Liaquat “Tension” Bangash

There had already been 20 attempts on his life, some he survived unscathed – without a scratch on his body. On other occasions, bullets got to him but lodged a few centimeters short of fatal. The way Liaqat ‘Tension’ Bangash lived, this was ordained that he would not pass away quietly in his slumber or let death claim him in old age.
The MQM’s posse was reportedly shadowing him, and he was no longer really hunky-dory with the powers-that-be in the Sindh ANP either. Though he was one of the ANP’s own – once the blue-eyed boy who for a year stood guard for Asfandyar Wali himself – its musclemen too would have been happy to see the back of him.
He had already dodged too many bullets. With so many wanting him out of the way, and not exactly shy to train their guns on him, he had to fall sooner rather than later. The ‘honour’ fell to those in uniform, and he was killed in what in our neck of the woods is euphemistically called an encounter.
A bullet in the chest for the son of Kohat, father of four sons, who had only recently tied the knot a second time with his youngish flame, who in his adolescence wanted to enlist in the Army but had failed to get in, a political activist who later took to the guns and one who wanted to relive his youth’s dream through his eldest nine-year old son by sending him to a cadet college as a stepping stone to the Army. The visit back home immediately before he bought the bullet was with that intent.
Liaqat Bangash lived all of 29 years, some of its most eventful later part consisting of a full dozen years in Karachi. By the time he was killed, he was a much dreaded figure whose very mention sent chill down the spines of the most hardened of criminals – and that included the MQM cadre who considered him their nemesis. He had 50 FIRs registered against him, and 35 people were allegedly killed by him either in cold blood or in gang wars. Yet none dared testify against him in court. The most significant, and indeed most impressive exploit of his was putting the indomitable MQM on the run in its own heartland, Gulistan-e-Jauhar. He took the Rabia City apartments and not just held on to it literally till his last breath, thwarting several deadly attempts to dislodge him.
The litany of complaints against runs like the Karachi usual: extortion, ransom from kidnappings and the whole assorted range of crimes on which gangs backed by political parties thrive and prosper in Karachi. His properties were spread around the posh parts like Defense and Gulshan-e-Iqbal, but the magnet for him, the centre of gravity so to speak, was the huge, self-contained Rabia City. This was where he had challenged the MQM and firmly planted the ANP flag. He was a thorn, a most painful one at that, and Mudassar, alias Chief, made several attempts with the tacit backing of the MQM, but Liaqat not just retained his stranglehold on Rabia City, he spread his influence in many a surrounding area. With Liaqat snuffed out, the MQM may just succeed in its endeavours to get back the lost turf. One can typify Liaqat as dozens of dons spread far and wide across the sharp and deadly ethnic divide in one of the most polarized of the mega cities in the world – a place which has perhaps more arms than 10 or maybe 20 largest cities in the world.
But his is a fascinating life, a script rich in potential for a gritty Bollywood gangster flick. Liaqat ‘Tension’ Bangash’s is a legend that speaks volumes about how one of the biggest cities in the world has been dehumanized and traumatized like no other.
Liaqat had apparently not come to Karachi to become a gangster. He had a conventional upbringing, and normal aspirations, much like his unsuccessful attempt to pick professional soldiering as a career, doing his graduation, some activism under the PkSF banner as a student and then starting in the humble position of a ward boy and quick rise to the deputy administrator of a private hospital – a sign of resourcefulness and dynamism that he was to later employ with deadly impact. From that point something went wrong, something turned in him. As informed sources say, he was persecuted on ethnic grounds and had decided to hit back. To fight fire with fire, he raised a cadre, one which would grow to be around 500, around him under the red flag and made his tormentors pay. Unfortunately, more than his tormentors came under fire. The tragedy of Karachi is that so many ordinary people with such ordinary aspirations are being turned into killers. The elimination of Liaqat, and before him many others, has not ended the reign of terror. Its resolution lies elsewhere.