Solution  Karachi...

From a journalistic point of view, the political Karachi is uniquely bland. The real Karachi or what really happens when people mysteriously die stays under-reported or unreported. On the deadline day, the reports on violence are conspicuous by their absence. Or they come with a request to change the writer’s name. Somehow the analyses and the reports don’t really say much. Or they tackle one thing at a time, partially at best. At the end of the day, the entire picture is not available.

What’s happening in Karachi at this point in time is unusual even though references are being made and analogies drawn with the violent bouts of early 1990s. What were then dealt with as narrow ethnic political feuds and thus easily understood have now turned messier — and vague. The overall picture is as unavailable for an ordinary Karachiite as an outsider.

At TNS we have decided to leave the coverage part aside for a while, precisely for the reasons stated above. We have also decided to ignore the root cause debate. We want to focus on the solution instead. And that too from the thinking people of Karachi — give them the insipid title “stakeholders” if you will.

Here they are laying it all bare, partially you may like to think, but read them all to get a better sense of what’s happening. We believe no investigative journalist or shrewd analyst could do it better than what these sensible Karachiites have done. They know the problem inside out. And they know the solutions too.

— Editor

“The best way… is to put [the city] under a neutral government”

jameel yousaf
ex-chairman, cplc

The biggest hurdle in restoration of peace in Karachi is the lack of will among the people at the helm of affairs. My question is, were they sleeping when 850 people were killed in 2009 and 1,350 in 2010. They simply let the number grow. It’s strange there were no arrests and punishments. The best way to save the city and its people is to put it under a neutral government and give it the powers to operate independently. In 1998, around 660 people were killed in Karachi. The PML-N government which had two-thirds majority in the centre at that time put Sindh under governor’s rule. The criminals were dealt with severely and, as a result, the number of deaths came down to 85 in 1999. I think a similar solution is needed today.

There should be special courts and faceless judges to decide such cases. I remember the military courts, set up in 1998, awarded sentences to criminals without delay. For example, the CLPC identified cases including the one in which a person was accused of raping three girls. The girls appeared in the court and identified the culprit who was awarded death sentence and hanged eventually. Another criminal was awarded similar punishment by these courts which were unfortunately abolished by the High Court.

My point is that heinous criminals do not deserve any leniency on the pretext of the protection of human rights. The US, which claims to be the champion of human rights, keeps suspects for as long as six months without producing them in the court. We must also get firm with criminals. I will also ask the ruling party members to stop making strange announcements after cabinet meetings.

“Nothing short of sincere action…”

rumana husain
writer

For the short term, nothing short of sincere action by the relevant political parties involved in Karachi’s present, and with a stake in its future, can bring about a solution to its problems, putting a stop to the violence. However, for the longer term, it is a long haul:  besides overpopulation and other problems, social injustice, whereby the chasm of disparity continues to grow between the haves and the have-nots, has to be addressed on a war-footing.

I would like to quote from Naomi Klein’s article in The Nation (August 16, 2011), which I came across recently:

“When you rob people of what little they have, in order to protect the interests of those who have more than anyone deserves, you should expect resistance —whether organised protests or spontaneous looting.

And that’s not politics. It’s physics.”

“I do not think anyone… is truly going to
settle this”

zia mohyeddin
actor, columnist

Political parties ka hold kum ho jaata hai agar solution ho jaye. You should ask this to the people who immediately have panacea for all the ills in the society. I am just deeply distressed by what’s going on, and I do not think that anyone really — any of the political parties — is truly going to settle this, because unless they want to put things right, the situation will remain the same. But nobody gives a damn about who is being killed. They capture a person who may be Urdu-speaking or non-Urdu speaking, and torture and slaughter him. So, please don’t ask me to suggest a solution. All I can say, off the cuff, is that I am most distressed, like everyone else.

“The situation... will not improve”

anwar maqsood
writer, painter

Perhaps, curses will work here and not prayers. It is hard to understand what’s going on. There is a limit to everything. We have become so de-sensitised that people are dying and this makes no difference to most of us. The best time is when our children have come home; parents fear for their safety. I have been writing for 35 years and always cogitated about how Karachi’s situation could be improved, but the situation hasn’t improved and will not improve.

“…stop supporting
criminals and terrorists”

nasreen jalil
member, mqm rabita committee

The recent brutal killings in Karachi seem to be aimed at ethnic cleansing of the Urdu-speaking people. It is unfortunate that Karachi, a city of 20 million and the business hub of Pakistan, has been left to the mercy of PPP AMN Committee and Lyari Gang War terrorists, patronised and protected by some leaders of the PPP. Between 17th to 19th August, more than hundred persons, commuting from their offices, factories and shops, identified as Urdu-speaking, were kidnapped, tortured and beheaded. In other incidents of violence, the MQM workers and supporters have been gunned down. The police and the administration seem incapable of taking action against the killers. The most alarming part is that the government has showed no intention or will to arrest the killers or raid their dens. In this situation where the government is unable to or willfully allows the terrorists to keep the city hostage, the situation will not change.

You want a solution? The solution lies in law enforcement agencies establishing the writ of law. Until the police and the Rangers arrest the criminals and the terrorists, irrespective of their political affiliations, across the board, and bring them to book, the situation will remain the same.

The government should stop supporting criminals and terrorists.

“Political parties… have to reach an understanding… to achieve peace”

arif hasan
planner

The Karachi population has moved on a big scale. The fundamental issue is of refiguring constituencies — moving ethnicities from certain places and increasing seats of some political parties. By doing so in some districts, the PPP will benefit, whereas through Musharraf’s local bodies system the MQM will benefit.

What is happening in Karachi is all preparation for elections. This is what everyone says in the city. “Zaban-e-khalq ko naqqara-e-Khuda samjho” (consider the voice of the people as the voice of God).

Only political parties have the solution to all the problems in Karachi. They have to reach an understanding with each other to achieve peace. Statesmanship requires generosity which is nowhere in sight. At present, there is no room for political dissent. The situation in Karachi is like what it was in India just before partition. Congress showed no generosity and the Muslims had no trust in Congress. On the contrary, in South Africa, Mandela restored peace with his generosity and statesmanship.

The government can allot a certain number of union councils to a party, say ‘we are willing to have less than what is our right’. The solution basically lies in rising above this whole issue of politics. The political parties have to say they are interested in peace.

People are being pressurised to sell properties. If they resist, they are threatened and forced to vacate their land on gunpoint.

Extortion or bhatta is another big issue. Transport from Balochistan was pushed to Yusuf Goth and not allowed to enter Karachi while buses are burnt and forcefully requisitioned. Law and order has collapsed. People cannot step out of their homes, and communities which were together once don’t even communicate with each other anymore.

Grabbing is the order of the day. Colonisers collaborate with each other in colonising. Ethnic settlements (abadis) are being arranged now. Employment, admission in schools, even issues like marriage and divorce are brought to ethnic groups. I have conducted as many as 18 interviews of people living on these settlements. There is less fear now.

“This has to do with political forces”

hasan zaidi
journalist, film maker

Unfortunately, there is no easy solution. Strengthening law enforcement and prosecution, making the police actually impartial and deweaponisation are easier said than done and even so would only take care of one aspect of the problem, which is law and order. This does need to be done, however. The other side of the problem, the root cause of the violence, will continue to fester under the surface even if law and order is temporarily controlled. This has to do with the behaviour of political forces — all of them — which are intimately tied into land mafias, extortion rackets and constituency politics. Unless these issues are resolved and governance structures put in place — that make it much harder for these mafias to operate with the impunity they currently enjoy — problems will continue. In addition, political parties are using violence as a weapon to advance their own negotiating positions and expand or defend their turfs. Controlling this requires not only to make the cost of using violence prohibitively expensive for political forces but also for their constituents to say ‘enough is enough’. There is some evidence the latter is already beginning to happen, which is why political parties are trying to sidetrack the debate into ethnic fear-mongering. However, without movement on the rest of the issues, dissent will be powerless.

“First, there should be
complete deweaponisation”

muhammad hanif
writer

Three measures should be taken to free Karachi from violence. First of all, there should be complete deweaponisation across the board. Secondly, the Police and the law-enforcing agencies should be accountable to the local government. Thirdly, the city’s infrastructure, which includes housing, transport and education, should be improved on an emergency basis. The transport needs improvement because people cannot have access to their workplaces or educational institutes.

Illegal settlements and lack of housing space is a huge problem, and it is because of this that gang wars and incidents of violence are taking place. The housing problem needs to be resolved.

“As a quick fix, the Army should be called”

ansar burney
philanthropist

I think all those people — whether they are from the government or the opposition — who have been arranging meetings everyday over the issue of Karachi are responsible for massacre in the city. You have seen all three major political parties of Karachi putting the blame on each other, being supporters of the killers of innocent Karachiites. Even the workers of political parties have been found snatching dead bodies from the families just to show that their workers are killed.

In Karachi we are still confused about the position of the political parties. Nobody knows which party is in the government and which one in the opposition. It is tough for us to identify who is the killer and who is being killed. Every week these political parties start bargaining for ministries over dead bodies. As a quick fix, the Army should be called in and it should be given a task. It is a possibility that the city will witness peace in a few days but it would be like lull before the storm and if we do not call in the army now, the people will soon start looking towards the UN and the NATO to help bring peace to the city.

For long-term results, we need to fight out corruption from the city. The present phase of terrorism is very much linked to corruption. These people are fighting only to get a hold on the resources of the city and to bag the most powerful ministries so that they can do as much as corruption they want to. If we are able to curb corruption, 80 percent of the problems of different political parties and mafias will automatically be resolved.

“Police can’t do much…”

tasneem siddiqui
civil society activist

The idea of deploying Army or sending Rangers into the city is no solution. They neither have the capacity nor the intention to solve the problem. It shows there is no political will. The MQM-PPP negotiations have to be made. They are not going to go for it themselves.

The MQM claims to be the sole representative but the demographics have changed and they are not accepting it. The bhatta/qabza (extortion/illegal land occupation) started by a group, has been picked up by others as well. The shopkeepers who gave bhatta to one group, are now pushed by three other groups to give the same and they have no protection. The political parties blame each other but don’t take any responsibility.

But people are rising. The traders have refused to pay bhatta. They say that they will close business instead, that they will keep weapons and deal with the extortionists on their own.

The civil society is also getting organised. The recently formed Karachi Concerned Citizens Forum which includes lawyers, bureaucrats, traders, architects, artists and people from varied fields, demand deweaponisation and end to strike calls.

Different groups give strike calls and a day before that burn buses and kill a few people to create terror and then call their strike a success. Police can’t do much because the police are also infested with criminal elements.

“Go after causes, not symptoms”

taj haider
ppp leader

The government must break the nexus between politics and crime through political consensus and clean administration. Also, land grabbers and bhatta mafia have waged a war and the sufferers are small traders who need protection. The market committees and trader organisations must be strengthened by providing them security and involving them in decision-making. The government, political parties and civil society must rise above their personal interests and come forward with a broad-based consensus to rid the city of lights of the dark cycle of violence — it must go after the causes, not the symptoms that ail Karachi.

“...violence… needs
different treatment”

nazir leghari
editor, daily awam

My suggestion is that the roots of the problem be identified first and the strategy to tackle it formulated accordingly. Right now it’s utter confusion everywhere and clear-cut responsibility has not been fixed. If the violence is due to religious and sectarian elements it needs different treatment from that required to tackle ethnic or politically motivated one. There are allegations against foreign and regional players of inciting and promoting violence in Karachi. This must be probed and, if found correct, should be tackled with full force. Obviously, for this the capacity of the law-enforcing authorities will have to be enhanced considerably.

What I want to say is there’s no use prescribing a remedy without diagnosing the cause of the disease. I would suggest the government to act with full focus on rooting out terrorism and confiscating all illegal weapons present in the city. But the most needed thing at this time is the will to deal with terrorists without caring for the response of their influential patrons.

“The government must decide to root out negative elements”

naimatullah khan
ex-nazim

I don’t think things can improve in the presence of this coalition government. The reason is simple: the coalition partners are themselves involved and have vested interests. How can any of them agree on forgoing its share? My suggestion is that the government must decide in principle to root out negative elements from the city without considering much about the fallout. It must not budge even if it fears the government will not stay intact as a result. It’s the question of our survival and we must take everything very seriously.

Today, everyone knows what type of people are part of the government and calling the shots. When I was the city nazim, I did not allow even a single person of dubious character to get close to me or interfere in our administrative matters. The prime minister of Pakistan should also act now and not wait for the foreigners to make peace here. I’m referring here to the British premier on whose appeal normalcy was restored in the city in the recent past.

“Political parties need to sign a
resolution that they are breaking their ties with the militants”

shaheen salahuddin
controller news, indus network

The political machinery is criminalised and has militant wings. There is a need to depoliticise it. All political parties need to sign a resolution that they are breaking their ties with the militants. Police and intelligence, which includes the agencies, have a soft corner and links with criminals.

The main solution is that Anti-terrorist courts should be set up. If there is no amendment so far in the constitution, then it should be made swiftly, although I believe there is one. Day-and-night anti-terrorist courts should be set up like they have in the West, with witness protection and the decisions should be implemented. If the decisions are not implemented or there is a time lapse, it will become useless. We should follow the example of Britain and how they controlled the recent wave of terror in London.

“The youth of Karachi can play the most important role”

sanjesh sunni
president, hindu youth network pakistan

The killers need to understand that they do not kill one person but a whole family. The reasons for which the people are being killed are political and linguistic or ethnic. Being a Pakistani I call for the Hindu community to stand by our fellow countrymen and request all local Hindu population to participate in special prayers for the prosperity and restoration of peace in this ‘city of lights’. I strongly stress on the need for solidarity and brotherhood amongst all communities of Pakistan.

I think the situation will start changing once people of the city start thinking about them as Pakistanis leaving their religion, sect, language, creed or political affiliations aside.

The youth of Karachi can play the most important role in this regard. They should come forward to bring peace to the city. The government, on the other hand, if serious in bringing permanent peace to the city, should spread secular education among the people. They should build new schools in the most backward areas of the city and try to bring people to the mainstream.

“…conduct the operation where it is needed”

syed irshad husain bokhari
president, transporters ittehad

I don’t see peace coming to Karachi the way it is going. The city is in the grip of the most cruel, fascist forces. All the three groups are blinded by selfishness and greed and are most unscrupulous. We’ve lost 50 drivers to violence and at least 100 drivers have been injured so far. Fourteen buses were burnt on one night alone, recently. We are faced with the Day of Judgment; we pray to Allah to deliver us.

We don’t see the parties coming together to resolve the issues. They are all a bunch of killers, liars and looters who snatch mobiles, bikes, cars and extort money. From where do they get the money? What operation are we talking about? They don’t conduct the operation where it is needed.

What if they hold elections? Who can we vote for in this city? No one, I tell you. There is this simple common man, be it a Mohajir, a Pathan, a Sindhi or a Baloch and there are these parties which don’t care for the people at all. I never voted for Jamaat-e-Islami but I see them as better people. Wonder why people don’t vote for them. People in this city have aged beforetime.

“We need political will”

dr syed jaffar ahmed
academic

What is happening in Karachi for the last so many years should be seen in the wider context — how the state has decayed. The reasons are that the state expanded its ambitions beyond its capacity. The involvement of Pakistani state started with the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR and continued with the Taliban adventure.

On ground, in Karachi, there are political forces including PPP, MQM and ANP and then the mafias. There is a nexus between these mafias and state institutions like the police and law enforcement agencies. The other nexus is between criminal elements and political parties; they provide security to each other.

The solution to Karachi is possible only after these two nexuses break. I don’t think they [political parties] have the courage because they have other considerations like the upcoming elections. It is rightly said that we need political will. The political parties should say they would dissociate the criminal elements in their fold. The PPP and the MQM have to take that decision. This is a difficult decision but one that they have to; there is no alternative. The military is going to complicate and postpone the solution. Because the military action involves excesses (this is what happened in 1992) and this increases resentment. But this gives life to the MQM and its constituency gets stronger. Military operation breeds a sense of self-pity; all political parties have that sense of self-pity that they sell to their voters.

They should rid the police of elements that are not credible. When the parties in government act neutral and get the criminal elements out of their fold, then people will find it easy to accept action against everyone else.

“The army needs to carry out a Swat- or Buner-like operation”

shahi syed
president, anp sindh

The main problem with Karachi is the political appointments in Karachi Police. Most of the SPs and the DSPs [in the city] are appointed on the basis of their political affiliations and how they can arrest activists of the said political parties. They, in fact, become party in many cases and act like activists of political parties. I don’t think such a police department can bring peace to Karachi. That is why, I always ask for deweaponisation of the city and an across-the-board operation. I think only army can bring peace to the city in the given situation. The army needs to carry out a Swat- or Buner-like operation for three months to cleanse the city from hardcore criminals.

“…heal the body before saving its soul”

ghazi salahuddin
journalist

We sometimes worry about Pakistan’s crisis of identity. But it is Karachi’s bearing as the vital organ of the country that is more troubling. Cosmopolitan cities, capitals of finance and industry and culture, are sustained by an ethos of pluralism. Karachi is abrasively divided by narrow identities: Mohajir, Pashtun, Baloch and Sindhi. The ‘mini Pakistan’ is out of sync with the rest of the country. Yet the battle for Pakistan’s survival has to be fought and won in this urban wilderness.

It would be prudent to first heal the body before saving its soul. After law and order, the most debilitating deprivation of Karachi is a mass transit system. Many clarifications will emerge if, through some magical means, free and fair elections are held in the city. Housing for the poor, with a modicum of civic utilities, would make a lot of difference. Opportunities for the young to have some fun, to play some games, to sit in exams where there is no cheating, will help. Someone has to begin to make these things possible.

“The solution lies with our government”

hasina moin
playwright

The solution lies with our government. We are disorganised, have thousands of sects, classes and divides in a cosmopolitan city like Karachi. We love our ethnicity (Sindhi, Balochi, Punjabi, Pathan) more than our religion, Islam. There is a lot of business in our city and it sparks competition. We are greedy and the common man resorts to violence on the streets, killing and looting. No one is stopping them. No one can control them. And, soon it will affect the whole country because Karachi is a business and trade hub. Maybe foreign powers are giving these people arms. The government should intervene to salvage the city. The government lacks moral strength if it waves its party flag before Pakistan’s.

“Peace committees should… keep watch”

parveen rehman
orangi pilot project

Leading political parties will have to come together to form peace committees. These peace committees should be at the level of mohalla to keep watch on the miscreants. It has been seen that miscreants are always the people from the outside.

Land is a big issue in Karachi. The allotting of 3,000 acres of land takes place in Karachi annually and this is all unofficial. Besides, it’s not the poor accessing the land. These are all middle-class areas. The land mafias seek assistance of political parties without whom wheeling-and-dealing is not possible. Land is a huge issue in Karachi.

“…not comfortable with the idea of branding
hardened criminals”

aqeel karim dhedhi
chairman, akd group

I am not comfortable with the idea of branding hardened criminals and associating them with political parties or groups. Criminals are criminals and should be dealt with severely. When we say a particular criminal belongs to a particular party we are putting the party weight behind him. The criminal becomes stronger and the law-enforcing authorities become weaker. It’s natural for a policeman to think twice before acting against a criminal, owned by an influential political party or a group. Fearing reprisal such a cop may be lenient towards him. But if these hardened criminals, terrorists and murderers are isolated by the parties whose affiliations they claim to have, it would become very easy for law enforcers to decimate them.

“Let the courts decide the criminal cases
without any pressure”

dr safdar sarki
chairman jeay sindh tehreek

I will hold the political parties — PPP, MQM and ANP — responsible for the violence and the tit-for-tat killings that have scarred Karachi’s face for now. The fight is all about intimidating each other. The party which kills the most stands to be the winner in the game.

There is no denying that if the same political groups sit together and decide once and for all to rid their ranks of any criminal elements, the situation will improve. But, there is little chance of that happening anytime soon.

Let the courts decide the criminal cases without any pressure and let the police implement law. Only then will you see any substantial improvement in the situation.

“Strike calls have to be banned”

mehnaz rehman
aurat foundation

The civil society demands deweaponisation of Karachi. The political parties will have to reach a consensus and stop their workers from carrying weapons. The responsibility lies with the political parties.

Secondly, strike calls have to be banned. It leaves people working on daily wages high and dry besides incurring a loss of millions of rupees to the economy.

The civil society continues to hold meetings and rallies to press these issues. It demands from the government to designate a place for rallies in the city to keep the rest of the business going. The civil society has sent a letter to the President and the Prime Minister in this regard.

“We must remove Sindh CM…
and Governor”

gulab baloch
chairman district south football association

If there is any way to stop the killings, we must remove Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah and Sindh Governor Ishratul Ibad. They are accountable for all those who have been killed.

Lyari was one place which was never shut. Even when the whole of Karachi was burning, life went on in this old part of the city. However, today people are pitted against each other by political outfits and no one can stop them.

People are being incited to stand up and defend their ethnicity. It seems as if there is a threat to the Baloch or the Urdu-speaking people. At least sensible people amongst them should come forward. This is the time to act.