Pakistan’s largest city, Karachi, is once again paralysed by ethnic and political violence that over the past few days has killed more than 65 people. In the past year, an estimated 1,300 people have died in the fighting. Below, the Monitor answers four key questions about Karachi’s ongoing strife.
1. Why does Karachi seem to explode in spasms of violence every few months?
Karachi has turned into a battleground where ethnic and political parties fight for control of the city, which is home to 18 million people.
As the saying goes, “If you control Karachi, you control Pakistan.” Karachi is the nerve centre of the Pakistani economy, with about 70 percent of national revenues generated here. It connects the country with the world through its seaport and 40 percent of NATO supplies travel through Karachi.
It’s also home to heavily armed criminal and drug gangs. Mafia groups have forged alliances with political and ethnic groups and religious extremists. All of this creates an explosive cocktail that can ignite at any moment, making Karachi one of the most dangerous cities in the world.
2. What role does organised crime play?
Organised crime networks mainly operate in the city’s labyrinthine district of Orangi, considered to be biggest slum in South Asia, and Lyari district, which has been centre stage to the recent violence, as well as other adjoining areas with populations in the millions. Equipped with automatic weapons, rocket launchers, and GPS technologies, these groups have made neighbourhoods inaccessible even for police.
In addition to serving political and ethnic parties, organized gangs extort money from private business. “We do business in a death trap. We get threatening phone calls and are sent warning notes,” says Siddiq Memon, chairman of the Traders Action Committee. “They extort money worth Rs 50 million [$575,000] a day from the traders in Karachi.”
According to an estimate, the monthly turnover of Karachi’s extortion rackets is $15 million a month, excluding accelerating bank robberies and kidnappings for ransom.
Police officials say several Taliban militants were arrested recently for bank robberies and kidnappings. “Karachi is like Wall Street for all the militant groups and mafias,” says Prof. Tauseef Ahmed, an analyst.
3. How are politics and ethnic rivalries involved?
Traditionally, political tension has been between the powerful political party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), which represents Urdu-speaking people, and the Awami National Party (ANP), which represents Pakhtuns who settled here from the northwest.
The rivalry between the two heightened in recent years in face of massive migration of Pakhtuns due to the operations against Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters along Afghanistan border.
Rivals accuse MQM of being involved in violence and militancy during the past two decades, an allegation that the party denies.
The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) tries to balance its ties with both of the rivals, while its detractors accuse it of trying to further gain political power. The MQM also accuses “certain elements within the ruling PPP” of supporting criminal gangsters.
“It is to sabotage the reconciliation efforts between the MQM and the PPP,” says Raza Haroon, an MQM leader. “The terrorism and target killings of our community members are like genocide.”
4. How could the ongoing violence affect NATO efforts in Afghanistan?
Karachi has immense economic and strategic importance nationally and internationally, and Karachi’s worsening situation raises concerns that the safety of NATO supplies will become vulnerable.
“If the bloodshed continues the ultimate beneficiaries will be Taliban,” says Professor Tauseef, the analyst.
“The anarchy and chaos [is] deepening ethnic division in the troubled areas, which will become no-go areas and help the Taliban secure their hideouts and strengthen their bonds with the criminal mafia,” he says. “There are fears that if the extremist elements get stronger then it might jeopardize the safe supplies of NATO and give space for Islamic militants in Karachi.” -Christian Science Monitor
