Karachi Becoming Unbearably Unpredictable
Karachi is becoming more and more unpredictable every day. Today when everything seemed to be running smoothly, when all of a sudden around 3:30 in the evening a news alert announced 2 people being shot dead in the area near airport. I expected it to be the usual target killing which had been resulting in 2 to 5 killings every day in the city. But I was wrong. This killing had taken lives of members of a political party and their followers were not happy about it.
Minutes later reports of violence, firing and unrest started to pour in. I called in and smsed several of my friends, cousins, asking where their they were, updating them of the cities situation and hoping they reach home safe and sound. My eyes glued to the TV, panicking at every incident which would take place somewhere, some place near their possible path. My trauma lasted over an hour before everyone I was in touch with was home safe.
Exhausted by the time I dosed off for an hour, when I woke up I realized that the trauma and misery of the city had continued and had actually gotten worst. Over 9 vehicles were being reported to have been set ablaze, there was a report that one of the car was burnt with the driver still inside. Several were injured in this spell of violence, many other effected as terror prevailed taking away the peace of mind of the citizens of the city.
At a time when 14 million people of the country have been effected, rendered homeless by the floods in the country. Every day epidemics, and harsh situation these homeless people are faced with are taking them more vulnerable, more fragile more difficult to survive another day. At a time we should be out there collecting funds and sending help to these millions of people who need us but we are too busy killing one another bringing city to a halt, forcing people to stop their businesses, interrupting their routine forcing them to stay home fearing for their lives and that of their loved ones day in day out.
This city of lights is becoming more and more heartless, it wont let us do much for the flood victims, for other fellow human beings, it will just keep us busy worrying sick for our safety and that of our loved ones. It will keep us crippled till we either become heartless like the city its self, or rise to rebel and revolt anyone and every one who tries to terrorize us.
Thirty-Five held for creating trouble in Orangi ,10 rickshaws burnt in Nazimabad
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/local/35-held-for-creating-trouble-in-orangi-380
@Orangi
Its obvious that while majority of orangiites want peace,seems like your kind(i.e. the 35 held,Dhobis,Mamus,Kanas,chitas,Dadas,langras etc) are hell bent on wrecking things and ruining the peace..
MQM workers booked for killing ANP leader in Karachi 25 aug
Four workers of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and their two aides have been booked for the targeted killings of an Awami National Party leader Obaidullah Yousafzai and his colleague Saleem Akhtar last week, police officials said.
A case (FIR 372/2010) was registered on Tuesday at the Airport police station against Azhar Qureshi, Waqar Siddiqi, Javed alias Kala, Shahid alias London Wala and their two unidentified accomplices under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/local/mqm-workers-booked-for-killing-anp-leader-580
Coming full circle: violence in Karachi
By Cyril Almeida
Wednesday, 25 Aug, 2010
KARACHI: The spate of ‘target killings’ in the city is a political problem that shows every sign of worsening in the weeks and months ahead. In the first two weeks of August alone, over 140 people were killed in tit-for-tat violence following the killing of an MQM MPA and an ANP politician.
.. Privately, much of the present violence is blamed on the MQM.
A senior security official said, “We’ve got 14 or 15 boys in custody, each responsible for 17, 18 deaths. The interrogation reports detail everything, the sectors, the places they met, the motorcycles and weapons used, everything.”
Analysts suggest that Pakhtun migration to Karachi following military operations in Fata and the northern Pakistan has raised the hackles of the MQM — the party allegedly fears that the IDPs may be absorbed by the Pakhtun population of Karachi, never to return.
“Look at the people who are being killed: rickshaw drivers, pushcart owners, labourers, carpet and hardware shop owners, shoe polishers,” a veteran Karachi journalist said.
“That’s exactly the kind of jobs you’d expect Pakhtuns coming to the city to take up. The message is clear: if we can’t stop you from coming here, at least we can slow the tide.”
..Then there are the killings of a sectarian nature that appear to have become linked with a bitter war being fought between the Muttahida (the MQM proper) and the Haqiqi (a splinter faction).
The picture here is even murkier. According to analysts and security officials, militant wings of Shia groups began to target SSP and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leaders in 2009, presumably as revenge for the killings of Shias.
CCPO Waseem Ahmed suggests that, long term, only two things could reduce ethnic and political violence in the city: “First, deweaponisation. Everyone blames the police, but go ask the political parties why they never talk about deweaponisation.” In addition, Mr Ahmed said that the criminal-justice system needs to be overhauled. “A terrorist is like a car-lifter now, he gets caught, then he’s back on the streets in a couple of years, then he does it again, gets caught again, it’s a joke.”
A Sindh government official said, “After Mian sahib (Nawaz Sharif) quit the coalition, the MQM got a free hand. They know they are key now (to the coalition government in Islamabad), so they are demanding their pound of flesh. But their demands keep going up.”
A senior security official suggested: “The answer doesn’t lie in Karachi, it’s in Islamabad. Bring all the leaders in a room and have the army chief there to guarantee the peace. He needs to say, ‘Cut it out or we will smash you like we did before.’ They’ll quickly fall into line then.”
Read the complete article :
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/front-page/coming-full-circle-violence-in-karachi-580
We are turning into a nation of whimpering slaves to Fear—fear of war, fear of poverty, fear of random terrorism, fear of getting down-sized or fired because of the plunging economy, fear of getting evicted for bad debts or suddenly getting locked up in a military detention camp on vague charges of being a Terrorist sympathizer.
so what do you suggest compadree…lets burn some tyres to prove our point right….or shud that be a W-11 or a auto riskhwa..never liked its rickety sound…one les wud be sweet in the city