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Karachi … The Saddest Of All Cities
By
Asif Farooqi, IOL correspondent
ISLAMABAD,
June 23 (IslamOnline.net) – From a small town named after a dancing
girl to the most dangerous of all cities, the glamorously beautiful
Karachi has a history of its own.
Karachi,
a volatile city of 14 million, is no stranger to armed violence
motivated by crime, politics and the misusing of religion. Sectarian
strife between militant elements of majority Sunni Muslims and
minority Shiites has only deepened since President Gen. Pervez
Musharraf gave his support to the so called US-led war on terrorism in
late 2001.
But
the city has endured three unusually turbulent months since May 2004.
Suicide attack at a Shiite mosque on May 7 killed
22 people. It was followed by bloody clashes during elections that
left at least 10 dead and a twin car bombing near the U.S.
consul-general’s residence on Wednesday, May 26, that killed
a policeman and injured 40 others.
The
drive-by shooting
of prominent Sunni cleric, Nazamuddin Shamzai, made matters much
worse, triggering unrest and raising fears of sectarian clashes — a
fear magnified after the latest bombing at the Shiite mosque that
killed 20 people and injured 75. Police suspect it was a suicide
attack but have few clues about who was behind it.
The
officer in charge of the army in the city escaped assassination
attempt on Thursday, June 10, that left at least 11 dead including
seven army personnel and three policemen. The attack on the motorcade
of the corps commander, the highest ranking military officer in the
city, took place when he was on his way to his office in the posh
district of Karachi.
All
this violence and strife has earned this city a rank among the most
dangerous of cities.
According
to a senior diplomat in Islamabad, of all the postings offered by the
American Foreign Service, Karachi has "the highest rating for
personal danger except for Kabul and Baghdad."
'City
At War With Itself'
In
words of famous French philosopher, Bernard-Henry Levy who stayed in
Karachi for several days while researching his book on Daniel
Pearl who was slain by militants in the same city in February
2002, "Karachi is saddest of cities".
"It
is a South Asian Beirut: a city on the sea, rich and almost glamorous
in parts; but also a monument to hatred among different sectarian and
ethnic groups, and to the failure of a civic society. It is a city at
war as much with itself as with the outside world.
"The
most populous metropolis in Pakistan, Karachi is a profoundly troubled
place, intermittently engulfed in terrible bouts of killing and
kidnapping. It is a city where the police sit huddled in sandbag
emplacements for their own safety, and where the foreign consulates
now resemble great fortified Crusader castles—which is how the
people of Karachi look on them: the unwelcome, embattled bridgeheads
of alien powers," Levy wrote in his latest book on Pakistan.
While
critics say Levy might have blown the law and order situation in
Pakistan out of proportion, many believe his description of Karachi
was somewhat correct.
Mini
Pakistan
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A
city almost glamorous in parts
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Being
the only commercial seaport, Karachi serves as magnet for migrants who
continue drifting towards it not only from other parts of the country
but also from the poorer places across the border like Afghanistan,
Bangladesh and smaller Indian villages.
But
it is the inward movement of millions of people from other parts of
the country that made the city expand so much and so fast. Experts
agree that a sizeable number of the total city population of over 140
million consists of these ‘economic migrants’ who traveled to this
city in search of better opportunity from other places of Pakistan.
So
the city continues to expand, ever wider, ever higher; more and more
villages on the outskirts are getting "incorporated" into
the city; innumerable concrete high rises now tower beside colonial
buildings of yellow gizri stone.
Hence
Karachi now is the hub of all the ethnic segments of Pakistani
society. Pushtuns from Northwest Frontier Province, Balochs from
Balochistan, Punjabis from Punjab are found in this city in huge
numbers.
A
latest survey actually says that in some cases, number of ethnic
population in this city has surpassed the population in their home
towns. For example, number of Pushtun living in Karachi is more than
the Pushtuns who live in Peshawar, the Pushtun provincial capital in
the north or even in Kabul, the capital of Pushtun dominated country
Afghanistan.
This
diversifying characteristic of the city has earned it the name of
‘mini Pakistan’ where all the ethnicities of Pakistan live
together.
But
it is the ‘Mohajir’ community which is the largest of all
ethnicities living in Karachi. Those Muslims who emigrated to Pakistan
from India at the time of Partition in 1947- ironically to seek
shelter from communal riots in Hindu-dominated India- call themselves
Mohajir (migrant).
They
have lived in the country now for many decades still they feel proud
calling themselves Mohajir. Many believe that in the sole use of this
term ‘Mohajir’ lies the real cause of violence in this metropolis.
Foundation
Of Unrest
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Violence
and strife has earned Karachi a rank among the most dangerous of
cities
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According
to history books, Karachi began as a fishing village named after a
dancing girl called Kolachi centuries ago and rapidly developed into a
cosmopolitan sea port under colonial rule.
But
it really developed into a robust economic hub, with the virtual
‘invasion’ of the city by Mohajirs from India during 1947-1952 who
were given a warm welcome by locals. Sindhis are the local people of
Sindh province, of which Karachi is the provincial capital.
Relatively
backward and less-educated Sindhis, as they lived together with
Mohajirs in Karachi, saw opportunities shrinking for them when they
came into competition with the newcomers to their land. Several
governments tries to bridge this gap between sindhis and Mohajirs but
this didn’t work till 1972 when a Sindhi prime minister, Zulfikar
Ali Bhutto, introduced quota for Sindhis in government jobs and
educational institutions. So a Sindhi who had lesser qualifications
would get priority over a Mohajir with better career while applying
for the same job.
This
quota system laid the foundation of unrest in Karachi where Mohajirs
thought their rights were being usurped by less-competent Sindhi due
to political influence.
To
address this and many other issues of political natures, a Mohajir
student leader, Altaf Hussein, formed a political movement called
Mohajir Qaumi Movement (QMM), or migrants national movement, in the
mid-eighties.
Turning
to Violence
"As
it gained overwhelming response from the Mohajirs, the MQM gradually
turned to violence as a means to challenge the political influence of
Sindhis," Farooq Adil, deputy editor of a Karachi based magazine
told Islamonline.net.
As
time passed, the MQM developed animosity with other ethnic divisions,
said Adil, from Takbeer, a magazine known for its reporting on ethnic
violence.
The
first major clash between the Mohajirs and Pushtuns was witnessed in
1984 when a bus driven by a Pushtun driver over-ran a Mohajir
schoolgirl. Angry Mohajirs attacked Pushtun villages and on that
particular day over a hundred people were killed, Farooq said.
In
less than two years, in another ethnic massacre, hundreds of Mohajirs
were killed by Sindhis in an armed attack on their locality in the
neighboring town of Hyderabad.
Since
these two violent incidents, Mohajir and locals divide continues with
MQM still known to be a violent and even more powerful political
entity in the country.
'Jihad'
Before
the soviet invasion of Afghanistan, religion was not a contentious
issue in Pakistan, and especially in the political landscape of
Karachi.
A
fundamental change, however, occurred when Pakistan agreed to fight a
proxy war in Afghanistan against soviets on the insistence of the
United States. The US, through Pakistani government and the army,
bankrolled the arming of Mujahideen, or fighters, who were motivated
to battle through religious motives urging them to expel the
‘infidels’ from Muslim Afghanistan.
The
jihad in Afghanistan was executed through military ruler Zia Ul Haq
who was already desperate to get international recognition and
domestic political strength to legitimize his rule. Locally, he
already had allied himself with the Islamic right-wing parties and
grabbed this opportunity to get recognition from the US.
Following
the withdrawal of Russians from Afghanistan, Zia found another
battleground to continue his venture with Mujahideen and local
supporters. This time it was Kashmir where Pakistan was fighting
another proxy war. Though Pakistan officially denies its involvement
in the struggle in Kashmir, it has always said it supports the
"Kashmiris freedom struggle on moral grounds".
So
throughout the 1980s and 90s, Zia and his successors gave free rein to
the proponents of jihad for over twenty years and strengthen the hand
of Muslim clergy. Official funds were increasing channeled into the
establishment of religious seminaries, which began to mushroom across
the country. Local youth, stirred by the call of jihad were encouraged
to join Afghan and Kashmiri brothers across the border in their fight
against infidels. These young Mujahideen were given military training
by the Pakistani and US agents at secret locations inside Afghanistan
and Pakistan.
International
Recognition
But
things of events took a U turn on jihad in Afghanistan and to some
extent on Kashmir following September 11, 2001. Another military
dictator, General Pervez Musharraf allied himself on the same grounds
as his predecessor General had done in 1980- to forge an alliance with
the US to gain international recognition.
Since
that day of the year 2001, these trained brigades of intending
Mujahideen became a liability. In an effort to disassociate itself
from the Jiahdi outfits which grew to several dozens by now, the
government banned the Mujahideen groups, now given titles of
‘militants’ and froze their accounts and offices in the country.
With
the ousting of the Taliban in Afghanistan and change of policy towards
Kashmir Jihad, the Jihad nursery in Afghanistan and Kashmir closed
down, the militants or Mujahideen now driven as much by their hatred
of the state apparatus that abandon them, as they are by their
abhorrence of the west, are twice as dangerous.
For
its huge and diversified population, Karachi is the best place for
these people to take shelter and to undertake revenge attacks.
“They
consider General Pervez Musharraf and his establishment enemy number
one” said Professor Whaeed Rizvi, who has done some latest research
on conflicts in Pakistani society.
No
one, he said, from the President to the smallest police constable is
immune from the fallout. Several senior police and military officials
who feature on militants’ hit list have been compelled to take
extra-ordinary security measures.
But
this has not stopped militants to go for their targets. More than 12
military soldiers and as many policemen have been killed in Karachi.
General Pervez Musharraf has been lucky to escape two assassination
attempts in Rawalpindi and his representative in Karachi, a top
military officer, also escaped unhurt in a similar attack on his
motorcade.
Following
the closure of their battleground in Afghanistan, the Mujahideen
turned towards western targets in Pakistan. They attacked US
consulate, Christian Church in the diplomatic area which is frequented
by foreigners, French naval engineers, Christian school and hospital
and individuals like Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in the
last three years.
Softer
Targets
As
the westerns turned away from Pakistan and especially Karachi under
repeated travel advisories issued by their respective governments, the
militants were forced to turn towards ‘softer’ targets.
And
these softer targets were police officials and Shiites Muslims. The
Mujahideen mostly belonged to extremists Sunni organizations like
Lashkar e Jhangvi and Harkat Ul Mujahideen.
Almost
a dozen Shiite-targeted attacks have taken place in the country,
mostly in Karachi in which over a hundred Shiites were killed in the
past three years.
Police
investigators told Islamonline.net that the same elements who tried to
kill Musharraf and his colleagues were also involved in attacks on
churches and Shiite mosques. Some of these men belonged to outlawed
Lahkar which has proven links to Al Qaeda.
Peace
and Harmony
But
aside from these attacks on Shiite mosques, Shiites and Sunni Muslims
otherwise live in peace and harmony in the country.
“Attacks
on Shiite mosque are not because of so called Shiite-Sunni rivalry. It
is just another form of terrorism," Maulana Hasan Turabi, a
Karachi based Shiite leader told Islamonline.net.
He
said there was no conflict between Sunnis and Shiites in general and
it was a small group of fanatics which was killing innocent Muslims on
both sides.
Politics
Of Revenge
MQM,
the political entity of Mohajirs, is now in the government both at
provincial and federal levels but it has not yet abandoned its
military wing which works secretly.
Police
investigators believe that the MQM workers are now on a revenge spree.
Protected by the government machinery, they are targeting those
political and non-political personalities who once gave them tough
time.
Among
them, one senior police official told Islamonline.net, that are at
least three police inspectors who were instrumental in arresting a
number of MQM hit men after the political feuds in Karachi in early
90s. Inspector Haider Beg, Inspector Zahid and DSO Zeeshan Kazmi were
killed after being kidnapped and torture during the past six months in
Karachi. All the three policemen had been recently retired.
Similarly,
the same source said, some clues were leading investigators to the
recent high-profile political killings. Among them is the
assassination of senior religious cleric Mufti Nizauddin Sham Zai.
Ten
workers of Jamaat e Islami were also killed in violence on the day of
polling in Karachi. All the dead were supporting a JI candidate
against an MQM candidate over a National Assembly seat in Karachi. An
initial investigation by the Election Commission, without blaming any
particular group, cancelled the membership of the MQM candidate who
has won the election, giving credence to the reports that MQM hit men
were involved in the murders to scare away the JI voters.
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