Karachi, the largest Pakistani city home to people from all walks of society, is now a troubled city. The port city, a hub for all economic activities, accounts for almost a fifth of the country’s GDP along with 70 per cent of tax revenue. This attracted people from all ethnic groups who are in search of greener pastures. This also made it in to a battle ground for both political organisations and crime syndicates. Thus, most violence in this city can be traced to two factors, namely political mileage and financial benefits. Ironically, both these factors are intertwined with each other to the extent that they have become indistinguishable.
On an average, Karachi witnesses close to 800 killings per year, mainly the result of ethnic/political violence. But this year, the city has been extremely violent -- even by Karachi standards. More than 800 people have lost their lives till the first week of August. Of this, nearly 500 people lost their lives in what is termed as targeted killings. In July alone, more than 300 people were killed. Of these, 58 people were killed in just five days. Of these, 26 killings took place in just 24 hours. If one includes the numbers of those dead independent of the political/ethnic reasons, the killings almost touch the 1200 mark. Apart from the human losses, the state also had to bear the economic fallouts.
The reasons for this kind of uncontrolled spilling of blood can be traced to a few factors. The first and foremost is the free availability of weapons. The gun culture of Pakistan in general can be attributed to the Afghan Mujahedeen years of the 1980’s. This era of Pakistan made Karachi the port of call for all the Mujahedeens and their required supplies. After the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, the weapons made their way in to the bazars of Pakistan. The second reason is the failure of the administrative system to arrest the tension as and when they arise and the politicisation of the police.
Another reason is the demarcation within the city between pockets of specific communities. As a result, each and every ethnic identity and their respective armed militias have become well entrenched in their respective strongholds. This has made policing and maintaining law and order difficult. Such demographic concentrations have also deprived the people of a chance to assimilate with the city as one.
The current sprout of violence is once again attributed to the political turf wars between the various ethnic groups for political mileage. The instigators are alleged to be political parties like the Mohajir dominated MQM, ANP and the PPP. Both the MQM and the ANP have a history of being a party to the violent political culture of the city, whereas the PPP and other political parties are bystanders since they either lack the required manpower or are not very active in Karachi.
Despite being the protagonists of targeted killing, both the MQM and the ANP have called upon the army to tackle the growing instability of the city. But till date the military have not yet accepted the request and instead has nudged civilian authorities to handle the problem.
Apart from the political and ethnical violence, the city is also an important operational centre for terrorist organisations. If this situation goes unchecked, it will not only result in more blood being spilled but also hinder economic activities.
(Sripathi Narayanan is a Research Intern at Observer Research Foundation)
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
PREV
