As it has intermittently happened in recent years, this past week or so violence erupted again in Karachi and there was a spate of murders that has for some time been dubbed as targeted killings. The political analysts of all hues agree that this latest series of tit-for-tat murders, and many such horrific binges before this, decidedly have a political and ethnic tinge to it.
This murderous frenzy that has already resulted in about 35 deaths has not been without a consequence. A de-weaponisation drive was initiated Tuesday in the predominantly Pashtun area of Korangi by the Rangers on the explicit orders of the federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik.
This perhaps was meant to appease the MQM after its recent fence-mending with the PPP by rejoining the treasury benches. But the exercise not only drew strong protests from the ANP but also had many PPP leaders up in arms.
The sentiment of discontent is not said to be limited but rather extensive amongst the PPP MNAs and MPAs. And one report in this newspaper Wednesday says that the rank and file believed that this will strengthen our adversaries and weaken our position. Zulfiqar Mirza, the Sindh home minister, not only concurs with this view, but has added his own bit of twist to the tale by literally saying that Rehman Malik had no business meddling in this essentially provincial affair and handing the task to the Rangers. According to Mirza, The Rangers in Karachi come under the control of the provincial home department. But neither did my department give approval for this action nor were any other provincial authorities [the chief minister, IGP Sindh or CCPO Karachi] aware of it.
Regardless of how this internal wrangling between Malik and the PPPs leading lights in Sindh pans out, the problem of Pakistans mega city is a long-festering one.
Many mafias the bhatta, drug, land and weapons amongst them may have had a hand in the repeated vicious cycles of violence, but the foremost cause is political. Yet Karachis most powerful political entity, the MQM, in a classic case of subterfuge would have us believe that it is anything but that. It blames surfeit of weapons and swelling of ranks amongst the Pakhtuns as the main cause for this constant friction and bloodletting.
One can understand the MQMs obsession with such a line of reasoning, if one can call it that.
The fact is that the MQM is uncomfortable, to put it mildly, by the surge in the Pakhtun population of Karachi. Not without reason. Whatever its pretensions of expanding in Punjab and Azad Kashmir, the MQM is a nine-zero based party, and Karachi is its one and only home base. That is why it has since the mid 1980s fought tooth and nail to retain its absolute control there. Only occasionally was it thwarted in this endeavour, most notably in the mid 1990s when Maj. Gen. Naseerullah Babar went after it with a vengeance and put it on the run like never before or since. Little wonder that the MQM brass does not remember him with any fond affection.
With the army in power, the MQM has always done well; but the Musharraf years were a boon for it like no other. Musharraf not just handed the keys of Karachi to the party but to the utter chagrin of other parties allowed it to gerrymander, meaning alter constituencies, to its advantage at will. For MQM, that translated into total sway, making Karachi literally a no-go area for its political rivals.
Meanwhile, more and more Pakhtuns are opting to go southwards in search of economic opportunity or being forced by circumstantial coercion of earthquakes, military action in the FATA and in the latest instance the flash floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, thereby changing the demographic dynamic of Karachi.
The tide has been steady and proportion of the Pakhtuns in Karachi has swelled to about 25 per cent of its total of 18 to 20 million. A sizable chunk of it though remains disenfranchised, mainly owing to manufactured constituencies, giving the ANP just the two seats in the Sindh Assembly, instead of between 10 to 12.
As if this act of containment was not enough, the MQM has on several occasions put forth the argument that the Pakhtun migration to Karachi should be stopped. To them, it is tantamount to the Talibanisation of Karachi. This indeed is strange for it is the inalienable right of all ethnic entities to settle anywhere they want.
Karachis solution lies not in just gun control it is irrelevant whether it is done through legislative or administrative measures. Karachi immediately needs a healing touch and a long-term vision to restore it to its former status of a Pakistan in miniature with all the ethnic components living peacefully and bringing prosperity to the once vibrant city.
But this would involve dumping a lot of excess baggage by the principal actors. Mindsets will have to change. The notion of ownership of Karachi to the exclusion of all others needs to change. The passing of death sentences must cease. And the wanton use of violence too will have to be abjured by everyone.
Only compromise and not conflict can end the gory drama being enacted in Karachi.
The writer is Sports and Magazines Editor, Pakistan Today.