September 09 , 2011

Invisible Hands behind Karachi Carnage

With the advent of Eidul Fitr celebrations, the ongoing bloodletting in Karachi has suddenly stopped. Considering the continued existence of the factors behind the carnage, one shouldn’t be surprised if the mayhem restarts soon. For the constantly harassed people of Karachi, even the brief interregnum was a godsend and they fully used it to meet their friends and relations, go out on group picnics and share in the celebrations. But, the ‘city of lights’, the ‘Aroosul Bilad’, had remained eclipsed into a long night of fear and uncertainty. Murky and invisible hands of death picked every day numerous citizens, killed them, mutilated their bodies, put them in gunnysacks and threw them on sidewalks, gutters or at any other convenient place.

The country’s media generally referred to such brutal murders as ‘target killings’, giving the impression of a link between the killer and the killed, the normal pattern in premeditated murders.

It is an erroneous simile; for, in most cases the killer and the killed might not have met even once. They kill and get killed like soldiers in a war. While in a war, the leaders of both sides are well defined, in the happenings in Karachi, the hands manipulating the strings of death remain invisible. Without exception, all parties suspected of having a role in such events, reject vehemently any connections to them.

The former Interior Minister of Sindh, Zulfiqar Mirza has publicly acknowledged having issued gun licenses to no less than 300,000 persons ‘for their self-protection’ within a period of three years only. A gun is essentially a weapon of offense and serves as a means of self-

protection in Cowboy films only. Instances are wanting of a VIP escaping an attempt on his life because of the presence of his bodyguard. Often, the bodyguards get killed along with the VIP even before they could load their weapons and open fire.

The intensity of the violence in Karachi may be gauged from the fact that 490 people were murdered in target killings in the first half of the current year as compared with 748 during the entire preceding year, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. In just one week – August 14-21, 2011 - at least 106 persons wee murdered in the ever-increasing spree. Karachi being the hub of the country’s economic activities, the turmoil has disrupted the smooth operation of the productive sectors with the result that officially it was acknowledged that the revenue target of Rs.1552 billion was unlikely to be met this year. Add to this the US declaration to slow down the flow of aid, owing to the alleged non-cooperation of Pak authorities, and the scenario will point to the financial disaster awaiting to happen.

All sectors of the government, the media and the judiciary are fully aware of this situation. The Chief Justice has taken suo moto notice of the problem and is currently holding court in Karachi. Unfortunately, the Zardari government and the Supreme Court are pulling in different directions. Mr. Zardari is operating as a shrewd politician to consolidate his hold on levers of power and to subdue recalcitrant leaders of other parties, instead of emerging above personal and partisan considerations in the long-term interest of the nation.

The tirade of his close friend and party stalwart, Zulfiqar Mirza, against the MQM and the Interior Minister, was perhaps meant to increase pressure on the MQM to rejoin with a whimper the PPP coalition governments at the center and in Sindh. Zulfiqar Mirza is playing the role of the bad cop to force the recalcitrant MQM to rush into the embrace of the good cop (Zardari). Mirza has exposed his card by overplaying it. His outburst against Altaf Hussain is ill timed too, as the man fell seriously ill and had to be admitted to intensive care in a London hospital. He is reported to be fast recovering.

Altaf Hussain too stands exposed in this moment of his personal crisis as well as the one confronting the party he heads. He has groomed no leader to take over from him in the case of an emergency. Some of the allegations against him by Zulfiqar Mirza do stick. He operates the MQM from his London office like a cult. It is unbecoming of the stature of the leader of the third largest party to indulge frequently in the game of cooperation with the party in power and then shifting to confrontation to squeeze additional advantages. Where is the moral and political rectitude?

What is happening in Karachi now boils down to a triangular tussle. We have briefly mentioned above the push and pull between the PPP and the MQM. The third party in the rough and tumble is the ANP whose head in Karachi is Shahi Syed. Let me add here quickly that the basic cause underlying the tussle is the non-abating war for turfs and ‘bhatta’ (extortion money).

The PPP had their cadres of rough necks centered in Lyari area – a perennial stronghold of that party. The ANP contenders to a share in the bounty are comparatively new entrants in the scenario. Pathans have lived in Karachi for decades but they have always been transient workers who returned to their home province to spend their savings with their families. They never settled down in Karachi.

The occupation of Afghanistan ten years back by the US and NATO forces has served as a boom for the Pathans of Karachi. They became the suppliers and truckers of the goods needed by the 140,000 Western troops in that country. They had to have offices and residences in Karachi. So, they started settling down in Karachi. In the attendant chain of events, drug, gun and land mafias sprouted in the city. Criminals of all ethnicities and colors joined in the ensuing flow of money and acts of violence. Once the Pathans got organized, they claimed a share in the lucrative ‘bhatta’ (extortion) business too. The sources that doled out the money, remained, on the other hand, static or kept shrinking with a decrease in economic activity in the city. That is how a clash of interests developed turning the city of lights into a virtual

hell.

The problem will have to be solved through a consensus of all the stakeholders in a spirit of give and take and through strict enforcement of law and order by the concerned administrative setups. The politicians will have to give up their lip service to national interest while their invisible hands keep pulling the strings of the puppets serving their personal and partisan agendas.

The presence in Karachi of a genuinely concerned Chief Justice of Pakistan and the ongoing campaign launched by government against Karachi miscreants have had a salubrious effect on the situation. But, an abiding solution lies with the politicians, as they are the basic cause of the turmoil. Karachi’s troubles are likely to accentuate until they continue to remain self-centered and partisan.

Arifsyedhussaini@Gmail.com