Troubled Karachi and Its Dangerous Faultlines

The resignation of Zulfiqar Mirza, senior minister in the Sindh cabinet and husband of Dr Fehmida Mirza, the speaker of the Pakistan National Assembly from all positions in the party and government shows the depth of ethnic faultlines in Karachi, where almost 600 people have died in ethnic violence and targeted killings in July and August 2011.  The fact that a senior leader of ruling party and childhood friend of President Zardari chose to go public with his accusations while holding Holy Quran on his head, shows the gravity of the problem.  He alleged that the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and its leader Altaf Hussain were hand in glove with the USA in trying to break up Pakistan. He also accused the Federal interior minister Rehman Malik of being an accomplice of the MQM in trying to weaken the Army and the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Mirza, who as Home Minister had earlier termed Mohajirs as ‘naked and hungry’ was apparently unhappy with the operation of Pakistani Rangers in his pocket borough Lyari, a dessely populated area of Karachi.  

The recent cycle of violence began when MQM walked out from the federal government and the provincial government in Sindh, over differences with the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).  The PPP leaders in Sindh used this opportunity to remove the Local Government (LG), system which was introduced by Musharraf to decentralize power to district level elected authorities and had already been suspended in all other provinces.  They also opened communication channels with the imprisoned leadership of breakaway Haqiqi faction of Mohajir Quaumi Movement (MQM), which had fought pitched battles with Altaf Hussain and his followers in the 1990s.   Although the LG system, which gives MQM substantial control over the major cities of Sindh - Karachi and Hyderabad, has been restored and an MQM appointee has returned as the Governor of Sindh, the violence continues unabated.  Violence is being perpetuated across various faultlines in Karachi.  One is intra ethnic faultline, where Bihari Mohajirs, who primarily support Haqiqi group, clash with other Mohajirs mainly from UP, Delhi and Gujrat. Haqiqis, who had been at the receiving end since Musharraf came to power in 1999, bounced back in July with tacit support from many provincial PPP leaders like Zulfiqar Mirza.  Most of the bodies that are found in gunny bags in Karachi are the result of this intra-ethnic conflict.

The Second and probably the most pronounced is the interethnic faultline, between Mohajirs and Sindhi-Baloch-Pakhtoon ethnic groups.  Karachi in 1947 was overwhelmingly dominated by Sindhi speaking population, most of whom were Hindus.  Partition and resultant migration resulted in replacement of Hindu Sindhis by Urdu speaking Mohajirs (refugees) from India.  Soon Sindhis became a minority and the city came to be dominated by the Mohajirs.  In 1970s, when a separate Sindh province was reestablished after breaking up ‘One Unit’, Sindhis started asserting their linguistic rights and this resulted in their clashes with Urdu speaking Mohajirs.  However, Mohajirs consolidated their hold over Karachi during subsequent military regimes and Sindhis tacitly accepted Mohajir domination over Karachi.  The Afghan war brought in a new wave of refugees, a large number of Pakhtoons moved to Karachi to avoid war. Subsequent operations in Swat and FATA increased the influx of Pakhtoons to Karachi.  Today, there are more Pakhtoons in Karachi than Peshawar, Kandhar or Kabul.  They dominate the transport industry.  Martial orientation of Pakhtoons and their familiarity with weapons led them to reject Mohajir domination in Karachi. First refugees in Karachi felt threatened by these later refugees.  As a result clear battle lines have been drawn between the two groups, Awami National Party (ANP) and MQM represent the two communities politically and support their legal and illegal actions.  Baloch and Sindhis invariably support the Pakhtoons against Mohajirs. Punjabis another powerful minority have largely remained neutral.  Different localities in Karachi are dominated by different ethnic groups and their boundaries are the most common battle grounds.  Political parties like PPP, ANP and MQM respectively prop up armed cadres of Pakhtoon, Sindhi-Baloch and Mohajir communities to protect their political turf.  During Musharraf era, MQM reconfigured the parliamentary and assembly constituencies in a manner so as to maximize their political influence.  Continuing Pakhtoon influx in Karachi challenges MQM’s hold in many of these constituencies. MQM has therefore been opposing movement of Pakhtoons into Karachi under the garb of Talibanisation.

Third faultline in Karachi is the sectarian cleavages between various sects and sub-sects.  Religious parties like Jamaat-e-Islami were fairly strong in Karachi till MQM eclipsed them.  They still wield considerable influence. The city has seen targeted killing of Shias and Sunnis, as it houses major seminaries of both the sects.  The presence of highly educated and prosperous Shias in Karachi, have made them the targets of extremist Sunni organisations like Sipah-e-Sahiba and the Lashkar-eJhangvi.  Hitherto, most of the Sunnis in Karachi, primarily, Mohajirs and the Sindhis adhered to tolerant Barelvi sect of sub-continental Sunni Islam and followed Sunni Tehrik, but it has changed in recent times.  Rising influx of Pakhtoons has given rise to Deobandis and extremist Wahabis, who have not only been targeting Shias, but also the Barelvi leadership.  They have also introduced the suicide bomber into the sectarian battlefield.   A few years back the entire leadership of Sunni Tehrik was wiped off in a suicide attack in Nishtar Park on Milad-e-Nabi in April 2006.  The recent crackdown by Rangers has led to the arrest of many sectarian militants, who were waiting to fish in the troubled waters.

Another faultline is the between various criminal gangs.  Drug, Land and Arms mafia often fight over control of their turf and often draw support from their ethnic communities.  The gang wars often result in targeted killings and pitched battles in different parts of Karachi and at times suck in innocent bystanders.  With the large scale influx of people from FATA and Swat, a new faultline between Taliban, Al Qaeda and its affiliates, and Law Enforcement Agencies and Government sympathizers, has taken shape.  The attacks on moderates, opposing the radical world view and security forces like attacks on PNS Mehran come within the ambit of this faultline.  Taliban and its affiliates have also been joining Deobandi and Wahabi Sunni to target both Shias as well as the Barelvi leadership, thereby muddying the sectarian landscape further.

These faultlines more often than not result in grounding the largest and most significant city in Pakistan and its activities.  Karachi contributes over 46 per cent of direct taxes, 33 per cent of federal excise, 23 per cent of domestic sales tax, 79 per cent of sales tax on imports and 75 per cent of customs duty collected in entire Pakistan.  The city alone contributes over a quarter of Pakistan’s revenue and over 30 per cent of all manufacturing activities.  It contributes one fifth of nation’s GDP and is the nerve centre of Pakistan’s economy.  Karchi-Bin Qasim port complex virtually handles all the maritime imports and exports of Pakistan. The city houses the largest stock exchange and has the headquarters of most multinational corporations operating in Pakistan, hence implications of continuing turmoil in Karachi can be extremely grave for the economy of Pakistan.

In 2010, targeted killing accounted for 705 lives, 74 others were killed due to various explosions.  As against 779 lives lost in ethnic and sectarian violence in Karachi in 2010, 345 lives were lost in July 2011 alone and similar figures are expected for August 2011.   The gravity of situation has led many in the political arena to ask for Army to restore law and order in Karachi.  However, the two major parties PPP and Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) have been opposing it as handing over Karachi to the Army, may just be a precursor to the handing over of the entire country to them.  After all the unending cycle of military rules that Pakistan, finds itself in, is to a great extent the result  of handing over Lahore to General Azam Khan for restoring Law and Order in 1953.   As it is the Pakistani Army is currently overstretched, operating against Taliban and Baloch nationalist.  It may not have spare capacity to get embroiled in the Karachi quagmire, without degrading its capability on other fronts.  Moreover, involvement in ethnic and sectarian wars may further erode the cohesion of Armed Forces.

The unending influx of Pakhtoons into Karachi has already affected the pre-1947 cosmopolitan and secular culture of Karachi. It therefore needs to be stopped, howsoever, unpalatable it may be.  If unchecked, it will in due course lead to the Talibanisation of the city and if that happens, both Pakistan and the US will find themselves embroiled in a long term urban guerilla war.   At a time when people are demanding decentralization of powers, may be a time has come to restrict inter provincial movement of people as a prelude to creation of a Confederation in Pakistan.

(The views expressed in the article are that of the author and do not represent the views of the editorial committee or the centre for land warfare studies).