Blood-Letting in Karachi
I know, it’s been a while since I last blogged. The excuse I’ll give is that my laptop has been out of commission in the last few months and I have limited access to other computers (internet access here is truly awful). I wish I could write about lighter subjects, I hate to be repetitive and bleak all the time. I could write about what I watch on TV, how the VH1 and MTV here actually devotes most of its air-time to videos. I could make observations on the fashion magazines and indigenous art, or the uplifting international Sufi music festival I attended in the beginning of May.
But it would be silly to ignore the riot. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was dismissed and temporarily placed under house arrest for the crime of ruling independently and opposing the undemocratic tactics of the current administration. He has since been traveling around the country, giving speeches, and his support base of lawyers have been attacked by the police for protesting – peacefully and otherwise. In every other city he went to there were no major problems, but a few Saturdays ago he came to Karachi and the shit hit the fan.
In the last few decades Karachi has been run by a political party called the MQM, a group founded to represent the interests of post-partition Muslim migrants from India, mostly Bihar, called “muhajirs,” hence the original name “Muhajir Quami Movement.” They’ve since changed the first part to “Muttihada” in order to lose the connotation of ethnic exclusionism. Yet, the party has not lost its mafia-like reputation; they are practically a secular terrorist group. Although the port city of Karachi is a recent development in the ancient land of Sindh, it nonetheless rightly belongs to a people who have been here for centuries. Some in the MQM have agitated for Karachi separatism, and in the last few decades they have displaced much of the local population, altered the demographics, and affected the local economy and living standards in certain parts of the city in way that disenfranchises many.
I’m probably too uninformed and biased to offer an accurate assessment of the MQM and the “situation on the ground,” as they say (the MQM must be popular for a reason, and I’m sure they’ve done a lot for struggling muhajirs). Nonetheless, there is no doubt to most Karachites that it was the MQM who started the violence three weeks ago, leaving over 40 people dead, and a 145 wounded.
Was I afraid? Not that much, frankly. More than anything I was appalled. Even though I was no more than 45 minutes away from the trouble spot, I live in a well-secured, gated community (it literally has a gate, and security guards and the whole bit). I was confined to an area of 10 square miles or so, and even if I could venture further out, there’d be no reason to as all the businesses were closed due to a general strike by MQM members and other supporters of the Musharraf regime The personal effect this had on me was one of boredom and annoyance, but it was not like being in a war zone or anything.
I’m more afraid for the country as a whole. When I find myself actually agreeing with the religious fundamentalists, things must be bad! Of course, I don’t really. There is a mullah-military hegemony, with both sides colluding and scratching each other’s backs, whether or not all the individuals involved actually share the same ideology, as they both want power. Anything the government does that looks bad will only strengthen the legitimacy of the fundamentalists, and the more aggressive they get, the more the frightened secular elite will tighten their controls, and on and on it goes. This a deadly game.
