Karachi demands a solution

By Amir Zia

The News
Thursday, August 05, 2010

The assassination of MQM MPA Syed Raza Haider and his guard on Aug 2 that plunged parts of Karachi into violence and chaos was a tragedy waiting to happen. Nearly four dozen lives were lost within hours of Haider’s assassination and several others were killed over the next couple of days. This senseless, but organised, violence targeted mostly daily-wage earners and poor labourers. Vehicles were set ablaze, markets and bazaars were forced to shut as the city witnessed grueling traffic jams on key roads. This was followed by a complete shutterdown of businesses and industries for the next two days causing a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. The country’s biggest city and the main industrial and commercial hub was in the grip of uncertainty, chaos and fear, reminding one of the bloody decade of the ’90s when the MQM and the state institutions were locked in conflict.

But that is history. It has been many years now that the MQM is a key component of Pakistan’s mainstream politics. However, its acceptance in the corridors of power and share in the provincial and federal governments have not changed those dynamics which make Karachi one of the world’s most violence-prone, lawless and crime- ridden cities. From the simmering ethnic, sectarian, religious and political contradictions and conflicts to coping with the challenges of its fast growing population, the sharp social and economic disparities and critical civic and transport issues, the state has so far failed to resolve or tackle any of them.

Making this grave situation more complex is the fact that in recent years politics and crime have started to overlap. Criminalisation of politics has become a core problem plaguing this city. It intensifies and further brutalises Karachi’s already simmering conflicts and contradictions. When crime mafias–from land-grabbers to drug-peddlers–become part of the country’s main political parties, it is next to impossible to establish rule of the law or ensure justice.

According to police figures, from January to July there have been more than 150 political assassinations, out of the nearly 900 murders that took place in Karachi during this period. August has started with a bang with the murder of a key MQM figure, followed by a general killing spree. And the death toll is climbing with each passing day. This has been the short- to long-term pattern of violence in Karachi since the early 1980s–a burst of violence and then a brief uneasy lull, followed by another bout of violence, killing and mayhem. The resilience of the people of Karachi keeps life and businesses going, but the spectre of violence remains. It manifests itself in different forms–from ethnic to sectarian on one level and inter-party and intra-party on the other.

In the first seven months of 2010, the MQM, its splinter factions led by Afaq Ahmed and Amir Khan, the Pakistan People’s Party, the Awami National Party, the Sunni Tehreek, the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, Shiite activists, the Jamaat-e-Islami and a few others have been both victims and perpetuators of the violence. Each one of these political and religious groups resorted to violence to the extent of their possession of their respective muscle power. It has not just been members of a rival political party fighting rivals. Even workers and militants of allied parties–including those belonging to the ruling coalition–have turned their guns on each another. The MQM-PPP conflict in the early months of 2010 and the low-intensity MQM-ANP tussle in recent months are its prime examples. So far it has been a low-intensity conflict between these forces, which has claimed dozens of lives. The kind of fire power these political forces have makes one shudder at the ferocity of a full-blown conflict if things slide out of control in this city of more than 16 million people.

The causes of the tussles among these political players stem from their desire to control the city of Karachi, or parts of it, because it offers big legal and illegal fund-raising opportunities. Therefore, demography is important, because it becomes a source of conflict as these parties try to consolidate their vote banks or build them in constituencies where balance of power can be tilted with a few thousand more votes. And this contest is solely on ethnic lines rather than political or ideological. That is the reason why the issue of land-grabbing has become central to the political discourse these days in Karachi. But the provincial government finds itself unable to take any equitable action to get thousands of acres of land vacated from the illegal occupants because its allies consider it against their interest. No wonder the anti-encroachment drive, which was started with fanfare in July, was stopped within three days of its launch.

And it is not just the thorny issue of land encroachment which can become ethnic or political in Karachi. Simple administrative issues and implementation of even traffic laws can transform into a source of conflict and fan ethnic polarisation. The state institutions succumb to the pressure groups when it comes to implementing even simple traffic rules. From the drive against smoke emitting vehicles to that of against noise pollution, the state and its institutions survive by conceding authority. Who says only the tribal areas remains lawless in Pakistan? One can see the lawlessness in Karachi where in most part of the city one would find no law.

The situation becomes aggravated by the fact that the government remains unable to curb the free flow of weapons into this city–both illicit and licensed. The liberal policy of issuing licenses even of prohibited bores on the recommendations of lawmakers to that of the influx of illicit weapons has made Karachi, certainly one of the most heavily armed cities of South Asia. It remains on the brink and survives on the balance of terror between rival groups. No wonder when tensions soar between rival groups, in many neighbourhoods one sees youngsters armed with rocket-launchers and rifle-propelled grenades guarding their neighbourhoods, streets and lanes. The much-celebrated Kalashnikov–a gift of the US-funded Afghan war against the former Soviet Union–is no longer the most lethal weapon in their arsenal.

But the balance of terror should not be taken as a guarantee for peace in such an ethnically diverse city, which has all the inherent contradictions that can spin out of control to result in far greater tragedies than we have witnessed so far. The ethnic violence of the mid ’80s, which saw tragedies of Aligarh and Qasba Colonies to that of the mayhem following the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto to that of the arson and killings after the bombing during the mourning procession last Ashura–the city has borne the brunt of it all. All these conflicts, despite their ferocity, had the potential to turn into even bigger tragedies. The state and its institutions were found wanting in all such situations.

There indeed are no easy fixes and solutions to this complex and complicated situation. But a beginning has to be made and the first step needs to be taken. And that should begin with freeing the police of political interference and restoring its independence. The government’s responsibility and commitment to ensure rule of the law–even if it is a bad law–would be better than the present state of lawlessness. The major political parties and their top leadership on their part have to see beyond their narrow and short-term self-interest. They need to clear their ranks of criminals, land-grabbers, drug-peddlers and assassins, in their own enlightened self-interest. It is imperative for the survival of this city and its people. The city of Karachi and its people deserve better than what they are getting from the political parties. The citizens of Karachi are not asking for the moon. They just want a peaceful city, where they can go to work daily, send children to school and if their pockets permit in these testing times go and eat out–once in a blue moon. Is it too much to ask?