Politico-ethnic violence has consumed more than 30 lives in Karachi over the past 24 hours as the turf war for control over Pakistan's commercial capital intensified. Though there was a let-up in the body count on Tuesday, life in the city remained paralysed as hospitals battled with the steady stream of injuries that kept coming in from different parts of the metropolis and torching of vehicles continued.
The latest spurt in violence in Karachi comes close on the heels of one of the bloodiest months the violence-prone city has seen in recent years. As per police records, 318 people were killed in July alone and Monday's death toll of 20, according to media reports, surpassed the daily average body count of last month.
The clashes were broadly between the Urdu-speaking people represented by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Pashtoon-backed Awami National Party (ANP). The MQM — which recently pulled out of the ruling alliance in Karachi and at the federal level — accused some elements of the Sindh government of trying to take over its stronghold; a reference not only to the ANP but also the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) which is also trying to widen its base in the city.
Amid the escalating violence, the Sindh Home Minister approached both the MQM and the ANP to secure their support for indiscriminate action against the culprits as Karachi'ites complained about police inaction. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) — which conducted a fact-finding mission over the weekend to ascertain the cause of the current wave of violence — complaints against law-enforcing agencies ranged from dereliction of duty, abandonment of post, and long delays in responding to distress calls to downright collusion with criminals.
The Commission concluded that Karachi is in the grip of a multi-sided wave of insecurity-driven political, ethnic and sectarian polarisation. “While gangs of land-grabbers and mafias have tried to exploit the breakdown of law and order, they do not appear to be the main directors of the horrible game of death and destruction; that distinction belongs to more powerful political groups and it is they who hold the key to peace.''
