Karachi calling

Urban violence has become a permanent affliction in Karachi. Anyone explaining the roots of this violence to you would say ‘it’s complicated’ – and that is indeed an accurate summary of the bloodshed that erupts across the city in random spurts. The plague of violence in Pakistan’s biggest city and commercial hub is multifaceted. From ethnic strife to gang wars to politically motivated crimes to just petty theft – Karachi has it all. Where does it start? And more importantly, where would it end?

This is strange because less merely 25 years, Karachi was the land of opportunity in Pakistan. Once the capital of the country, this economic hub bustled with life and activity with little thought spared to the horrors awaiting citizens a few years down the road. Fast forward to 2012, Karachi faces (in the words of Bilal Baloch) feeble security, over-population, poor public transportation and housing, weak law and order, abuse of public services by the wealthy and powerful, illegal land-grabbing and squatter settlements, pollution so pervasive that it contaminates food and water for all, ethnic divisions, sectarian divisions, meager education; in short, institutional inadequacies on a grand scale. At the same time, it is this city that allows unbridled port access to NATO, fishermen and businessmen. The city has seen the likes of Alexander the Great, Sir Charles Napier, Muhammad Bin Qasim, poets, authors, bloggers and artists. The City of Lights continues to function under such paradoxical circumstances, with violent bloodshed in one corner of the city and celebrations in another.

The trouble with Karachi started when its politics began to get based around ethnic grounds. This was a direct result of the Russian occupation of Afghanistan and resulting influx of refugees and militants encouraged by the then president. That occupation and resistance left its residual impact – scores of weapons and refugees made their way to Karachi. Overpopulation fed tensions. When scores of populations of various ethnicities, economic and social classes, and different religious and political affiliations begin to struggle for more room in an enclosed space, it is but natural that it would create spillover effects. That’s how MQM came to be – a neo-fascist political party borne out of an astounding 13 million population fighting, with relative success, for political hegemony in the metropolitan. The influx of weapons and refugees pushed this political agenda further and the birth of gangs facilitated the process even more. It is the simple rule of mutual back-scratching. Mafias and gangs get validation from political parties who bank on their support for legitimacy for themselves. Karachi currently stands divided in different turfs run by gangs, lorded over by political parties. There is also a severe vacuum in the city because of a lack of a solid civil society – either because of indifference to violence that has become a routine for inhabitants or because lack of understanding of what civil society is and what role it can play in generating life back in the city.

Added to the city’s woes is presence of Taliban and Al-Qaeda. This presence has raised questions in Washington and the rest of the world about Pakistani government’s co-existence with terrorist organizations. Two dozen top al Qaeda, Afghan Taliban, and Pakistani Taliban leaders, mostly in Pashtun areas on the outskirts of Karachi were arrested in Pakistan's largest city. The list included Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar's top deputy, Mullah Baradar, whose capture raised hopes that the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan was finally gaining momentum.

Where is this leading? The central question is that why don’t people start to migrate out the city? Why Karachi? Why not other metropolitan areas? The answer is simple: opportunities. There is a growing middle class in Karachi, an affirmation of the old saying that city’s streets are littered with gold; one just has to pick it up. There is also the hope that the violence would be cleaned up by a crackdown from the government. That is just nostalgia of the previous failed operations in the 1990s and 1980s to curb growing violence – and one that cannot be acted on in any case, since the army has bigger issues on its plate. The aforementioned operations failed because of they were targeted at low-level gangs and political factions that did not matter. Operations that did target the top echelons of stronger political parties and their mafias failed to produce decisive conclusion, leading to top leaders fleeing the country and running their movements from abroad.

One can no longer rely on expansion of the industries because of the sad cycle of black marketing, kidnapping, murders and blackmail, again, watched over by some criminal elements within the political parties in power. Illegal neighborhoods continue to expand, pollution is in access. Strangely, according to various sources, Pakistanis still lead better lives in Karachi than anywhere else in the country. According to UN’s human development index, Karachi did better than any other place in the developing nation. Not only do medical centers and universities exceed what's available outside the city: the potential employers range from tanneries to towel manufacturers and real estate developers, and from hypermarkets to the dozens of newspapers and TV channels that chronicle the city’s distress.

As a general analysis of what Karachi is today, there is only one word to describe the dynamic metropolitan: paradox. With the city remaining closed for days on end due to one strike or one violent eruption after the other, it also remains alive and functioning at the same time. Karachi is easy to dislike for all its problems and at the same its significance in the country’s context cannot be denied.