Karachi held hostage
March 30th, 2012
The situation in Karachi is once again playing out with wearing predictability. An activist of one party is killed, setting off a round of violence that brings the metropolis to a complete halt. In retaliation, the other party kills an activist or two and so the vicious cycle continues. At this point, the names of the parties no longer matter and it makes no difference who initially sparked the violence. The blame game played by the political parties is unfair and counterproductive. They are all complicit in turning mourning into senseless rioting and bringing the city to a standstill as they sort out their internal feuds.
At the federal level, the three parties most closely involved in the violence in Karachi are actually coalition partners and the government’s effort to stop their violent activities is dismal. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said a delay in the passage of the Anti-Terrorist Act was to blame for the violence, coupled with the transport of arms from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the presence of Taliban in Karachi. However, none of these arguments seem to hold up to even the faintest scrutiny. Even if the current iteration of the Anti-Terrorist Act was to be passed, there is no way it will deter the armed gangs that work for political parties.
It is true that Karachi became awash in arms in the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but that holds little relevance more than 30 years later. All parties and ethnicities are now armed to the teeth. Blaming the violence on the Taliban makes no sense, especially since all the political parties have more than enough reason to continue killing one another.
The situation in Karachi is a purely local one, spurred by the complicated politics of the city. Those at the centre can help with negotiations but their role must necessarily be a secondary one. It is up to the political players in the city to realise that violence is not the best option. They need to reach a lasting truce instead, to restore life in the city back to some semblance of normalcy.
Where are Pak-US ties headed?
March 30th, 2012
The contours of the Pakistan-US alliance have always been crafted in the shadows, away from public debate and scrutiny. For this reason, the visit by two top US generals after the initiation of the parliamentary debate on the future of relations between the two countries was interesting. For two consecutive days, parliament started its debate on this vital matter only to swiftly move on to other matters like the power crisis and violence in Karachi. Meanwhile, the Chief of Army Staff, Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, was changing the ground realities of the alliance in his meetings with Centcom Chief General James Mattis and Isaf Commander General John Allen.
This was the first meeting between the generals from the two countries after the Salala incident that severely strained ties. Since then, the Pakistan military has been publicly critical of the US, demanding an unconditional apology for the Salala attack. Although few details have been released about these meetings, one can read between the lines and look at it as the start of a détente. The Pakistan military realises that the US holds the advantage in this face-off. The army is almost entirely reliant on American aid to provide it weaponry and technical assistance. As such, breaking off ties with the US, no matter how wounded the military’s feelings are, is not an option. Recall, after all, that it was the military that first granted permission to the US to conduct drone strikes in the tribal areas. This meeting should, thus, be seen as the first step to a reset in relations between Pakistan and the US.
Some argue that foreign relations, as with everything else, should be the domain of the civilians not those in uniform. But the fact of the matter is that the government for its part has been discussing this issue in parliament, although its progress has been detracted because of the ongoing violence in Karachi. However, some tangible proposals have been made and one hopes that a balanced foreign policy — which addresses Pakistan’s concerns over sovereignty and America’s concerns of national security — will soon be formulated.
Our sectarian monster
March 30th, 2012
Five more people, including a woman were killed in a drive-by shooting in Quetta on March 29, in what the provincial government described as “an incident of sectarian targeted killing” while two NGO workers were shot dead the same day by unknown assailants in Mastung. There has been a manifold increase in sectarian attacks in Balochistan recently, and it seems as though the Hazara community is specifically being targeted. In addition to yesterday’s attack, there have been numerous other incidents of violence against the Hazara community. Last September, a bus full of Shias were murdered near Quetta, while a few weeks before that there was an Eid massacre of Shias in Balochistan. Amidst the military’s offensive against separatists, we tend to forget that there is another war being fought targeting the most vulnerable community in the province.
The roots of the sectarian violence, like most discrimination against minority communities, can be traced back to the military dictatorship of Ziaul Haq. In his eagerness to impose a hardline Sunni interpretation of Islam in the country, Zia created and strengthened militant groups that initially fought in Afghanistan and Kashmir, but later turned their guns on the Shia community at home. Unfortunately, successive governments in the 1990s did nothing to throttle these militant groups and the situation kept getting worse over time.
Even before that, however, the Hazara community has been singled out by those who condemn them as imposters and infidels. The Taliban regime in Afghanistan was vicious against them. In Pakistan, it was the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi that first started issuing edicts against the Hazaras. For a community that is over half a million strong, it is most tragic that the Hazaras are now being made to feel like strangers in their own land. Although efforts are being made by the government to beef up security in the city as Frontier Corps and the police have jointly launched a search operation in different areas of Quetta and arrested suspects, more needs to be done to ensure that no more lives are lost.