Karachi: Targeted killings, bloodbath and beyond..

NEW YORK, USA: Pakistan’s financial capital which is also its southernmost port city – Karachi – with a massive population of almost 20 million, has witnessed a sudden spike in violence, spate of targeted killings, arson, loot, during the last 24 hours particularly. The latest downward spiral in the law and order in the city is unprecedented – almost orchestrated – according to some Karachi observers.

MQM – which is the political party that controls the nerve of the metropolis was rattled by the targeted killing of one of its top loyalists – MPA Raza Haider – a staunch worker for the last 26 years, who belonged to the Shia community. Being a MQM leader, an Urdu-speaking, and a Shia is a mix bag of bad lucks in violent Karachi. Anti-MQM forces are aplenty, in a city whose peace means peace in Pakistan – but where the battle for its turf control has seen more than 800 deaths since January, according to published reports. Just in July, if the present count is updated, it will exceed 100.

Since 6pm Monday evening when Raza Haider and his body guard were gunned down in Nazimabad, more than 50 people have been body-bagged, with dozens of vehicles, push-carts, and khokas (roadside restaurants) set ablaze – reminiscent of what happened in December 2007 (Bhutto murder)and in December 2009 (attack on Shia procession).

Each of these gory incident was hijacked by those whose objectives were beyond protests and demonstrations. So it is this time it seems.

The mob has torched dozens of vehicles, petrol pumps and shops as situation remained tense and normal life has stood still in the metropolis.

Several petrol pumps were also set on fire and the roads wear a deserted look. Aerial firing was also reported across the city.

In Liaquatabad, Karachi, miscreants set on fire a Geo News staff van. Several vehicles were also set on fire in several cities of interior Sindh.

A complete strike is being observed in Hyderabad and Sukkur, over the killing of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) MPA. Karachi is already payyah jammed (wheel jam strike).

All educational institutions in the metropolis remained closed today and examinations have been postponed.

The government has blamed the Taliban and the banned militant group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) for the killing of the lawmaker. Twenty people have been arrested in connection with the violence, federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik told the Senate on Tuesday.

Some analysts said the violence could ultimately affect the economy. Karachi is home to the country’s main port, the central bank and the stock exchange, which has so far seen thin trade and closed an hour early today because of the violence.

“This obviously raises concern and anxiety, and if these things continue, Pakistan’s economy gets undermined,” said Hasan-Askari Rizvi, a political and security analyst, to a news agency.

“It is a pathetic situation and exposes the helplessness of the government to perform its basic duty towards its citizens,” said Rizvi.

Police and officials said that they also found evidence suggesting that militants had planned a suicide attack during Haider’s funeral, scheduled for later on Tuesday.

“On the basis of evidence available at the moment, it (the killing of Haider) was carried out by the Tehrik-e-Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahaba,” Malik told reporters in Islamabad.

The MQM, a coalition partner in the federal as well as the provincial Sindh government, renewed calls for a crackdown on militants after the killing of its lawmaker.

“For the past 3 to 4 years we have been pointing out and giving evidence about the presence of Taliban and extremists in Karachi,” said Wasay Jalil, a spokesman for the MQM.

“We were ridiculed at that time. But now everyone is admitting that the Taliban and the SSP are here.”

GANGS, MAFIAS

On Tuesday, a day after the killing, Karachi was tense as police and paramilitary troops patrolled deserted streets.

Hyderabad, the second largest city of the province, was also largely deserted as were other towns after the MQM called for three days of mourning.

“This could be the last nail in the coffin and could be disastrous for the stock market because as it is, volume has been below average and this may lead to foreign investors exiting the market,” said Sajid Bhanji, a director at brokerage Arif Habib Ltd, of Haider’s killing and the ensuring violence.

Karachi has a long history of ethnic, religious and sectarian violence. It was a main target of al Qaeda-linked militants after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, when Pakistan joined the US-led campaign against militancy, and foreigners were attacked in the city several times.

“All political forces in Karachi have their armed groups,” Rizvi said. “And then there are a lot of other groups – criminal, sectarian, drug mafia.”

Including last night’s death toll, officials say at least 193 people have been killed in targeted attacks since the start of the year, although analysts and political parties say the number is likely much higher.

Mohajirs, the descendants of Urdu-speakers who migrated from India after the creation of Pakistan in 1947, are the biggest community and dominate the city’s administration through the MQM.

It is also home to the largest concentration of ethnic Pashtuns outside the northwest.

Government officials also say criminals, including drug lords competing for turf in the city’s teeming neighborhoods, take advantage of the tension, complicating the police’s difficulties. So does the land mafia who have influence on all parties.

What lies beyond Karachi’s targeted killings and bloodbath is almost impossible to predict at the moment. “Whether it will lead to limited army control of the city or a civil-military administration is difficult to predict,” said one observer. Meanwhile both sectarian and ethnic forces appear to have made Pakistan’s largest city – its financial hub – their bed, bath and beyond!