Politics in Karachi is a war of demographics, and ethnic capital is its most potent weapon. The MQM since its inception has always had a demographic advantage in the city, but over the years, large scale immigration from the north has slowly eroded this edge. The violent nature of politics in Karachi has meant that as land and votes become more valuable, individual lives begins to lose their worth.
The current explosion of violence is not an aberration, and is especially not new to Orangi Town. 40 people lost their lives in one day last August after MQM parliamentarian Raza Haider (elected from Orangi Town) was assassinated. But then and now, the most dangerous aspect of the violence is that much of it is arbitrary. We refer to them as "targeted killings" but most of them are not. Gunmen open fire on buses suspected to be driven by or carrying Pashtun passengers. Indiscriminate fire is opened on a marketplace because the stores may be run by Muhajirs. People are killed because of their ethnicity and appearance, yet the distinction between both sides has become so weak that anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time can be killed for wearing a Pashtun shalwar kurta, or on the other side the Muhajir staple "pant-shirt." The majority of those killed in the last four days have been civilians caught in the crossfire or those targeted for their ethnicity alone. This wanton carnage works well for the respective political parties, as it perpetuates the propaganda that the other ethnic group is a threat to their existence and helps to establish the party's writ in the neighborhood. The animosity between the communities increases, further entrenching the political parties within their strongholds. Local elections and the local government system have also been a source of great tension, adding fuel to the turf war. |