Karachi Anarchi
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 4:53PM Something troubling is occurring in the city of Karachi. It’s getting very little international media attention but I think could be quite significant in terms of the politics of Pakistan , and the politics of Pakistan are significant in terms of both regional and global threats. Here’s a quick summary.
- Over 600 people have been murdered in the last two month in a surge of violence and kidnapping.
- Many of the recovered bodies show signs of torture. Some bodies have been beheaded, others simply “chopped up” with band saws.
- Videos of some of the killings are being distributed, in what looks like an attempt to instill more widespread terror. Many of the videos being widely distributed in the last few months are extremely disturbing and calculated, I believe to instill panic and fear in Karachi’s population.
- Police and government responses have been largely ineffective and are derisory. Senior police officials have admitted some areas are “no-go” for them.
- Criminal gangs are active, as are Islamic militant groups. (Remember the attack on the Karachi naval base a few months ago?). Political parties are certainly involved, and that and the mix of religious and ethnic divides makes Karachi a tinderbox, where political parties are playing with fire. ”Gang warfare” equates to “political party warfare”. There are three main political parties in Karachi and each in effect has its own “armed wing”. The three key parties are the MQM, the ANP and the PPP.
- Today two people allegedly carrying explosives on a motorbike were killed in what police are calling a premature explosion by two suicide bombers. I’m not convinced by that explanation. Smells fishy to me.
- The government has sent in a paramilitary force, the Rangers, to add their 11,000 force to Karachi’s 30,000 police. As a background to this in the recent past, the Pakistan Supreme Court had suspended the Ranger’s Director General because of their participation in an extra-judicial killing… Again videos of the killing had been distributed by “private” media companies.
- Violence levels in Karachi exceed all other terrorist attacks in the country by a long way.
Karachi’s geopolitical position is as crucial today as it has ever been, but you don’t need me to remind you of that – look at the map and see how it provides conduits into the crucial parts of Asia. Politically it’s also crucial to too and in terms of its position as Pakistan’s business heart.
The Army, as ever in Pakistan, are waiting in the wings. Will this be the excuse the Army need to take control of the country once again? If they do, what will that mean nationally and internationally? Is this upsurge of violence orchestrated to that end, or simply an escalation of criminal gang warfare? Is it that simple?
As I’ve said before on this blog, I’m worried about Pakistan’s political propensity to exploit radicalised elements within society to further strategic and partisan political objectives. Instinct tells me that the situation in Karachi might be associated with such activity. Its dangerous and the end result could be a military coup.
Roger Davies
Update:
The US State Department has just released its annual threat review at this link In it, it states that Pakistan fails to convict 75% of accused terrorists brought before its courts. The report assesses that Pakistan's legal system is "almost incapable of prosecuting suspected terrorists". There are other concerning elements within this annual "report card".
Reader Comments (1)
Roger, I actually thought that the first, and therefore the oldest IEDD operation was attributed to Homer's description of you throwning a bucket of water on a flaming arrow?