Former Sindh Home Minister Zulfiqar Mirza's dramatic August 28 press conference with a copy of the Holy Quran in his hand has become the center of news media attention in recent days.
Following this highly emotion-charged press conference which was carried live by almost all of the mainstream TV channels, Mirza has been hailed as a hero by some of the most popular TV talking heads for railing against MQM's top leadership, and for singling out Pakistan Peoples Party leader and Federal Home Minister Rehman Malik for his harshest accusations.
To assess the extent of Mirza's credibility, it is important to understand the following:
1. What triggered the latest of Mirza's outbursts? Was it Malik's decision to send the Rangers in to the Lyari neighborhood of Karachi?
2. When Mirza used a copy of the Holy Quran in the month of Ramadan to convey his sincerity, did he really tell the whole truth? or did he leave out the ugly truths about the horrific crimes committed by Karachi's armed gangs controlled by him and his ANP political allies?
The answer to both of the above questions can be found in the fact that Mirza's press conference occurred soon after he learned about the Pakistan Rangers' operation to clean out gang-infested Lyari. This operation was authorized by Rehman Malik over the objections of Mirza and without Mirza's prior knowledge to prevent him tipping off his gangster allies in Lyari.
During the Lyari operation, the Rangers discovered the horror chambers that were used to torture and kill people in recent weeks. The badly mutilated bodies of these torture victims were stuffed in bags and dumped in various parts of the city to create widespread fear. The perpetrators were none other than Mirza's allies who falsely labeled their gangs as "People's Amn (Peace) Committee" or PAC.
The Rangers also arrested 133 suspects and seized automatic weapons and ammunition that were concealed in a ditch inside a house. They also found rockets, grenades, nine sub-machine guns and hundreds of bullet rounds once they dug out the makeshift arsenal, according to the Express Tribune newspaper report.
The torture cells were found in the Nayyabad area of Lyari. One was underground while the other was on the first floor. Both were outfitted with chains, chairs, tape for gagging victims, ropes, and power tools to dismember bodies. Jackets, sacks and documents were strewn on the floor along with the uniform an indicating the identity of the victims as members of the MQM's Khimat-e-Khalq Foundation.
The TV news-anchors, talk-show hosts, and the print media reporters must not give Zulfikar Mirza a free pass when he tells the truth only selectively to hide his own misdeeds and the crimes of his political allies in patronizing criminal gangs. Nor should other politicians be spared the tough questions about their culpability in destroying Karachi's peace, and for seriously undermining Pakistan's economy. Pakistan's media must play their crucial role in exposing the growing nexus between crime and politics in Karachi, and the rest of Pakistan.
We must not forget that sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
MQM Worried By Karachi's Demographic Changes
Karachi Tops World's Largest Cities
Karachi Tops Mumbai in Stock Performace
Eleven Days in Karachi
Pakistan Most Urbanized in South Asia
Karachi: The Urban Frontier
Do Asia's Urban Slums Offer Hope?
Orangi is Not Dharavi
Climate Change Could Flood Karachi Coastline
Karachi Fourth Cheapest For Expats
Karachi City Government
Karachi Dreams Big
Pakistan Census 2011
Jinnah's Vision of Pakistan
High Cost of Failure to Aid Flood Victims
World Memon Organization
Urbanization in Pakistan Highest in South Asia
Threre are more reasons to migrate to Canada
1 year ago
35 comments:
MQM,PPP,ANP and lately Sunni Tehrik are all playing the same game.All ,at least the first three,want to get maximum share of land grabbing, bhattas,ransom and the drug money.This is now known to even a 4 years child living in Karachi.This is being done at a vey heavy cost of human lives and neither PM nor president care about what is going on.This leads many to beleive that they are share holders as well.Rahman Malik is kind and generous enough to help anyone out of these four whenever they need it.If some one beleives that he is simply doing it to show his obedience to his four masters without getting his share,must be the most innocent person on the earth.
Salman: "All ,at least the first three,want to get maximum share of land grabbing, bhattas,ransom and the drug money"
Land grab and other crimes rise as countries urbanize and urban land becomes precious and a way of wealth building for the unscrupulous.
The problem is Pakistan has become much more serious and deadly because of the close nexus between crime and politics which lets the powerful politicians get away with murder and mayhem.
Here's recent story from The Hindu newspaper about Bangalore land grab:
Bangalore: As many as 428 cases of encroachment of government land, detected by the Joint Legislature Committee headed by A.T. Ramaswamy, have been dropped without inquiry by the State Government. These cases involve 1,042 acres of land in all in Bangalore Urban district.
An inquiry report on these cases, submitted by a 15-member panel headed by the Regional Commissioner, Bangalore Division, last month stated that they were all blatant instances of falsified documents and that dropping them was “against the interest of the Government”.
However, no action has been initiated based on the report. Revealing this at a press conference here on Friday, Mr. Ramaswamy said that it is a clear instance of how the land mafia continues to get away with encroachment of prime government land in connivance with politicians and the top bureaucracy.
The documents show that all the cases were dropped in 2009 and 2010 on the orders of the Special Deputy Commissioner, Ramanjaneya, who had been caught by the Lokayukta.
He had exercised his quasi-judicial powers in dropping the cases, even though the guidelines demand that it cannot be done in an arbitrary manner without verifying the original documents, Mr. Ramaswamy said.
http://www.hindu.com/2011/06/18/stories/2011061853420400.htm
lokpal to the rescue!
what is pakistan's answer?
Dear Salman and Riaz,
I agree with your assessments of the situation. What I don't understand though is that how come this outcome was not clear to Pakistanis when they voted for PPP, MQM and ANP????
I also find it very perplexing that many of us are quick to condemn Military but not willing to condemn MQM and PPP.
If everyone in Pakistan and Karachi now knows who is the culprit, then I should expect that in next elections none of these big three will get any votes. That is what logic says but I am sure these thugs will get votes and will be put in charge again to rape the country again :-((
We are all bigots. We have no sense of fairness. We just want to vote based on the biases, not on facts. We don't vote for the benefit of Pakistan. We vote to satisfy our meanness and prejudice.
With this kind of attitudes we deserve these thug rulers and have no right to complain when they loot, kill and rape.
Haseeb: "We are all bigots. We have no sense of fairness. We just want to vote based on the biases, not on facts."
I heard Mohammad Hanif, a long-time ethnic Punjabi resident of Karachi and a celebrated NY Times best-selling author of the novel "A Case of Exploding Mangoes", recently describe and analyze Karachi problems on GeoTV's 50 Minutes.
He said, and I am paraphrasing, that Karachi has problems because the rest of Pakistan has problems...the problems of survival and lack of economic opportunity that force people from the KPK (NWFP) and Southern Punjab to migrate in large numbers to Karachi to seek better lives.
The result of uncontrolled migration is that the swelling population of Karachi has made it a very overcrowded place where everyone needs to find a place to live and get basic services like housing and that causes serious tensions.
Hanif said that these poor rural migrants have continued to pour in to Karachi by the thousands even in the midst of extreme violence during the month of Ramadan this year. They can get jobs paying better wages in Karachi than they can back home, and hope to send their kids to school and get better healthcare in local hospitals.
What you wrote about uncontrolled internal migration to Karachi is same in India for Mumbai. But there is no bloodshed in Mumbai of this magnitude. Perhaps the difference is hinduism.
Anil: "Perhaps the difference is hinduism."
"Peace-loving" Hindus are not immune to committing horrific ethnic, caste and religious violence as has been well documented by a number of researchers including Prof Paul Brass of Univ of Washington, Prof Donald L. Horowitz of Duke University and Prof Ashutosh Varshney of the University of Michigan.
As to comparing Mumbai with Karachi, let's understand the following:
1. Karachi is the largest city in the world. It has grown and continues to grow faster than Mumbai. Pakistan is already more urbanized than India, and continue to urbanize faster than India.
http://www.riazhaq.com/2010/01/karachi-tops-list-of-worlds-largest.html
http://www.riazhaq.com/2009/09/urbanization-in-pakistan-highest-in.html
2. Mumbai has nothing like the gun culture that Karachi has because of the large presence of gun-loving Pashtuns who consider guns their jewelry.
""Peace-loving" Hindus are not immune to committing horrific ethnic, caste and religious violence as has been well documented by a number of researchers including Prof Paul Brass of Univ of Washington, Prof Donald L. Horowitz of Duke University and Prof Ashutosh Varshney of the University of Michigan.
"
So there must be news item daily about murderous hindus killing each other like roaches. Where is it? For Karachi and Pakistan, just visit dawn.
Things you will never read about Pakistan
http://www.dailypioneer.com/home/online-channel/todays-top-story/2878-gujarat-emerging-as-global-automobile-manufacturing-hub-modi.html
So what's the difference between india and Pakistan when both people look same. Religion perhaps.
Anil: "So there must be news item daily about murderous hindus killing each other like roaches. Where is it? For Karachi and Pakistan, just visit dawn."
The Human Rights Watch has documented the following abuses of Dalits in India:
* Over 100,000 cases of rape, murder, arson, and other atrocities against Dalits are reported in India each year. Given that Dalits are both reluctant and unable (for lack of police cooperation) to report crimes against themselves, the actual number of abuses is presumably much higher.
* India's own agencies have reported that these cases are typically related to attempts by Dalits to defy the social order, or demand minimum wages and their basic human rights. Many of the atrocities are committed by the police. Even perpetrators of large-scale massacres have escaped prosecution.
* An estimated forty million people in India, among them fifteen million children, are bonded laborers, working in slave-like conditions in order to pay off a debt. A majority of them are Dalits.
* According to government statistics, an estimated one million Dalits are manual scavengers who clear feces from public and private latrines and dispose of dead animals; unofficial estimates are much higher.
* The sexual slavery of Dalit girls and women continues to receive religious sanction. Under the devadasi system, thousands of Dalit girls in India's southern states are ceremoniously dedicated or married to a deity or to a temple. Once dedicated, they are unable to marry, forced to become prostitutes for upper-caste community members, and eventually auctioned into an urban brothel.
Indian newspapers don't cover what the HRW has documented.
Nor do they talk much about the Sikh massacre of 1984, Muslim massacre of 2002, and Christian massacre of 2008.
And if Indian news reporters were honest, they'd report a lot more about Kashmir massacres and missing persons and mass graves in Kashmir.
Newspaper coverage in Pakistan focuses on what's happening now; it does not concern themselves with the historical figures of carnage in other parts of the world.
Anil: "So what's the difference between india and Pakistan when both people look same. Religion perhaps. "
And what you would not read about in the right-wing Hindu press are the facts about the high levels of poverty and hunger in Gujarat.
According to India State Hunger Index reported by IFPRI, Gujarat ranks worse than Hainti and many sub-Saharan African nations such as Burkina Faso.
And the latest World Bank poverty report on India shows Gujarat is much poorer than Pakistan, Cote D'Ivoire and Kenya.
If ZM did not tell whole truth then how much truch he told? Can you tell to nation? Have you seen chakra goth videos? Have you seen videos of MQM terrorists. If not then you are hidding facts. Canada has already declared MQM a terrorist organization, see link in following comment. We should condemn equally all political parties (PPP,MQM,ANP) who have terrorist wings and invovle in killing of muslims (Urdu, sindhi and pushto speaking all are muslims). If some one is condeming only one party's terrorist then in my opinion, he is also terrorist. We should come forward and unite as muslim and condemn, PPP, MQM and ANP parties and bycott them in future because these parties are involve in killing of muslims
Arshad: "We should condemn equally all political parties (PPP,MQM,ANP) who have terrorist wings and invovle in killing of muslims (Urdu, sindhi and pushto speaking all are muslims)."
You are preaching to the choir. Just read the title of my post which refers to "gangster politicians of Karachi". It is not specific to one party or person. However, Mirza is no ordinary politician. He was until recently the provincial Home Minister who had the responsibility of maintaining peace in Karachi and he was maintaining criminal and murderous gangs instead. My point in the paragraph you refer to is that selective truths he offered is no truth at all because it is clearly intended to mislead the people.
"2. Mumbai has nothing like the gun culture that Karachi has because of the large presence of gun-loving Pashtuns who consider guns their jewelry."
What a foolish comment. Most Pustoons who migrated to Karachi are rural folks - labor class who do not have guns.. When I started reading your post I had a feeling that you are out to defend the MQM thugs and finally, you just could not resist your xenophobic urges.
Anwar: "Most Pustoons who migrated to Karachi are rural folks - labor class who do not have guns.."
It's nonsense to suggest that rural Pashtuns do not carry guns. Do you think FATA Pashtuns and Afghan refugees who have migrated to Karachi are urban folks?
Have you not heard about the well-armed transport mafia in Karachi many of whom are originally from FATA?
And then there are also TTP sympathizers among them who are supporting the insurgency in FATA with funds from their businesses in Karachi.
There were few guns in Karachi and very little gun violence until the Afghan War of 1980s when the large Pashtun migration to Karachi began, and the guns became ubiquitous.
Instead of making bigoted comments accusing me of "xenophobic urges", please read and learn about the Pashtun migrants in Karachi. Let me suggest a recent book "Pakistan-A Hard Country" by Anatol Lieven.
Here's an interesting excerpt from a Friday Times story about the centrality of Karachi to the NATO war effort in Afghanistan, and how it impacts the politics and peace (or rather the lack of it) in Pakistan's financial capital:
"Over the years Karachi has become one of the most important cities of the world not because of its ethnic tensions but because of its strategic location and the port which receives more than 80 percent of NATO supplies," a senior foreign diplomat said. ...
Americans have built one of the largest consulates in the world in Karachi and have repeatedly used British diplomats to pressure MQM - one of the largest stakeholders in Karachi - to maintain peace in the city. According to one source, the ANP has huge stakes in NATO supplies and has strong influence among Karachi's transporters.
---
In Karachi, there are many third-tier sub-contractors working for NATO, most of them of Pashtun and Mehsud origin. They get contracts from second-tier sub-contractors from Dubai, who the contracts have been outsourced to from contractors in Washington, DC.
One such sub-contractor, Abdul Hakim Mehsud said, "Its one of the toughest jobs in the world - recently over 13 of my trucks and three of my drivers had been vanished in interior Sindh. But the profit margins are high and that keeps me motivated."
----
"In December 2008, militants destroyed 400 containers carrying food, fuel, and military vehicles," a NATO source said. After that, NATO and ISAF began paying tribes to ensure supplies get across safe.
Karachi's ethnic riots, political instability, and sectarianism have earned it the reputation of being the world's most dangerous city. In the last four years, over 5,000 people have been killed in politically-motivated violence. Not very long ago, it hosted Al Qaeda's operational headquarters. It is still considered by many as a Taliban stronghold.
In Karachi's chemical markets, ammonium nitrate is produced by fertiliser companies. While the chemical is on the Pakistani customs control list, it is widely available in open market. This ammonium nitrate is used in improvised explosive devices that account for 66 percent of foreign casualties in Afghanistan since the war started in 2001. The makeshift bombs have claimed 368 troops in 2010. This year, the number has already reached 143.
"We can deliver you big quantities of the chemical at the right price," said Ahmed Jan, a local smuggler, one of the few willing to speak on the record. "For a higher price we can deliver you the items in Afghanistan."
The US Consulate and Pakistani customs intelligence have been working closely to stop the smuggling.
Earlier this year, the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Commerce was informed that more than 6,000 trucks of NATO/ISAF supplies had not reached in Chaman and Iman Garh borders. The disclosure sparked an internal auditing within NLC and FBR and corruption of Rs7 billion was found. The FBR and NLC had reportedly issued notices to 21 and 22 grade officers and had put 100 of its officers and clearing/forwarding agents in the Exit Control List.
-------
The attacks are not likely to stop any time soon, according to a foreign diplomat, "But we have made pacts with warlords, tribes and various stakeholders in Pakistan who ensure safe transit of the goods. They include political parties both in Pakistan and Afghanistan."
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta2/tft/article.php?issue=20110902&page=6
PM Gilani says "armed wings" of any party will not be tolerated, according to The Nation:
MULTAN - Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has declared that no armed wing of any political party will be tolerated but asserted that involvement of foreign hand in deterioration of situation in Karachi cannot be ruled out too.
He was talking to a delegation of senior journalists in Multan on Wednesday. The premier, who had come to his native town on a two-day visit, flew back to Islamabad Thursday noon.
Gilani said that the government had decided to take strict action against those found involved in terrorism. He said that an indiscriminate action would be launched against criminals and ‘qabza mafia’, extortionists and terrorists to crush them all. He issued a warning to land grabbers, asking them to vacate state lands within one month.
Replying to a question on MQM, he said that he could not say anything at this point on whether or not MQM would rejoin government but MQM was a reality. “Now we’re going to adopt measures with the cooperation of MQM, ANP and JI to restore peace in Karachi,” he said.
http://nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Regional/Lahore/03-Sep-2011/No-armed-wing-of-any-party-to-be-tolerated-PM
Mr Riaz Haq
Just Today there is a news that Mr Zulfiqar Mirza who Made those sensational disclosures on Television with a Holy Quran in his hands ; that HE HIMSELF has distributed THREE LAKH gun Licences to his own Community
Mr Mirza was addressing his supporters and said if he is killed then his supporters must kill THOUSANDS of the ENEMY supporters
Now if we add the Guns of MQM and ANP then there are LAKHS of Guns floating around
And this cycle of violence and revenge will carry on
http://www.economist.com/node/21526919
I agree that it is a game being played by all stake holders in Karachi, PPP - MQM - ANP and the government, to downplay the other. Mirza is only one segment. He should be interrogated to bring out the "truth" he wants us to know. Likewise MQM, ANP and PPP should also be grilled to let out their secrets and even handed action be taken against all criminals. The frequent leaving-joining hide and seek played by MQM speaks of some hidden arrangements that need to be unearthed too.
It is only then peace can return to Karachi.
@ Riaz Haq ...
Anwar: "Most Pustoons who migrated to Karachi are rural folks - labor class who do not have guns.."
This is true....gun culture has been brought to Karachi by the Afghan refugees garbed as Pathans.
However, when provoked some Pathan groups do have the capability to react with almost equal force. Were this not so not a single Pathan would have survived during the recent (or previous) ethnic rampages by other ethnic group against them. The fact is that Pathans in Karachi are becoming an 'equalizing force' of which the major ethnic group here is afraid of! I agree with Anwar inso far as his observations about common Pakhtuns in Karachi is concerned.
Haq: Have you not heard about the well-armed transport mafia in Karachi many of whom are originally from FATA?
Maz:This could be said about the Punjab transport mafia as well. Why blame Pathans if others can't do the job??
Haq: And then there are also TTP sympathizers among them who are supporting the insurgency in FATA with funds from their businesses in Karachi.
Maz: Partly true..and why shouldn't they do it when other ethnic majority wants to cut their throats??
Haq: There were few guns in Karachi and very little gun violence until the Afghan War of 1980s when the large Pashtun migration to Karachi began, and the guns became ubiquitous.
Maz: even before that the major ethnic group in Karachi and Hyderabad had announced its policy, viz, sell your VCR's and buy Klashnikovs!! This policy alone became the root cause of all the disaster in urban Sindh.
Haq:: Instead of making bigoted comments accusing me of "xenophobic urges", please read and learn about the Pashtun migrants in Karachi. Let me suggest a recent book "Pakistan-A Hard Country" by Anatol Lieven.
Maz: books just depict their writers opinion with cherry-picked facts...it's useless to waste time reading them instead of pronouncing your own practical observations and experience while living among the ridden folks.
MazHur: "it's useless to waste time reading them instead of pronouncing your own practical observations and experience while living among the ridden folks. "
It just shows your disdain for fact-based research and your avoidance of the need to have independent and objective analyses rather than subjective opinions in complex situations where human beings are involved.
There's always lot more to underlying reality than meets the eye of a casual observer.
If anecdotal observations sufficed, there would be no need for in-depth data-intensive research done by social scientists to understand cultures and social behaviors of different groups in different settings.
"It just shows your disdain for fact-based research and your avoidance of the need to have independent and objective analyses rather than subjective opinions in complex situations where human beings are involved." Riaz - you are truly amamzing.
Following is the copy of Daily Times Editorial...
"The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) tried to appease the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) by ignoring its criminal activities ever since it came to power in 2008. This policy annoyed Sindhi nationalists and the PPP’s own Sindhi constituency. It was in this context that PPP’s leader Zulfiqar Mirza gave up all party and government positions in protest and lashed out at the MQM and Interior Minister Rehman Malik. There is no doubt that the surgical operation being conducted in Karachi should be across the board and should target all those responsible for the breakdown of law and order in the city. Criminal gangs working side by side with different political parties should be nailed and penalised. The MQM was the party that initiated a trend of terrorist wings and torture cells in Karachi. Other political parties followed suit in order to counter the MQM’s dominance. So far, MQM-dominated areas have not been targeted by the law enforcement agencies. It is time the government forgets about annoying the MQM and does something for the public instead. Interestingly, Prime Minister Gilani asked land grabbers to vacate state land worth trillions of rupees within a month. Mr Gilani said, “People of the country in general and the people of Sindh in particular stood up against the land grabbers, extortionists, and terrorists and they would not rest till these criminals are eliminated from the province.” It is beyond comprehension why the prime minister is appealing to the land grabbers to vacate state land instead of ensuring that they do so by taking strict action against them. The people of Karachi have already suffered a lot at the hands of criminals and now they want some reprieve. Peace in Sindh, particularly in Karachi, can only be restored once the government decides to nab all those responsible for terrorising the people."
Do inform the editor that you are championing other rascals..
Anwar: "Do inform the editor that you are championing other rascals.. "
Nonsense!
The title of my post says it all: "Gangster Politicians of Karachi".
Having aid that, let me make it clear that having Zulfikar Mirza as home minister was like appointing a fox to guard the chicken coup.
ZM is a racist and terrorist thug who should be prosecuted for sponsoring criminal and murderous gangs in Lyari that tortured and killed innocent people and dumped their bodies in sacks to terrorize the people of Karachi.
Here are excerpts from Wikileaks on the "Gangs of Karachi":
US embassy cable - 09KARACHI138
SINDH - THE GANGS OF KARACHI
Identifier: 09KARACHI138
Origin: Consulate Karachi
Created: 2009-04-22 11:52:00
Summary: The police in Karachi are only one of several armed groups in the city, and they are probably not the most numerous or best equipped. Many neighborhoods are considered by the police to be no-go zones in which even the intelligence services have a difficult time operating. Very
few of the groups are traditional criminal gangs. Most are associated with a political party, a social movement, or terrorist activity, and their presence in the volatile ethnic mix of the world,s fourth largest city creates enormous political and governance challenges.
---------
MQM\'s armed members, known as \"Good Friends,\" are the
largest non-governmental armed element in the city. The police estimate
MQM has ten thousand active armed members and as many as twenty-five thousand armed fighters in reserve.
This is compared to the city\'s thirty-three thousand police officers. The party operates through its 100 Sector Commanders, who take their orders directly from the party leader, Altaf Hussain, who lives in exile in the United Kingdom.
--------
Low to middle-ranked police officials acknowledge the extortion and the likely veracity of the other charges. A senior police officer said, in the past eight years alone,MQM was issued over a million arms licenses, mostly for
handguns. Post (Consulate) has observed MQM security personnel carrying numerous shoulder-fired weapons, ranging from new European
AKMs to crude AK copies, probably produced in local shops.
MQM controls the following neighborhoods in Karachi:
Gulberg, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Korangi, Landhi, Liaquatabad, Malir, Nazimabad, New Karachi, North Nazimabad, Orangi Town, Saddar and Shah Faisal.
-------------
The ANP represents the ethnic Pashtuns in Karachi. The local Pashtuns do possess personal weapons, following the
tribal traditions of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP),
and there are indications they have begun to organize formal armed groups. With the onset of combat operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in August 2008, a growing number of Pashtuns fled south to swell the Pashtun ranks of that already is the largest Pashtun city in the world. This has increased tensions between ANP and MQM....contd
http://tacstrat.com/content/?p=4362
Here are excerpts (Part 2) from Wikileaks on the "Gangs of Karachi":
.... If rhetoric of the police and the ANP leadership is to be believed, these armed elements may be preparing to challenge MQM control of Karachi. In March, the Karachi Police Special Branch submitted a report to the Inspector General of Police in which it mentioned the presence of \"hard-line\" Pashtuns in the Sohrab Goth neighborhood. Sohrab Goth is located in the Northeast of the city.
8. (S) The report said this neighborhood was becoming a no-go
area for the police. The report went on to claim the Pashtuns are involved in drug trafficking and gun running and
if police wanted to move in the area they had to do so in civilian clothing. A senior member of the Intelligence Bureau in Karachi recently opined that the ANP would not move
against MQM until the next elections, but the police report ANP gunmen are already fighting MQM gunmen over
protection-racket turf.
---------
10. (S) PPP is a political party led by, and centered on the Bhutto family. The party enjoys significant support in
Karachi, especially among the Sindhi and Baloch populations. Traditionally, the party has not run an armed wing, but the workers of the PPP do possess weapons, both licensed and unlicensed. With PPP in control of the provincial government and having an influential member in place as the Home Minister, a large number of weapons permits are currently being issued to PPP workers. A police official recently told
Post that he believes, given the volume of weapons permits being issued to PPP members, the party will soon be as
well-armed as MQM. Gangs in Lyari: Arshad Pappoo (AP) and Rahman Dakait (RD)
11. (S) AP and RD are two traditional criminal gangs that
have been fighting each other since the turn of the century in the Lyari district of Karachi. Both gangs gave their political support to PPP in the parliamentary elections. The
gangs got their start with drug trafficking in Lyari and later included the more serious crimes of kidnapping and robbery in other parts of Karachi. (Comment: Kidnapping is such a problem in the city that the Home Secretary once asked Post for small tracking devices that could be planted under
the skin of upper-class citizens and a
satellite to track the devices if they were kidnapped. End comment.)
12. (S) Each group has only about 200 hard-core armed fighters but, according to police, various people in Lyari
have around 6,000 handguns, which are duly authorized through valid weapons permits. In addition, the gangs are in
possession of a large number of unlicensed AK-47 rifles,
Rocket Propelled Grenade launchers and hand grenades. The weapons are carried openly and used against each other as
well as any police or Rangers who enter the area during security operations. During police incursions, the gang
members maintain the tactical advantage by using the narrow streets and interconnected houses. There are some parts of Lyari that are inaccessible to law enforcement agencies...
http://tacstrat.com/content/?p=4362
Riaz: "Very
few of the groups are traditional criminal gangs. Most are associated with a political party, a social movement, or terrorist activity, and their presence in the volatile ethnic mix of the world,s fourth largest city creates enormous political and governance challenges."
What Altaf Hussain is doing to fix this problem? He can do his part for sure, of course, if he is not a problem himslef.
Haseeb: "What Altaf Hussain is doing to fix this problem? He can do his part for sure, of course, if he is not a problem himslef."
Why don't you pose this question to Altaf (MQM), Zulfiqar (PPP) and Shahi (ANP) directly? I can only guess, but each of them would either deny having armed gangs, or refuse to disarm unilaterally.
I think the best way of defusing the escalating gang warfare on a more permanent basis is by orchestrating multilateral disarmament for more lasting peace for the sake of Pakistan, not just for Karachi.
Sugar mills have been one of the vehicles of political patronage in Pakistan.
In an August 2011, Zulfiqa Mirza told the media that "Asif Zardari is so generous that if you gave himn a glass of water he'd give you a sugar mill".
In Mirza's case this is definitely true as he himself admitted that he had received the permit to install his sugar mill with the help of Asif Ali Zardari, according to Daily Times.
In a Friday Times Op Ed in Sept 2011, Najam Sethi wrote that "Mr Mirza owes his great wealth (sugar mills sanctioned during the PPP's two stints in power) and power (his wife is the Speaker of the National Assembly) to Mr Zardari's largesse".
No wonder so many politicians own sugar mills that they dominate the business and control its supply and prices to enrich themselves.
The fact that Pakistanis have a sweet tooth is not lost on the nation's ruling elite, particularly the powerful political families and the Pakistani military. While the military owns Fauji sugar mills, more than 50% of the sugar in Pakistan is produced in sugar mills owned by the most powerful politicians of all major parties and their families.
Multiple sources indicate that the mills owned by President Asif Ali Zardari’s family and the ruling PPP leaders include Ansari Sugar Mills, Mirza Sugar Mills, Pangrio Sugar Mills, Sakrand Sugar Mills and Kiran Sugar Mills. Ashraf Sugar mills is owned by PPP leader and incumbent ZTBL President Ch Zaka Ashraf.
The media reports also indicate Kamalia Sugar Mills and Layyah Sugar Mills are owned by PML-N leaders. Former minister Abbas Sarfaraz is the owner of five out of six sugar mills in the NWFP. Nasrullah Khan Dareshak owns Indus Sugar Mills while Jahangir Khan Tareen has two sugar mills; JDW Sugar Mills and United Sugar Mills. PML-Q leader Anwar Cheema owns National Sugar Mills while Chaudhrys family is or was the owner of Pahrianwali Sugar Mills as it is being heard that they have sold the said mills. Senator Haroon Akhtar Khan owns Tandianwala Sugar Mills while Pattoki Sugar Mills is owned by Mian Mohammad Azhar, former Governor Punjab. PML-F leader Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood owns Jamaldin Wali Sugar Mills. Chaudhry Muneer owns two mills in Rahimyar Khan district and Ch Pervaiz Elahi and former Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Khusro Bakhtiar have shares in these mills.
http://www.riazhaq.com/2009/09/solving-pakistans-sugar-crisis.html
Here's an interesting comparison between the coffee elite of Central America and sugar elite of Pakistan by Dr. Adeel Malik in The News:
In his famous book, Coffee and Power, Jeffrey Paige provides a vivid illustration of how a single commodity, coffee, is sufficient to explain the power structure of Central America. Despite the varying political complexions of its regimes, Central America has one thing in common: they are all ruled by coffee elites. For decades, Central America's coffee elites have thrived on state patronage, rent seeking, and distortion of private markets. As Jeffrey Paige concludes, these elites have generated in this process "unprecedented wealth for the few at the expense of the general impoverishment of the many". Despite this, the coffee elites have been remarkably resilient in Central America, surviving periods of both revolutions and authoritarian rule.
In terms of its links with political power, sugar is Pakistan's parallel for coffee. Sugar industry is Pakistan's second largest agro-based industry. Its linkage with politics, patronage and protection sets it apart from other industries. Available evidence suggests that it is economically inefficient, enjoys one of the highest rates of protection, and is dominated by a small number of political influential owners, making it an excellent illustration of the interconnection between business and politics. The analysis of sugar markets in Pakistan, and their manipulation therefore opens up a fascinating window into how the economic interests of our political elites are strongly entrenched in the current power structure. The operation of sugar markets in Pakistan offers a telling story of how both markets and public policy are routinely captured by vested political interests.
http://thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=198042&Cat=9&dt=9/12/2009
Here's a Guardian report about a tough Karachi cop:
If the lucky really have nine lives, then Chaudhry Aslam Khan, Karachi's toughest policeman, is fast running out of his.
One morning in September, Aslam was sleeping when powerful shockwaves rippled through his house. Falling out of bed, he discovered that a Taliban suicide bomber had rammed a van into his front gate, with devastating consequences.
The blast sheared off the entire front of his palatial home. Windows were shattered across Defence, one of the city's most pricey neighbourhoods. And eight people lay dead: policemen, house guards and a mother and child who had been strolling to school.
Stepping through the rubble and blood, Aslam, who had survived eight previous attempts on his life, helped load the dead and injured into ambulances. (Miraculously, his own family was largely unhurt.) Then he turned to face the media with an extraordinary message of defiance.
"I will bury the attackers right here," he told the cameras, pointing to the two-metre-deep bomb crater, and vowing to launch his own "jihad" against his assailants. "I didn't know the terrorists were such cowards. Why don't they attack me in the open?" Then, sleepless and smeared in dust, he turned on his heel and went back to work.
Crime-fighting in Karachi, a sprawling seaside metropolis racked by a witch's brew of violence – ethnic, political, religious, criminal – has never been easy. So far this year, more than 400 people have died in shootings linked to a political power struggle. A surge in Taliban violence pumped the death toll further.
Few know the dark streets as well as Aslam, a grizzled police veteran of 27 years' experience. Profane, chain-smoking and usually armed with a Glock pistol, he has earned a controversial reputation as Karachi's version of Dirty Harry – the cop who will do whatever it takes to keep the peace.
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Last year, they killed Rehman Dakait, a legendary Baloch gangster, in self defence in what was described as a shootout on the city limits. The dead man's relatives have another version: that he was arrested, tortured and shot in cold blood – circumstances Pakistanis euphemistically refer to as an "encounter". It was not the first such accusation against Aslam: he spent 18 months in jail in 2006 after being accused of killing an innocent man; a superior court later cleared him.
Working from an unmarked compound with military-style defences, Aslam roams Karachi at night in an armoured jeep. Protection comes from a team of heavily armed officers, many of whom resemble the gangsters they are pursuing: like their boss, they do not wear uniforms.
He typically works through the night because, he says, "that's when the criminals are out and about". He is proud of his gunslinging reputation. He has earned 45m rupees (£325,000) in government rewards over the years, he says, producing copies of the cheques to prove it.
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Although flamboyant, Aslam is by no means unique among Pakistani police. A 2008 report by the International Crisis Group said they had "a well-deserved reputation for corruption, high-handedness and abuse of human rights". Officers retort that they are under-resourced (Karachi has 26,000 officers for perhaps 18 million people) and labour under a sickly criminal justice system with a conviction rate of 5-10%.
And, in a city where crime, politics and ethnicity are inter-connected, police suffer from massive interference: even junior appointments are controlled by politicians who pressure officers to go easy on their favourite gangsters. "It's a totally politicised force," admitted Sharifuddin Memon, an adviser to the provincial home minister...............
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/10/pakistan-toughest-cop-bury-taliban?newsfeed=true
Here's a Dawn story on "Karachi-The Musical" drawing large audiences in Karachi:
KARACHI: A hit musical about gangland violence in Pakistan’s largest metropolis is bidding to revive Karachi’s once-rich stage culture while shedding light on its grim addiction to violence.
Fierce sectarian and ethnic conflicts have been responsible for the deaths of more than 1,000 people this year alone and are an all-too-familiar tale to Karachi’s 18 million residents.
But the gritty realism portrayed in “Karachi – The Musical” has nevertheless provoked a huge response, playing to large audiences since it began in October for a month-long run due to finish on November 13.
It tells the story of a rookie boxer from the eastern city of Multan who comes to train at a boxing club in Karachi’s notorious Lyari neighbourhood – better known for its mafias than its sporting talent.
The ambitions of the protagonist, Saif Salaam, spark tensions between his coach and Daud Islam, a mafia don who controls the local gambling, drugs and prostitution rings and wants to thwart the boxer’s success.
With many twists and turns in the story set to a dozen songs, Daud attempts to kill Salaam, just as he had murdered another rising star 20 years earlier.
Mirroring grim realities on Karachi’s streets, the mafioso Daud is only stopped from killing the boy thanks to the intervention of another bad man – a more powerful don whose influence reaches higher into the corridors of power.
“It depicts the situation which we are facing nowadays,” said one theatre-goer, Aleem Akhtar.
“We are infested with mafias and gangs of killers and every mafia is well protected, so we can survive only with the blessings of some good bad men.”
The director of the first original musical to grace the city said that the show represented a defence against the very harshness it was based on.
“Today, art needs more support than ever in Pakistan because it is not only a reflection of the times we live in, but also of a brighter future we can create,” said Nida Butt.
“Theatre is not for the faint-hearted – it’s a labour of love, long hours and hard work that often results in more (money) spent than earned,” she added.
The once-thriving stage scene in Karachi, which was known for its opera before the partition of British India to create Pakistan in 1947, was lost largely due to the growing Islamisation of the country, say artists.
They particularly point the finger at military dictator General Zia-ul Haq, blaming him for worsening the gun and drug culture, encouraging sectarian and ethnic parties and crushing liberal forces during his 1977-1988 rules.
Art began losing its way under Zia’s predecessor Ayub Khan, they say, but it crumbled as culture became an early casualty of Zia’s regime, which nurtured religious fanaticism.
Syed Ahmed Shah, who heads the Karachi Arts Council and whose theatre is staging the production, says his organisation is the only one with a dedicated auditorium for plays and theatrical performances in Pakistan’s biggest city.
“Our resolve is to fully revive the city’s old cultural status so that it is here to stay,” he said.
“Particularly in a situation where fear and anxiety are the order of the day. Culture is the only remedy to rely on,” he said.
Hamza Jafri, who composed the original scores, said that “Karachi – The Musical” drew on the various strands of the city’s musical culture – a mix of rock opera, indigenous beats and big band jazz.
“The music is edgy, contemporary and completely inspired by our research into Lyari and the boxing gangs there. The songs talk about us, about Karachi and our lives in this city today,” he said..........
http://www.dawn.com/2011/11/10/karachi-musical-makes-song-and-dance-of-gang-wars.html
Here's a NY Times blog by Huma Yusuf about Pakistan stalled census 2011:
Yet Population Year is drawing to a close and no census is in sight. There are many reasons: the precarious security situation, repeated flooding in many parts of the country, lack of resources to train the 225,000 census takers required to conduct the head count in time. But the main reason is politics. The major parties draw their power from rural constituencies, and by highlighting the extent of the country’s urbanization, a census would lead to the creation of new urban constituencies.
With an eye toward the national elections slated for 2013, many Pakistani politicians are doing everything in their power to circumvent or delay a count. The country’s largest parties, the governing Pakistan Peoples Party and the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-N, are particularly threatened by the prospect of reduced rural constituencies. Newcomers such as the cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan, the founder of Tehreek-e-Insaf, which enjoys significant support in Punjabi cities, stand to gain.
Gerrymandering is not rare in boisterous democracies. But in Pakistan, it can be a matter of life and death. In Karachi, from where I have been reporting for eight years, many of the political parties are based on ethnic groups, and a revised count would lead to a revised political balance. Fears that this might happen are fanning ethnic violence. More than 2,100 people have been killed in Karachi in political assassinations over the past two years — a death toll not seen since 1995, a year of widespread ethnic and political violence. Muhammad Jalil, a community organizer in Lyari, one of the worst-affected slums of the city, told me in August that everyone — women, teenage footballers — is exposed to the violence. “Political activists and gangsters are not the only ones targeted. Entire communities are vulnerable.”
Since the 1980s, ethnic Pashtuns and the Urdu-speaking Mohajirs, migrants from northern India, have clashed over access to property and jobs in Karachi. Criminal gangs with ties to political parties — including the ruling P.P.P. — had been warring over smuggling rackets and extortion rings. But as election year approaches, it is Karachi’s shifting demographics that are driving much of the violence.
Until recently, the Mohajirs were the city’s clear majority, accounting for 48 percent of the population, according to the 1998 survey. But military operations against militant groups in northwestern Pakistan since 2007 have increased the flow of Pashto-speaking migrants into Karachi. By some estimates this group now represents 22 percent of the city’s population, up from about 12 percent in 1998. So now the M.Q.M., the Mohajirs’ representative party, fears that a census documenting the expansion of Karachi’s Pashtun population would lead to a redistricting that would favor its local rival, the A.N.P......
http://latitude.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/03/in-pakistan-a-census-count-turns-into-a-body-count/
Here's an excerpt from a piece in Express Tribune:
...Karachi contains 62 per cent of Sindh’s urban population; 30 per cent of Sindh’s total population; and 22 per cent of Pakistan’s urban population. Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan, on the other hand, contains only 22 per cent of Punjab’s urban population; seven per cent of Punjab’s total population; and 12 per cent of Pakistan’s urban population. Individually, the other major cities are a very small fraction of Karachi and Lahore.
Karachi’s large-scale industrial sector employees make up 71.6 per cent of the total industrial labour force in Sindh; 74.8 per cent of the total industrial output of the province is produced in Karachi; and 78 per cent of formal private sector jobs of the province are located in Karachi.
Then there are powerful federal government interests as well, in the form of the Karachi Port Trust, Port Qasim, Customs, Railways, Civil Aviation Authority and the armed forces and their various industrial and real estate activities. The city contains 32 per cent of the total industrial establishment of the country; generates 15 per cent of the national GDP, 25 per cent of federal revenues and 62 per cent of income tax. Also, the most important health, education, recreation, entertainment and media-related institutions in the province, are located in the city and so are the provincial headquarters.
Provincial and state governments always have conflicts with powerful autonomous cities since the non-city population of the province or state feels that the city and its assets do not belong to them. Even in a relatively homogeneous country like Thailand, Bangkok was seen by the anti-government Red Shirt Movement as responsible for deprivation and inequity in the country.
The second issue is related to the changing demography of Sindh. There is a fear among the Sindhi-speaking population (in which I include Balochi, Seraiki and Brahvi speakers as well) that they are being converted into a minority in their province. Let us see how real this perception is.
Seventy-three per cent of Karachi’s population in 1941 said that their mother tongue consisted of one of the local provincial languages, 6.2 per cent said it was Urdu/Hindi, and 2.8 per cent said it was Punjabi. Pashtu at that time was nonexistent. In 1998, the local languages had declined to 14 per cent, Urdu increased to 48.52 per cent, Punjabi to 14 per cent and Pashtu stood at 11.42 per cent....
http://tribune.com.pk/story/319333/sindh-local-government-the-real-issues/
Here's a Reuters' story about soccer offering hope for poor slum kids in Karachi:
In the heart of one of Pakistan's most dangerous neighborhoods in the teeming city of Karachi, soccer pitches are keeping vulnerable teenagers from joining abundant gangs, kidnappers and extortion rackets.
Dozens of hard-scrabble soccer clubs give youngsters with few chances for education or work the opportunity to get off the streets and even dream of getting a nod to join a national team or a semi-professional club.
"There is so much talent in Lyari. It can be a great way of keeping these kids away from drugs and street crime especially if they are well paid and rewarded," said Yacoob Baloch, a soccer coach at one of the clubs.
Pakistan, a strategic U.S. ally, spends less than 2 percent of its gross domestic product on education which translates into a lack of skills needed to find work for much of the young population of the country of nearly 180 million.
Pakistan's police and security forces also lack funds, making it easy for criminals to thrive in Lyari, a densely populated area in Karachi with dilapidated buildings, potholed streets and raw sewage.
More than 1,600 people were killed in Karachi last year in either political and sectarian violence or by drug dealers, mafia hitmen and extortionists, marking the worst bloodshed since the army was called in to ease street battles in the 1990s.
But soccer has proven to be a way out of the chaos for some.
"Because of my focus on football, my mind has never wandered off to other things like drugs or violence," said Muneer Aftab, 15, who led Pakistan to victory in the under-16 South Asian Football Federation Championships in 2011, defeating arch-rival India.
"Playing football runs in my blood. I just want to play forever."
But for people like Aftab, there is only limited time to practice and usually only after being worn down by the daily grind in the sprawling city of 18 million on the Arabian Sea.
He wakes up at the crack of dawn to play soccer, goes to school during the day and helps his father who drives a rickshaw along Karachi's chaotic streets, and goes back to the soccer pitch at night.
"I know I am chasing my dream. But it's not easy," said Aftab, well-built, dark-skinned and shy.
LYARI IS A LITTLE BRAZIL
Soccer has become a big hit in Lyari, no small feat because cricket is by far the most popular sport in Pakistan. There are 98 registered soccer clubs, 11 football grounds and two stadiums in Lyari, home to over 600,000 people.
If a player gets recognized in Lyari, not only the national team comes into sight, but also the chance to play for teams sponsored by corporations and banks that pay players a monthly salary.
The National Bank of Pakistan, for instance, gives Aftab 10,000 rupees ($111) a month to play in the semi-professional league.
During the last soccer World Cup, violence dropped sharply in Lyari. Residents gathered in the evening to watch matches on projector screens, a welcome change in a place where nighttime usually means gang warfare and abductions.
Ahmed Jan, a local coach and stadium manager, said Karachi's exposure to the sport began in the late 1950s.
Ships from Europe docked at the port. Sailors interacted with boys who worked as laborers and introduced them to soccer and kicked a few balls around.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-rt-us-pakistan-soccertre80n0ol-20120124,0,5846553.story
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