Mafia war hits Karachi again

The mayhem that devoured 93 lives in a “target killing” incident in Karachi last week is essentially a war between mafias, including land, transport, and drug mafia.

While Urdu-speaking Muthahhida Qaumi Movement (MQM), comprising lower and middle class people who migrated from India after the Partition of the Subcontinent in August 1947, hold sway in Karachi, the city also happens to have world’s largest Pashtoon population comprising impoverished Pushto-speaking labor who came to the city in search of jobs and settled here. Then there are Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi, Gujarati, Seraiki, and Hindo-speaking people settled in Karachi – since it happens to be amongst top 10 biggest cities of the world and provide jobs, howsoever meager to these distinct nationalities and ethnic groups.

Over the years the demography of Karachi is changing fast. At the time of Partition, the population of Karachi was 450,000 that increased to 1,137,000 in 1951 due to influx of immigrants from India. The languages spoken were Sindhi (61.2 per cent), Balochi (8.6 per cent), Urdu/Hindi 6.30 per cent (it increased to 50 percent in 1951), Punjabi 4.3 per cent, and Gujarati 3.5 per cent. Hindu population at the time of partition was 51 per cent, according to noted architect and town planner Arif Hasan.
 
After partition, “Karachi became a multi-ethnic, multi-class and high-density city,” Hasan noted. Then it was decided to shift these people to satellite colonies, such as Landhi and Korangi that changed the composition of these lower-middle class areas.

“Thus began the process of degradation,” Hasan said. In 1960, Saddar became a transit area for movement between Landhi-Korangi and northern areas and during 1965-75 “culture” had already moved. Names of old roads were changed. “Just by changing the names we lost history,” Hasan lamented.  “This is a very big loss, very big change,” he said. Cinemas also disappeared and were replaced by commercial outlets and industries.
 
Hasan said there is considerable heritage in Saddar. "The old city was lined with the port. Space is fast disappearing but it is still there” in old city, he said. “The names of Karachi in itself are a heritage,” he said.

The powerful land mafia is after these heritage buildings and torches them whenever there is disturbance in the city so that the prime land could be replaced by multi-storey plazas. And it is alleged that this is being done on behest of highest powers in the echelons of power.

According to Prof. Anila Naim, a conservation architect at Karachi’s prestigious NED University of Engineering and Technology, 63 (11 per cent) of listed buildings have already been demolished and another 104 (18 per cent) are under a “high degree threat” due to abandonment and neglect.

It is true that the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) can boast of making governments at provincial and federal level without making coalition with MQM, the set-up would be fragile not only because Karachi happens to be the financial hub of Pakistan and provide major chunk of revenue to the Centre but also because MQM has street power and is very well organized. It is also “secular” despite its ferociousness and an obstacle to growing Islamic militancy. Hence it would be unwise on the part of Gilani-Zardari government to sidetrack the MQM.

The Gilani-Zardari government’s popularity is on the lowest ebb due to more than 22 per cent inflation, growing unemployment, massive corruption, and deteriorating health and education systems. A brain drain is also on the rise due to “target killing” of doctors and other professionals. Giving a free hand to drone attacks, is a yet another blunder by the Gilani-Zardari government. It has intensified anti-American and anti-government feelings in the country.

On the top of that the Gilani-Zardari government has restored the colonial commissionerate system, undoing the local bodies system. Despite loopholes the local bodies system was people-friendly because an ordinary person could have access to councilor or city mayor whereas it is almost impossible for him/her to have access to commissioner or the chief secretary.

It’s true that ethnic and sectarian parties are heavily armed but military operations have been unsuccessful in the past; only to intensify hatred against the ruling elite. The need is to seal the supply routes of these deadly weapons, but for unknown reasons this is not done. In fact it has been well documented that the inflow of deadly weapons and drugs such as Kalashnikov and heroin is going on in connivance of security forces since the previous Afghan War. It has destroyed the very social fabric of Pakistan society and transformed vibrant localities such as Balochi-dominated area Lyari in Karachi into ghettos where gangsters now dominate the scene. The culprit is elite that has no stakes in Pakistan and has amassed wealth and property abroad.