The ‘city of lights’ Karachi is home to approximately 14 million people and a plethora of cultures that the diversity has brought along with it. Being a mega city, it is faced with conflicting situations. However, what distinguishes it from most mega cities is the amount of political activity that takes place here almost every day of the year, and why not, since each group has its own political party.
On the outside, each political party is only protecting its people’s rights but on the inside, the entire game is to attain power, money, fame and dominance. Various regional groups, in the last 40-50 years have tried to assert their personal political agendas and have used Islam as the uniting force for society but what we see today is far from unity, it is a whole lot of confusion, chaos and identity crisis that the people of Karachi have become victim to.
Divided on the basis of language, culture and lifestyle, violence has become a daily routine for an average inhabitant of the city. Traditionally, Karachi has been in the hands of MQM, the party of Muhajirs or the Urdu-speaking descendants of those who migrated from India in 1947, but the major demographic change arrived when displaced Pashtuns from the northern areas started settling here. So, it would be fair to say that a lot of violence is rooted almost entirely in the political system.
In 2008, targeted killings began to take hold of the city and flared up even more by 2009, when the estimated death toll reached 200 with many cases unreported. As 2010 began, violence situated itself in Lyari, Karachi’s oldest inhabited area and home to various gangs. Lyari has also acted as a warzone for land mafias and criminal ever since.
However, the worst of all the violence that Karachi has experienced came during mid 2011. By the year 2012, the overall incidents of violence immensely decreased but the terrorist attacks became more frequent than ever. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, more than 1,450 people – including children – were killed in Karachi in the first six months of 2012. That’s six people a day.
This brings us to the Karachi Operation, which was jointly conducted by the Sindh Police and Rangers towards the end of 2013. To many, this operation seemed useless as it wasn’t targeting any well established networks, but statistics say otherwise. Others objected over the fact that it was merely concentrated in Karachi, and the Rangers may have been misusing their powers to arrest those who opposed their actions.
However, according to a Sindh Police report, since July 6, 2014, 998 criminals were killed and 16,583 arrested, 287 terrorists killed and 87 arrested, seven target killers killed and 41 arrested, 96 kidnappers killed and 60 arrested and six extortionists killed and 328 arrested (click the link to view full report). These results brought a temporary layer of peace in Karachi for the time being, as they demonstrated the level to which the operation was successful in eradicating terrorist elements in the city, but unrest in various other forms still remains.
In the last few years, popularity of the local MQM government has severely been affected with the arrival of PTI under Imran Khan’s leadership, and quite a few individuals have also resigned from the party after some serious allegations against MQM, one of them being involvement in the murder of Imran Farooq, a senior member of MQM in London. Since then, a few individuals have also used the public forum to speak up and accuse MQM of being involved in target killings and various other illegal and unfair practices that have contributed to unrest in Karachi, one of them being Saulat Mirza, the murderer of managing director of KESC, Shahid Hamid.
He spoke his last words against MQM before his execution, accusing it of being involved in target killings in Karachi. The political role of MQM is becoming ambiguous as each day is passing by. And just when we thought that the political activity in Karachi was getting neutral, Mustafa Kamal, former mayor of Karachi, returned from UAE and fired shocking revelations against MQM in a press conference that lasted for more than two hours. He began with these words: “We used to take responsibility for all his mistakes and remained defensive in front of the media explaining the overall situation.”
Among the various allegations were MQM’s links with the Indian spy agency RAW, Altaf Hussain’s hand in the violent situations in Karachi and exploitation of his workers. Obviously, this will have its own results, one of the prime one being a loss of men in the MQM, as now many will have the courage to leave, like Mustafa Kamal did. Keeping this in mind, one simply cannot forget the role of Nabeel Gabol, former member of MQM. In 2015, his outburst against the leader, Altaf Hussain, began after BBC’s report of the latter’s links with India, and the training of young members of the party by Indian forces. Since then, he has shifted his views and political activities, and currently seems to be interested in joining Mustafa Kamal’s mission of changing Karachi for the better.
Karachi has been in a continuous political turmoil in the last few years and now, this new outburst of accusations against a party that has been leading the city for so many years has put everyone to question it’s leadership and authority, and is sure to direct Karachi’s political situation to a whole new level. It can be said that the city is moving to a better place with the shift in conventional dynamics of power. It may be that the new party, effects of Karachi Operation and the power of the youth will take the city to places it has never been to.
The blogger is an English Literature graduate. He tweets @fahad_gabol