Pakistán: Violence in the stops in Karachi

The bloodshed in Karachi, which has killed over 300 people [in] últmos in three months, has not stopped. The latest bloodshed began after the death of a political activist , Mansoor Mukhtar, who belonged to the MQM [en, Quami Movement Muthida] - the largest political party in Karachi. The next day - on March 28, 2012 - a political worker of ANP [en, Awami National Party], Mr. Zianulabdeen, was killed by unknown terrorists.

These killings, backed extortion activities and targeted killings, began a brutal chain reaction that has saddened the landscape of the city port. The chronology of the Dawn [in] pretty much sums up all the events that have occurred until 9 April.

The question of the million dollars is 'why violence always returns to Karachi?'

Soldiers stand guard next to a burning car that caught fire after a shooting that killed one activist of the Awami National Party (ANP) in Karachi. Image Mohsin Hasan. Copyright Demotix.

Last year, 1.175 people died [in]. There are many reasons for this violence. Some of these reasons are:

1. The city is divided on different lines of division [in]. These divisions are based on ethnicity, culture, language and sect. In addition, the dividing lines within different communities. These conflicts catalyze the 'dialectic of war' in the city. Different stakeholders have different objectives. Naturally, the object of power is one of them. A single spark is all it takes for an orgy of violence. In the past four months, Karachi hosted the largest number of political demonstrations in the country, ie, manifestations of Tahreek-e-Insaaf [en, Movement for Justice), the female section of the MQM (United National Movement [in] the right- Defa-e-Pakistan (Defence of Pakistan) , en), the right- JUI (Islamic Assembly of the Clergy in), JSQM (Sindhi Nationalist Movement , in) and the right- Defa-e-Tashishu (Defense of Shia , in .) All these events brought together large numbers of supporters, which shows how divided the city is ideological lines.
2. It is presumed that political parties have military wings. According to a report [on] of HRCP Evaluation (of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan), all major political parties in Karachi have private militias. They use these militia groups to ensure vested interests. This balkanizes communities and encourages further violence. Last year, the Supreme Court took the initiative and ordered the abolition of all militias. No progress has been pragmatic on this issue.
3. Overpopulation [in] and the lack of planning the city's population has grown from half a million (1947) to five million (year 70). Today the number reaches a staggering 20 million. On the other hand, there has been a massive infrastructure development to meet this enormous influx of population. The combination of these two variables deteriorated economic conditions of the inhabitants. This allowed criminal groups to exploit the economic conditions for personal purposes.

Pervez Hoodbhoy explains [in] the effects of overpopulation with a fish analogy. According to research, fish have two objectives: 1) increase access to space and 2) increase access to the amount of habitat complexity (presence of obstacles and hiding places such as rocks and plants) into the tank. As the fish are increased, there is less space available. Therefore, increased aggressiveness.

According to Hoodbhoy, Karachi is no different. The infrastructure has declined over the years. He quotes Eqbal Ahmed [in], who writes:

Karachi is deprived of the wealth it generates. The city contributes more than sixty percent of federal revenues and the government of Sindh. Only a fraction is invested in building its infrastructure. To make matters worse, successive governments in Karachi, land and other resources have fallen prey to the greed of those in power.

People gather in the house where five bodies were found. PPI image Images. Copyright Demotix.

The ordinary people of the city are extremely discouraged by the current conditions of the city. Teenagers do not see any positive development in the near future. A shadow of hopelessness press comments. All they have is a request to God for a prosperous future. Teens gave the following opinions when asked [in] about the unrest in Karachi:

Faisal Natasha says:

I look around and wonder how we will succeed if we are divided into groups, which does not bring development to the country. I wonder why we have become so hardened that no longer regret the death [in] of our countrymen karachiítas.

Mirha Khan says:

With the amount of violence they have witnessed in Karachi recently, I often wonder if the city will end up burnt to ashes.

Malika Niazi said:

All we can do now is pray for the future of Karachi. Certainly, people are dying and not really that safe to be wandering the streets unarmed.

Twitter and Facebook were flooded with comments of disappointment and criticism of the government to stop the violence.

Jawad Hussain : The city of Karachi is once again under a wave of violence. What I saw this morning was that some wretches set fire to a minibus in Gulistan e Jauhar area while reporting that they are killing innocent people in different parts of the metropolis, including Baldia Town.

@ Parasabbasi : today I saw a strange dream in which two friends and I went to buy medicine and ended up shooting target (violence in Karachi # ).

Nadeem Paracha question of will the real terrorists in Karachi?

@ NadeemfParacha : So many reports of violence in Karachi in the newspaper today and not one mention of who kills or killed who.

The government should take actions such as Jaffrry tweets:

@ Jaffrry : Authorities must implement appropriate strategies to stop violence in Karachi # .

Written by Ahmed Kumail · Translated by Gabriela Garcia Calderon Orbe · View original post [en] · Comments (0)
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