Adil Najam
Karachi used to be called “the city that never sleeps.” It may as well now be called “the city that forever bleeds.”
Karachi is bleeding again. More than a dozen dead. 80 injured. The Sindh Home Minister says “shoot to kill.” And everyone expects more blood to spill on the streets of Karachi. Fear rules the thoroughfares of Karachi.
Here are some snapshots of what has been happening:
The News: Confusion and chaos reigned supreme in many parts of the city due to widespread rumours of violence in the city on Saturday evening. Shops and markets in Saddar, Zainab Market, Zebunnisa Street and Burns Road were closed. Besides, petrol pumps on Sharea Faisal and Saddar areas were also shutdown. Vendors and pushcarts selling eatables were also not seen near major streets of the area. Police mobile vans were seen patrolling the affected areas and personnel taking positions to thwart any law and order situation.
Daily Times: The riots started from Banaras, early on Saturday, when a driver and conductor of a local route were thrashed by a mob in Mosa Colony. As a result the aggravated locals started firing and resorted to violence. The riots spread like bush fire, engulfing surrounding areas where groups of angry protesters pelted stones and fired at cars, setting fire to many vehicles. Two rickshaws and motorcycles were burned at Pak Colony, two buses and two motorcycles in Ittehad Town, two tankers at Nagan Chowrangi and one water tanker in Qasba Morr.
The News: Naseeb, aged 22, said that he was travelling in a rickshaw when he was intercepted by four armed men riding motorcycles near Abdullah College. When Naseeb told the armed men that he was going home to Qasba Colony, one of the armed men took out his pistol and fired at him. After injuring him, the armed men fled from the scene. Safdar Khan, a 30-year-old minibus driver, said that armed men intercepted his vehicle near Qasba Mor No-1 and ordered all the passengers to get down. Afterwards, when Safdar was still in the bus, the armed men opened fire at him and set the vehicle ablaze. Muneer, a 23-year-old labourer, was going home towards Peerabad when unidentified gunmen opened fire at him and fled. Two other persons Inam Dar, aged 25, and Rose Zameer, aged 26, also sustained bullet injuries in Peerabad area and were brought to the JPMC.
The Nation: At 8:30pm on Saturday night, traffic was barely reported on the City’s main arteries including MA Jinnah road, Karachi University Road, Shahrah-e-Pakistan, Sir Shah Suleman Road, Shershah Soori Road, Shah Faisal Road, and other important roads. The public transport including buses, minibuses, rickshaws and taxies were disappeared from all the main thoroughfares when the violence news spread in different parts of the City. The transporters took off their vehicles due to fear of burning, while private commuters were also avoiding to come on the streets due to the rumours and fear… People were sending mobile messages to their relatives and friends about the effected areas as well as inquiring about the situation of settled other areas.
The News: A rickshaw driver, Nasir Mehmood, told The News that, early in the morning, he was strictly advised not to visit places like Banaras or Sohrab Goth at any cost and told that, if he ventured there, he would be targeted due to his ethnicity by the residents of those areas. “At Korangi Road, another fellow rickshaw driver refused to go to Orangi although he was offered almost double the normal fare; he still felt insecure travelling there,†said Mehmood. A resident of Manzoor Colony, Inaam-ul-Haq, told The News that he was scheduled to visit the Cattle Market situated on the Super Highway on Saturday to buy a sacrificial animal. “Due to the circulation of terrifying news, I decided to defer my plans to go there,†he said.
Dawn: According to a private television channel, Pirabad police said two unknown gunmen opened fire in the Bukhari Colony area of Orangi Town at about 2:30 p.m., killing two men and fleeing swiftly. Later, three bodies were brought to Orangi Town’s Qatar Hospital while injured were being treated in different hospitals around the city. One person was also killed during firing in the De Silva town area. Airports nationwide were put on red alert and the airports’ special passes were cancelled for security purposes, television reports said. The incidents of violence struck various parts of the city, including Banaras, Orangi Town, Quaidabad, North Karachi and Nazimabad.
Everyone seems to know the script of the drama that is about to unfold, yet again, on the streets of Karachi. Except that the deaths will be real, not make-believe. Those who will be doing the killing have been arming up. Those who will be doing the instigation have already upped their rhetoric of hate, division and violence. Those who will be doing the dying, remain on knife’s edge, hoping that they will not be called upon to be sacrificed in the rituals of ethnic murder, so close to the Eid of sacrifice. The rest sit stunned in inaction as the politics of mayhem readies to raise its ugly head yet again. We see Pakistani kill Pakistani in the name of Pakistan. We sit afraid. Very afraid.
When will this murder stop? Why must violence be the only resort? How much blood can the streets of Karachi soak? When will we learn that violence is not teh solution to our problems. It is the problem!
This is not my first post on Karachi that I am compelled to end with the prayer: “Khuda Khair Karray!” Indeed, I have had to use that refrain too many times for violence all over the country. Once again, I can think of nothing else to say. Except, maybe, that the “Khair” will first have to come from our own hearts and from our own actions.
Well folks, while we are at it, why don’t we make sure all educated and sane people in Karachi move somewhere else.
What then ?
I already feel we are a nation of 160 million ostriches and some of the comments below just reinforce that.
Just watch some of the people on the streets of Bombay after their tragedy, they want to rebuild, they want to have a normal life and won’t let anything get in their way.
Pakistaniat is a lot of things as this blog has shown. I am afraid part of it is also running away from problems, finding shortcuts to everything, blaming others and just living in the moment. It maybe that these are defense mechanisms used by our nation to survive the daily grind just to exist, maybe not. I am not going to pretend to be an arm chair psychologist, but that is the way things are.
Perhaps the Rev King would have led his people to Africa if only he had the wisdom of some of our friends.
I guess people who want to leave Pakistan SHOULD leave. It only makes sense for people to do what they want to do, right? People who want to stay, or come back, should do that.
But it’s not particularly useful if people aren’t doing what they want to do. So people outside Pakistan who wistfully mention how they’d like to help out… should stop delaying and come back. And people who would like to leave should start taking that idea seriously. Laziness and inaction are bad, period. Life is short.
THE GAME HAS STARTED. AMERICAN WANT TO SEPARATE JINNAHPUR FROM PAKISTAN. OUR POWER HUNGRY LEADERS ARE QUIT, SOME ARE COWARD’S AND THE OTHER HAVE THERE INTEREST TO SIT ON POWERLESS CHAIR. NO ONE HAS COURAGE TO COME OUT AND TELL THE TRUTH.Few Point must be noted from everyone; 1. The Return of Militant wing Commander Saleem Shahzad to Karachi. 2. The Detailed Briefing from US Deputy Foreign Secretary to Mustafa Kamal in Washington 3. Regularizing of 12000 MQM Trained members as City Government Police ( Not a Single Sindhi, Punjabi, Baloch OR Pakhtoon, NOT A SINGLE ) 4. Refusal of Audit of Municipalities (City Government of Karachi and Hyderabad.) by MQM 5. Refusal of Admission of Sindhi, Punjabi, baloch and Pakhtun students to Karachi Medical Colleges. 6. Building of 73 Check Points from GAWADAR to JATEE ( District Thataa by US with the supervision and Co-operation of MQM. 7. Statements of Altaf regarding So Called Threat of Taliben and Appeals to Karachians to sell everything and Purchase the Weapons.and….much more. MQM IS PLAYING THIS GAME VERY CLEVER AND ORGANISED WAY. THEY ARE SINCE 16 YEARS IN GOVERNMENT , THEY WERE WITH MUSHAREF AND THEY ARE WITH PPP, JUST TO GET THE TIME. THEY CAN BE WITH EVERYONE WHO CLOSE HIS EYE AND GIVE THEM TIME TO CONTINUE THERE GAME AND REACH THERE GOAL.
You’re not understanding what I’m saying. What goes on in Pakistan these days is nothing compared to the sort of thing that will happen in a Western country when law and order breaks down.
Also, I was born in NY and grew up there. I only came to Pakistan last year.
This is indeed the sad state of affairs of our city, infact our country.