made its displeasure public by not attending his meeting. The MQM also refused to see the Prime Minister since its latest charge is that PPP and “some of its ministers” are patronizing the killers targeting the Mohajir localities. Business leaders, who also have a big stake in the well-being of Karachi waited to meet Gilani but couldn’t. Commenting on the Gilani visit, The Express Tribune editorially said, ‘If one was to judge the Prime Minister’s visit, it would be fair to say that almost no one was pleased with his presence’.
Plainly speaking, the government’s credibility is low today. Its dilemma on the question of summoning the army for duty has dented its image further since both the ANP and the MQM as also the business community, are for calling the army. The Prime Minister decided after deliberations with the Sindh cabinet to launch ‘surgical operations’ against the target-killers of Karachi. Now what does the term ‘surgical operations’ mean? Well, there is no official definition. It is at best a platitude. Nothing more.
Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has reasons to worry about Karachi. The city hosts the Mehran base of the Navy and it was attacked by Taliban with some inside help on May 22 -23. The Corps Commanders, who constitute the Shura of the establishment, met in Rawalpindi on August 8 and deliberated on the deteriorating situation in Karachi and ‘its ramifications or implications on the national economy’. A terse statement from the Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR), hoped that the measures recently taken by the government would help end the violence in the city. The statement appeared to suggest that the army was running out of patience with the civilian authorities.
But it was not a signal that the army was ready to do the honours in Karachi. Pakistan military is known to act beyond its mandate. Under Gen Kayani, army’s public statements on matters considered to be the domain of the civilian government have been rare. However, they have been far from completely absent.
As army chief, Kayani has not shunned politics of the country. Unlike his predecessors, who loved to be heard and seen, he is working discreetly from the sidelines, keeping open the channels of communications with the main parties and religious groups. For instance, his interlocutor from PML-N, the younger brother of Nawaz Sharif, regularly drives down to the GHQ in his private vehicle. And this way Kayani has secured an image that he stays out of politics.
Frankly, Gen Kayani is not willing to take the risk so soon after the flak he had faced in the wake of Abbottabad operation undertaken by the Americans to smoke out Osama bib Laden, honoured guest of a security agency. Hence he has reportedly said that the army will be happy to restore peace in Karachi, but only if the duly elected government calls upon it to do so.
Kayani knows Karachi is not Kurram. The ethnic strife in the metropolis is not of yesterday or the day before. Successive government –both civilian and military have failed to gain an upper hand in controlling the gang wars and targeted killers. And no government has been able to end the continuous flow of weapons into the city – all because of the patronage political parties and leaders of all hues extend to the weapon suppliers and end-users alike.
Most of the violence is on account of turf wars between leaders and activists of the PPP, MQM, and the ANP who have aligned themselves with slum landlords, drug barons and gun-runners in their competition for land, political influence and control of the ‘protection racket’. So, once on duty in the city of 18 million people, the army will have to choose sides between political parties and, by extension, be seen as targeting one ethnic community or the other.
On its part, the Zardari party is also averse to giving Karachi assignment to Kayani’s army. This is because of the fear of losing its USP. The party claims to have led the fight to restore democracy in Pakistan. An army deployment in the country’s largest city would be a humiliating admission of the government’s failure. It will also strengthen the hands of the generals with whom its relations remain fractious.
Historically Karachi’s violence has always between Mohajirs and the native Sindhis but in recent years it has acquired a new dimension with the entry of Awami National Party (ANP) in support of five million Pashtuns who have migrated from the terrorist haven of NWFP- northwest frontier province. Murders of activists from all sides began to increase sharply in May 2007 and rose rapidly after 2008 national elections, when the ANP won its first two city seats. MQM is determined to prevent the upstart gaining a foothold. Recently, Baloch gangsters associated with the PPP and based in Lyari have also been involved in heavy fighting with the MQM as they’ve sought to expand their turf.
The Dawn says the latest wave of communal-ethnic killings is mainly because of ‘the involvement of some Lyari gangsters in the Haqiqi-led attack on an MQM stronghold in Landhi-Malir area in July 2011, a protest campaign by many traders of Kharadar and adjoining areas against ‘protection money,’ and retaliatory action by the extortionist mafia and other affected groups.
Haqiqi (Muhajir Qaumi Movement-H) is a breakaway faction of the MQM. The split took place in 1991, after Altaf Hussain opened the party doors to non-Mohajirs. Both groups are locked in a deadly factional feud since then.
There is a Kashmir angle to the Karachi violence too. The MQM has drifted away from PPP at the time of ‘Azad’ Kashmir assembly elections in June. It laid claim to the two seats Karachi’s Kashmiri settlers have in the assembly. The rejection of the claim led to a public spat, MQM walk out from the alliance led by PPP and a sudden spurt in Karachi’s ethnic violence. The MQM wish has since been fulfilled but the PPP-MQM bonhomie has not yet helped end bloodshed in the city.
