Violence in Karachi Is It Political, Ethnic or Religious Conflict? by Zulfiqar Ali

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Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies Vol. 4, No.

3 (2012)

Violence in Karachi; Is It Political, Ethnic or


Religious Conflict?
By Zulfiqar Ali
Introduction

In this paper, I will try to explore the main causes of ethnic conflicts in Pakistan.
After defining the term, I will provide a brief review of the history, in the
subsequent parts I will focus on main ethnic groups, the major issues in ethnic
conflicts in Karachi, the tendency affecting changes in ethnic issues, and the
implications of these changes for national integration in Pakistan.

. In the terms of Etymologically, the word 'ethnic' is derived from the Greek word
ethnikos; which referred to major population groups who share common racial
and cultural qualities; Ethnicity designated to the group behavior of members in
quest of a common heritage with inherent individual variations1. It is also an
indication of one's own insight as the member of the particular group. According
to the Prof. Dawa Norbu, "an ethnic group is discrete social organization within
which mass mobilization and social communication may be affected. And
ethnicity provided the potent raw material for nationalism that makes sense only
to the members of that ethnic group. Its primary function is to differentiate the
group members from the generalized others"2. In other words, ethnicity provides
the fundamentals of nationalism. Nationalism proves to be strong binding force in
the nations, comprising of single ethnicity in majority.

According to a survey conducted in 1992, almost a dozen out of 132 countries


which could be viewed as homogeneous, twenty five countries have single ethnic
group comprising of ninety percent of the total population, whereas twenty five
countries have a population comprising of 75 percent single ethnicity. A single
ethnic group comprising of fifty to seventy-five percent of total population,
resides in thirty one countries. Whereas, in 39countries no single group exceeds
half of the total population3. It means that a country could be resided by a single
large ethnic group or many smaller ethnic groups.

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Zulfiqar Ali

Pakistan belong the third type of country which has a leading ethnic group
comprising of fifty to seventy-five percent of the total population, the Punjabis
are almost fifty-six percent of the total population. In Pakistan, the provincial
assertion based on the ethnic distinctiveness became prominent in the decade of
90s. The problem of ethnic isolation has been boiling in Baluchistan and NWFP
since the 70s. Likewise, the Mohajirs of Pakistan were rising as a distinctive
ethnic group with the growth of Mohajir Qoumi Movement (MQM) since the 80s
as a major force in urban areas of Sindh, especially in the biggest city of the
country, Karachi, and in the adjacent city, Hyderabad.

The ruling class of Pakistan has always wanted to employ the ideology of
Pakistani nationalism against the demands of different ethnic groups for enhanced
provincial autonomy. The elite class always takes any such demand as a
conspiracy to divide and disintegrate Pakistan, and this behavior has also led to
assertion of many regional identities.

A Review of the History

Pakistan has been confronted with one of the gravest ethnic conflicts of her sixty-
four years life. In 2010 alone, 1,247 people, as compared to 8012009, were killed
in its major city, Karachi4. Ethnic divergence in the province of Sindh is almost
complete, and in Baluchistan it has traumatized the traditional fraternity between
different ethnic groups. The situation of law and order due to ethnic clashes have
shattered economic activities in urban Sindh where there has been evidence of a
transfer of capital to other regions and almost a complete halt on the part of
foreign investment. Moreover billions of rupees are lost each year due to recurrent
strikes.

The image of Pakistan emerging from its ethnic condition is revealed by its
economic and political situation. Conventionally, Pakistan's ethnic multiplicity
has been defined in terms of the existence of the four historical "ethnic groups,"
the Punjabis, the Sindhis, the Pushtoons and the Baloch, the Urdu-speaking
people (the mohajirs), and many smaller ethnic/ linguistic groups. Recently,
though, a political party representing the Urdu-speaking people in urban Sindh
has insisted on the recognition of "nationality" status while there has been a
constant demand from a part of the population in Punjab for the identification of
Siraiki-speaking people as a distinct "nationality."

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Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies Vol. 4, No. 3 (2012)

Violence in Karachi; Ethnic, Political or Religious?

Karachi was small village of fishermen surrounded by mud ramparts. It had two
doors: towards Arabian Sea was situated the door of salted water (kharadar), and
facing the Lyari river was the door of sweet water (mithadar). The town of
kalachi-jo-goth was founded in 1729, in the memory of a local fisherman5.
Karachis port was an important knot in the regional proto-globalized economy
since the eighteenth century, linking Sindh and Punjab with the Persian Gulf and,
further, with China and Africa6. Between 1947 and 1951, the enormous
migration of refugees (majority of them was Urdu speaking) from India, who also
to be known as Mohajirs, brought Karachi under intense demographic pressure
but it also provided it with a highly competent workforce and an experienced
bureaucracy7. On the twenty-second of May, 1948, Karachi was formally made
the capital of Pakistan.

To make the citya federally-administered area, the Constituent Assembly


separated the Karachi from province of Sindh. This decision stimulate the
resentment of Sindhi ansars (native) towards the mohajirs (migrants) whom they
believe as city-dwellers full with jealousy for the sons of the soil. The ethnic
frictions were thus started in Sindh, which would soon become a theatre of
hostility for distressed ethnic groups constructing their identities through their
confrontation with the others.

Karachis history is evident of an obvious economic success mitigate by violent


ethnic and sectarianquarrels. However, such classification is deeply
challenging mainly because Karachis so-called ethnic and sectarian conflicts
originally had little to do with ethnicity and religion. They were primarily urban
struggles between the opposing local groups for the control of the most affluent
city in the country8. These groups include different Mafias, land grabbers and
criminals. They fight each other to grasp the control of different parts of the city.
Many areas of the city have become no go areas by these groups for rival
groups. Residents of these areas are (reportedly) forced to pay ransom for the
safety of their homes and businesses.

The Afghan jihad in 80s and ongoing war against terrorism in the northwestern
parts of the country also brought to Karachi a flow of arms and drugs along with a
heavy population influx from those part of the country. The situation produced a
culture of violence in the city, especially in its youth for whom Russian TT-
pistols became the hottest commodity in town9. Since the beginning of Afghan

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Zulfiqar Ali

jihad, in the 1990s, and after the fall of the 9/11, Karachis ethnic conflicts appear
to have been succeeded by sectarianconflicts.

Karachi witnessed anti-Ahmadi riots in the early 50s, anti-Pathan riots in


1965, anti-Ahmedi riots again from1969 - 70 and Sindhi-Mohajir riots
from1972-73. However, the ethnic clashes which occurred in the second half of
the 1980s in the city were unparalleled in their scale and brutality. Clashes have
occurred between Pathans and Biharis in April 1985, again in October and
December 1986, and in February to July 1987 , between the Mohajirs and the
Sindhis in May, September, and October 1988, and again in May - June 1990.
Karachis first key ethnic riot which claimed at least hundred lives took place in
April of 1985 between Mohajirs and Pathan gunmen who were trying to extend
their control to areas at the margins of their recently consolidated territories.10

From 1987 to present day , the MQM strongholds are located in the areas of
District Central and District East, such as Azizabad, Federal B Area, Nazimabad,
Liaqatabad, New Karachi and Gulshan-e Iqbal. District South has been under the
influence of the PPP, which also has existence in the district of Malir. District
West, has remained under the control of the ANP, which is particularly influential
in the Baldia Pathan and Qasba colonies. Another political force in the city is a
rebel faction of the MQM, the MQM (Haqiqi), which is not significant today,,had
converted the Landhi, Shah Faisal Colony and Lines Area into no-go areas for
Altaf Hussains supporters after the launching of Operation Clean-Up in 199211.

The rise of the MQM in 1984, on the scene national politics was quite swift and
remarkable. It is an urban, youthful and organizationally well-knit party.12 Its
leadership and most of its members belongs to the lower middle class. Since the
late 1980s, MQM has remained influential in the urban parts of Sindh. It has
achieved significant electoral support in Karachi and Hyderabad, the two major
cities of Sindh.

It is noteworthy that state at the non-policy level which created a situation of


ethnic outburst in urban parts of Sindh. Various large-scale issues circling the
conflicts between politicians and army, federalist and provincial forces, Islamist
and secularist elements and, externally, India and Pakistan seriously
circumscribed the states capacity and will to pursue micro-level issues such as
urban planning, educational and manpower strategies, as well as rural-urban and
interprovincial migration13.The state failed on various counts such as legal safety
of citizen and protection of life and property. Ethnicity comes out as the new

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Pakistaniaat: A Journal of Pakistan Studies Vol. 4, No. 3 (2012)

source of identity formation, definition and categorization of interests. In the


words of Mohammad Waseem, it was not too much of the (Jacobin) state, as
primordialists would have us believe, but rather too little of it which produced the
mohajir ethnic movement14.

Political Violence in the Form of Targeted Killings

Karachi has been experiencing periodical and uncontrollable violence, being


struck by cruel, targeted killings . The most preferential method has been the
drive-by shootings,where the killers, customarily remain untraced .
Incompatible political, sectarian and linguistic affiliations, marked by intense
personal rivalries, are said to be a major cause of the blind murders15.The Human
Rights Commission of Pakistan reports that in 2009, the total number of killings
was 747, while the number of target killings in Karachi totaled 291. According
to police documentation records published in a local newspaper 249 targeted
killings took place in Karachi from month of January to August, 2010. In the first
24 days of the March, 2011 two hundred sixty seven people were killed targeted
These are certainly shocking figures from an economic point of view as well,
keeping in view that the city accounts for two-thirds of Pakistans trade and
industry and almost half of its GDP16.

The rising death toll gives the impression that the instability of Karachi has been
gradually ascending. Violence in the city is in effect seems a socio-ethnic
phenomenon, which is intensified by immense weaponization of the city. Efforts
for de-weaponization in the past have produced only diverse results, due to
variation in demand and supply of weapons.
Although, in the pre-Afghan war era, weapons made in northwestern area of the
country were much in demand across the country, with the induction of a legacy
of the Afghan war, the lethal assault rifle Kalashnikov, the law enforcement
efforts suffered a serious setback. There is no lack of laws but what is needed is
their enforcement in true sense. Secondly, as we discussed earlier, the influx of
migrants into Karachi, served to further fuse the situation of group politics in the
city (mainly consisting of the ethno-linguistic groups).

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Zulfiqar Ali

If the recent wave of violence and brutality is allowed to continue, peace will
become more impossible; keeping in view that the Pakistani Taliban extremists
are trying to bring a complete chaos to the country. Moreover, there has been an
increase in sectarian sensitivities after the attack on the Ashura Procession.
Interior Minister of Pakistan Mr. Rehman Malik has held that deployment of the
army to control the situation is not desirable in Karachi because the government
has give powers to the Rangers to deal with the situation. However, there are
suspicions about this paramilitary forces ability to deal with the problem, mainly
because the three parties (MQM, ANP and PPP) involved in the situation are in
the ruling coalition government. Urgent countermeasures are needed against the
elements that are leading these brutal killings. The government should put into
effect a course of action without delay in order to restore peace in the city and call
in the army if needed. At the same time, it should do long-standing arrangements
to keep the state of affairs under control.


1
Singh k. Sudhir, Ethnicity and Regional Aspirations In Pakistan http://www.jammu-
th
kashmir.com/insights/insight20020101d.html) Retrieved online on 18 march,2011
2
Ibid
3
ibid
4
http://tribune.com.pk/story/94219/2010-karachis-most-violent-year-since-1995/ Retrieved on
th
18 march,2011
5
Sohrab K.H. Katrak, Karachi. That was the Capital of Sindh, Lahore, 1963.
6
Laurent Gayer A divided city. Ethnic and religious conflicts in Karachi, Pakistan retrieved
th
online on 13 March, 2011. http://www.ceri-sciences-po.org
7
ibid
8
ibid
9
Larrry Goodson, The Talibanization of Pakistan, New York/Basingstoke : Palgrave/Macmillan,
2002.
10
Laurent Gayer A divided city. Ethnic and religious conflicts in Karachi, Pakistan retrieved
th
online on 13 March, 2011. http://www.ceri-sciences-po.org
11
ibid
12
ibid
13
MOHAMMAD WASEEM ,Ethnic Conflict in Pakistan: The Case of MQM, The Pakistan
Development Review
35 : 4 Part II (Winter 1996) pp. 617629

14
ibid
15 th
http://pak-news.net/targeted-killings-in-karachi/) retrieved online on 17 of March, 2011
16 th
http://pak-news.net/targeted-killings-in-karachi/) retrieved online on 17 of March, 2011

83

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