The Karachi problem

Violence had its day, but no more

In the wake of Rangers raid on MQM headquarters which resulted in the nabbing of convicted criminals and others involved in heinous crimes along with recovery of large cache of weapons, the reaction of the MQM was symptomatic of the pattern that it has adopted over the years whenever any criminal or a target killer belonging to the party is nabbed by the law enforcing agencies. The hallmark of the MQM protestations on every such occasion has been the exploitation of its ethnic card and the ‘mantra’ of discriminate political victimisation. However, the party has used this ploy more vociferously since the launch of the targeted operation in Karachi in September 2013. It reacted in a similar fashion when Kazim Abbas, an activist of the party involved in the murder of Niamat Ali Randhawa, was arrested and weapons of Indian make were recovered from the party office, as well as the JIT report on Baldia Town fire, which claimed 250 human lives. Therefore, the indulgence of the MQM leadership in its typical mode of denial of any connection with the criminals and unreserved tirade against Rangers, Army and the government, hardly came as a surprise to the Karachi watchers since the inception of MQM in 1984. It is however encouraging to note that the government and the establishment have refused to blink in the face of MQM machinations.

The element of surprise in the entire episode, however, was the solidarity shown with MQM by other political parties and legislators, notwithstanding the credible evidence of links of MQM with the target killers and convicted criminals who were captured from the headquarters of the party and the confession of MQM chief about their presence there, who he contended should not have put the party in a difficult situation. The main contention of the politicians was that the headquarters of a political party should not have been raided like that. What their contention implied was that the offices of the political parties were kind of sacrosanct places whose sanctity was not to be violated by any law enforcing agency even if they provided sanctuary to the target killers, extortionists and the condemned convicts.

Even Raza Rabbni, the newly elected Chairman Senate, termed the raid as deplorable and equated it with the raids that were conducted on PPP offices during the Zia regime. It reminds me of a similar situation when Sheikh Mujib-ur-Rehman was arrested by the Ayub regime in the Agartala conspiracy case and almost the entire political leadership of the country put pressure on Ayub Khan to release him which he eventually did. Later events proved beyond any iota of doubt that the case was based on irrefutable facts. Pakistan was dismembered and there was nothing one could do about it.

Political parties showing solidarity with each other is understandable when there is a question of defending and safeguarding national interests, like the one shown by all the parliamentary parties in defending parliament and democracy in the face the threat posed by the agitation of the duo of Imran and Qadri, but it is absolutely regrettable when they do it to sympathise with a political entity supporting and harbouring the criminal elements.

It is beyond any reproach to say that Karachi used to be a thriving industrial capital of Pakistan, providing livelihood to millions of people belonging to multiple cultural entities from all over the country, living in peace and harmony with each other. The scenario changed with the emergence of All Pakistan Muhajir Students Organisation (APMSO) founded by Altaf Hussain in 1978 and its subsequent conversion into Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) in 1984 and later into Muttahida Qaumi Movement in 1997. The Organisation which was ostensibly formed as a counterweight to the Sindhi nationalists by the praetorian powers soon developed into a formidable political force as its baptism on ethnic and linguistic basis had great appeal for the Urdu speaking community living in Karachi and Hyderabad. Since late 1980s till the recent elections, it has been winning majority of the National Assembly seats in Karachi and Hyderabad and has remained coalition partner of the federal governments. In Sindh also it has been part of the coalition governments.

The MQM inebriated by its success, appeal and predominance among the Urdu speaking areas of the province, instead of focusing purely on its political agenda tried to lord over and subdue other communities living in Karachi by terrorising and brutalising them through its militant wing. The MQM militants have allegedly been involved in criminal economy of drugs, extortion and land grabbing to raise funds for the party, though the party has always denied these allegations. The fight between MQM factions after the 1990 elections introduced a new phenomenon of target killings and gunny bags with dead bodies. More than 1,800 people lost their lives in the mayhem. In the years to come, federal governments switched between forming alliance with MQM and fighting against it to establish greater control over Karachi. Operation Clean-up launched by PML-N government in June 1992 to end terrorism and seizing arms was perceived by the MQM as an attempt to eliminate the party and thus resulted in another round of widespread political violence. It was during this upheaval that Altaf Hussain fled the country.

The continued killings of the opponents and members of other communities living in Karachi led to the creation of militant wings in the other parties designed to check the dominance of MQM militants in the crime trade and land grabbing. The current situation in Karachi is a sequel to this ongoing tussle between armed wings of MQM, PPP and ANP further exacerbated by the sectarian killings and terrorist acts of TTP. The SC in its landmark decision on the situation in Karachi had explicitly mentioned the existence of militant wings of these parties and ordered their elimination. The violence in Karachi could not be controlled due to the fact that those who had to do it were themselves part of the problem, rather patronised and supported their armed cronies. Politicisation of police and release of criminals involved in heinous crimes by the parties in coalition in Sindh also added fuel to the fire.

The initiative of the PML-N government to quell violence in Karachi by launching an across the board targeted operation against the militants and terrorists and moves to provide legal cover to the actions taken by the Rangers in this regard, was a first real and determined move towards the right direction. The operation was launched with the concurrence of all the political parties. But regrettably despite their public posturing of supporting the effort, they were trying to sabotage the process by building political pressure on the law enforcing agencies fearing that their true faces might be unmasked as a result of the ongoing operations, especially after the devising of the National Action Plan (NAP) against terrorism and religious extremism in the country, which also includes restoring peace in Karachi.

The government and the establishment were absolutely determined to implement the NAP and there should be no doubt in the mind of any individual or any political party about across the board crackdown on the criminal elements and their mentors. Unlike in the past, the current operation is for real. The only advisable course for all the political parties responsible for the prevalent situation in Karachi, including MQM, is to cooperate with the law enforcing agencies in apprehending the wanted criminals belonging to their militant wings, apologise to the nation for their past misdeeds and make a public vow to abandon their militant creeds forever. Confrontation with the establishment or bellicose posture towards it would neither be in the interest of peace in Karachi nor for the future of MQM as a political entity.