Karachi: Descent into darkness

A long day of violence and political intrigue in Karachi underscored just how difficult it will be – possibly even futile – to try to bring peace to the city. The troubles began when the planned Rangers operation in the city commenced. A former MQM MPA Nadeem Hashmi was arrested for the murder of a policeman, in Lyari the house of People’s Amn Committee leader Uzair Baloch was raided and the son of an ANP leader was also detained. The Rangers may have hoped that by trying to be scrupulously fair and targeting all the political parties involved in violence they may avoid causing too much trouble. That turned out to be a mistaken assumption. The MQM, as is its wont, immediately shut the city down, although denying any responsibility publicly, and claimed persecution. And what many of us had feared could happen in Karachi started happening. The city was held up by violence through most of Wednesday, with markets shut and people staying off the streets. There were violent protests in Karachi, Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and other cities; all of them of course strongholds of the MQM. This, in a nutshell, is why any attempts to enforce law and order in the city are doomed to failure. At a national level the leaders of the political parties may agree on the need for an operation but their promises are entirely disingenuous. Ultimately they will only look out for their self-interest, which means denouncing any action taken against them and resorting to violence to ensure their political influence isn’t reduced. All parties are quick to cry ‘martyr’ but the MQM, by virtue of being the largest party in the city, is always the main focus of criticism. In this case, the criticism is entirely justified. In a city awash in guns and where all the political parties use violence to enforce their writ, being the most important party carries with it extra responsibility to maintain peace. The MQM has deliberately and conspicuously failed to do that. It is no coincidence that MQM chief Altaf Hussain asked for the creation of new provinces – widely interpreted to mean the establishment of a Muhajir province – just one day before the operation began. Knowing that the MQM would come under fire, Hussain tried to divert attention away from his party’s culpability in violence and towards their grievances, also harkening back to the 1992 operation against the party when police ‘encounters’ became the norm. He spoke of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and stated that the MQM was the main target of the operation ordered now in the city by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after a recent meeting of the federal cabinet in the Sindh capital. The words used by the MQM leader were provocative – ushering up images of violence and bloodshed, with the horrors of 1992 undoubtedly ignited in the minds of many living in Karachi. The next few days will be the greatest test of the governments’ resolve. What happens next is far from certain. The overall political situation is already looking more volatile than it did just a few days ago and there is every risk of more and greater violence in the days ahead. To buckle under political pressure would be tantamount to admitting that nothing can be done about Karachi during the next five years. While that should be avoided – with extreme care of course taken to ensure no one is dealt an unjust hand – we have to be wary of the fact that the political parties here, almost all of them, command so much firepower that they can turn Karachi into a war zone. We are in for some difficult days but they may well end up defining the direction the city takes.