By Anam Tanveer
Co-anther: Manzoor Isran
Blaze of ethnic violence has again engulfed Karachi. It has witnessed the orgy of vicious circle of ethnic strife, leaving behind the trail of death, destruction and painful memories of ethnic divisions besides resulting into the unnecessary death of hundreds of people, disruption of businesses and colossal losses to the crippling economy of the city which has already witness bloody bouts of ethnic conflicts, ravaging its multicultural and multiethnic fiber.
Ethnic strife is eating into the economic vitals of Karachi which is the commercial hub of Pakistan and contributing national exchequer of Pakistan 65% in taxes. It suffers the loss of Rs 2.7 billion daily if businesses come to halt.
In Metropolitan city like Karachi, economic imperatives bring people of different ethnic shades under one umbrella and they work for their individual prosperity and for the development of the city. There are numerous cities in the world where different ethnic and cultural groups live side by side peacefully eking out their lives without disrupting the peace of the cities and economic activities. London, New York, Delhi and Mumbai are prime examples where people live together peacefully.
The reason for such ethnic integration is attributed to the existence of institutions and prevalence of law which treats everyone equally despite their ethnic differences. People get justice without discrimination. But in case of Karachi, we don’t have institutions and we don’t have law to provide socio-economic justice to people. In that situation, what people do, they go to unit or sector in charge for the resolution of their problems. This way ethnic politics rears its ugly head in once the city of lights integrating everyone its economic and cultural embrace.
The malaise of ethnic politics came to surface when in 1985, there were disputes over land between Pathans and Beharis living in Orangi and Aligarah colony. The death of Bushra Zaidi, students of Sir Syed College, Liaqatabad, by Pathan bus diver further fuelled the ethnic fire.
Land disputes and transport problems laid down the basis for ethnic divisions of Karachi and those ethnic disputes turned into bloody violence when Afghan jihad brought to Karachi a flow of arms and drugs which gave birth to a culture of violence amongst the city youth, for whom Russian TT-pistols and AK-47 became the hottest commodity in town.
Apart from land and transport theory behind the bloody ethnic violence, there are political factors as well responsible for ethnic polarization.
Some theories attribute ethnic segregation in Sindh, especially in Karachi, to the policies of dictators. Zia promoted ethnic and bradari politics in order to marginalize PPP. Musharraf further sharpened the edges of ethnic politics by providing blank cheque to MQM as he needed its support badly in order to perpetuate his rule. The carnage of 12 May, 2007 was glaring example of support to Musharraf, which was in return for favours Musharraf extended to MQM in the form of merger of five district of Karachi into one and division of Hyderabad into four districts.
According to analysts, the decision of PPP about revival of five districts of Karachi and Hyderabad to what they were in the pre-Musharraf years while the MQM wants the status quo to continue is the main bone of contention behind the decision of MQM to quit Sindh and Federal government on June 7, 2011, and current wave of bloody violence, crippling city to halt for couple of days, causing city a loss of billions of rupees.
Revival of Karachi into one district, restoration of Hyderabad as district and delimitation of constituencies are seen by MQM as its political death, according to analysts. It wants to maintain status quo at any cost but due to shrewd politicking of Asif Ali Zardari, MQM has been thrown into isolation, even it has lost its traditional ally in Sindh, that is, Muslim Leagure- F of Pir Pagara.
It is not time for political scoring but it is time for ethnic harmony which demands that all the stakeholders should sit together on one table to sort out the issues in order to put off the simmering fire of ethnic violence for the sake of long-lasting peace and prosperity of Karachi. More importantly, state has to work out strategy to fill the security vacuum which is being exploited by ethnic entrepreneurs.
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Officially published in Dawn - http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/18/vicious-circle-of-violence.html
Co-anther: Manzoor Isran
Blaze of ethnic violence has again engulfed Karachi. It has witnessed the orgy of vicious circle of ethnic strife, leaving behind the trail of death, destruction and painful memories of ethnic divisions besides resulting into the unnecessary death of hundreds of people, disruption of businesses and colossal losses to the crippling economy of the city which has already witness bloody bouts of ethnic conflicts, ravaging its multicultural and multiethnic fiber.
Ethnic strife is eating into the economic vitals of Karachi which is the commercial hub of Pakistan and contributing national exchequer of Pakistan 65% in taxes. It suffers the loss of Rs 2.7 billion daily if businesses come to halt.
In Metropolitan city like Karachi, economic imperatives bring people of different ethnic shades under one umbrella and they work for their individual prosperity and for the development of the city. There are numerous cities in the world where different ethnic and cultural groups live side by side peacefully eking out their lives without disrupting the peace of the cities and economic activities. London, New York, Delhi and Mumbai are prime examples where people live together peacefully.
The reason for such ethnic integration is attributed to the existence of institutions and prevalence of law which treats everyone equally despite their ethnic differences. People get justice without discrimination. But in case of Karachi, we don’t have institutions and we don’t have law to provide socio-economic justice to people. In that situation, what people do, they go to unit or sector in charge for the resolution of their problems. This way ethnic politics rears its ugly head in once the city of lights integrating everyone its economic and cultural embrace.
The malaise of ethnic politics came to surface when in 1985, there were disputes over land between Pathans and Beharis living in Orangi and Aligarah colony. The death of Bushra Zaidi, students of Sir Syed College, Liaqatabad, by Pathan bus diver further fuelled the ethnic fire.
Land disputes and transport problems laid down the basis for ethnic divisions of Karachi and those ethnic disputes turned into bloody violence when Afghan jihad brought to Karachi a flow of arms and drugs which gave birth to a culture of violence amongst the city youth, for whom Russian TT-pistols and AK-47 became the hottest commodity in town.
Apart from land and transport theory behind the bloody ethnic violence, there are political factors as well responsible for ethnic polarization.
Some theories attribute ethnic segregation in Sindh, especially in Karachi, to the policies of dictators. Zia promoted ethnic and bradari politics in order to marginalize PPP. Musharraf further sharpened the edges of ethnic politics by providing blank cheque to MQM as he needed its support badly in order to perpetuate his rule. The carnage of 12 May, 2007 was glaring example of support to Musharraf, which was in return for favours Musharraf extended to MQM in the form of merger of five district of Karachi into one and division of Hyderabad into four districts.
According to analysts, the decision of PPP about revival of five districts of Karachi and Hyderabad to what they were in the pre-Musharraf years while the MQM wants the status quo to continue is the main bone of contention behind the decision of MQM to quit Sindh and Federal government on June 7, 2011, and current wave of bloody violence, crippling city to halt for couple of days, causing city a loss of billions of rupees.
Revival of Karachi into one district, restoration of Hyderabad as district and delimitation of constituencies are seen by MQM as its political death, according to analysts. It wants to maintain status quo at any cost but due to shrewd politicking of Asif Ali Zardari, MQM has been thrown into isolation, even it has lost its traditional ally in Sindh, that is, Muslim Leagure- F of Pir Pagara.
It is not time for political scoring but it is time for ethnic harmony which demands that all the stakeholders should sit together on one table to sort out the issues in order to put off the simmering fire of ethnic violence for the sake of long-lasting peace and prosperity of Karachi. More importantly, state has to work out strategy to fill the security vacuum which is being exploited by ethnic entrepreneurs.
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Officially published in Dawn - http://www.dawn.com/2011/07/18/vicious-circle-of-violence.html
nice article
ReplyDeletei feel problem lies in the fact that we got a contry "PAKISTAN" But there was no nation known as pakistani at that So pakistan started without a nation. I feel it will take more time for us to think as pakistani.
ReplyDeleteAnam Tanveer a Pakistani model, actress, host and writer. She was born on 9th February 1989 in Karachi. She completed her studies in Business management from university of Karachi