From Target Killings to Mass Killing Fields of Karachi.

Interior Minister of Sindh Zulfiqar Mirza at the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) accused the MQM of target killings in Karachi. Let’s look at a couple of statements Mirza made in his speech. He said:

“Imran Farooq was killed or martyred in London markets and shops were closed down in Karachi. Buses belonging to Pathans are abducted and torched in Karachi. Pathans are killed in Karachi. I ask you, did Asfandyar Wali commit the murder [of Imran Farooq]?”

When the MQM “want to kill any Pathan, Sindhi, Punjabi or Baloch in Karachi, they go about executing their plan methodically.”

“The day these nations (i.e., Pathan, Sindhi, Balochi and Punjabi) decided on tit-for-tat all they have to do is to open their gates and fire a burst of an automatic rifle on the street. Then most of the people killed would be innocent Urdu-speakers.”

Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) 153 A (a), states that whoever “by words, either spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations or otherwise, promotes or incites, or attempts to promote or incite, on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or community or any other ground whatsoever, disharmony or feelings of enmity, hatred or ill-will between different religious, racial, language or regional groups or castes or communities” shall be imprisoned, fined or both.

The punishment for such violation of the PPC is imprisonment of six months if the provocation did not lead to riots. The imprisonment increases to one year if the provocation resulted in riots. There is a fat chance that Mirza will ever be subjected to such details of the Penal Code, which history tells us primarily exists in the land of the pure to victimse the weak by the powerful. So let’s quickly forget about such possibility.

All of the statements above by Mirza are loaded. It seems that uttering loaded statements is nothing new to Mirza. This is the same PPP Jiyala who, after the unfortunate death of Benazir Bhutto in December 2007 had claimed that he wanted to break Pakistan.

Let’s study Mirza’s statements to decipher his thought process. First, he could not make up his mind whether to call Farooq’s death a murder or martyrdom. Contrary to Mirza’s confusion, Altaf Hussain the founder and leader of the MQM was very clear when he was the first person to call Benazir Bhutto a martyr (or shaheed in Urdu) right after her murder by the killers who have not been arrested or even identified yet.

Second, the life of anyone belonging to any religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, caste or ethnicity is as valuable as anyone else’s. If riots broke out in Karachi following Farooq’s passing away, it was Mirza’s responsibility as the Interior Minister of Sindh to apprehend the criminals and bring them to justice.

It appears that implying that Pathans were specifically targeted by the MQM or MQM’s supporters as a reaction to Forooq’s death is nothing more than the PPP’s decades-long practice of creating and flaring ethnic tensions in Sindh, especially Karachi.

Third, by using the name of Peshawar-based Asfandyar Wali of the Awami National Party (ANP) who has nothing to do with Karachi implies that Wali is the leader of all Pathans in Pakistan. For the sake of argument, if God forbid Wali were indeed involved in Farooq’s murder would that justify killing of Pathans in Karachi? The tribal mindset of these “political” leaders prevents Pakistan from becoming a modern republic; Islamic or otherwise.

Fourth, it may politically serve the ANP of Sindh to claim the representation of all Pathans in Karachi. But it is for the ANP to decide if it is an ethnic party representing only the Pathans or is it a democratic party based on the teachings of Bacha Khan, the grandfather of Asfandyar Wali. Mirza as the Interior Minister of Sindh and the Senior Vice President of the PPP is not the right person to make that determination.

Fifth, for Mirza there seems to be no Pakistani “nation.” He sees Karachiites as Pathans, Sindhis, Balochis, Punjabis, Urdu-speakers, etc.

Sixth, for him the above-mentioned “nations” are mutually exclusive and for him Urdu-speakers and others are not Sindhis even though they are born in Sindh, die in Sindh and are buried in Sindh.

Seventh, by differentiating Urdu-speakers from the other "nations" he is acknowledging Urdu-speakers as a nation. By expanding its political canvass all over Pakistan, even the MQM has lost interest in such undertaking but the PPP seems to be hell-bent in kindling the flame of ethnic divisions going.

Eighth, when he claims that members of these "nations" may open fire, he is not speculating. He is encouraging them to do so. That is to make the whole Karachi a killing zone. According to this video (1:20 - 1:30) Mirza has acknowledged that he has issued innumerable licenses of weapons most likely to MQM’s opponents. So on one hand he is issuing weapon licenses and on the other hand he is inciting violence against the Urdu-Speakers by making wild allegations against the MQM and then expecting the Urdu-Speakers to pay the price even if those Urdu-Speakers have nothing to do with the MQM.

Ninth, when he suggests that most of the people killed would be Urdu-speakers, that means he is acknowledging that most of the population in Karachi is that of Urdu-speakers.

Tenth, by suggesting that members of these "nations" will open their gates and fire a burst, he is acknowledging that those members of other "nations" are maintaining households among Urdu-speakers. That is a good thing. That demonstrates the homogeneous nature of the Karachi demographics.

Eleventh, if the MQM were indeed involved in target killing then the only way those members of the other “nations” would remain alive after firing a burst of an automatic rifle from their own houses is when the PPP provides total protection to them and/or the MQM is not able to act against them.

Apparently, it is not the MQM or the Urdu-Speakers who are at fault here. If there were any other “nation” as strong as the Urdu-Speakers in Sindh in terms of numbers, then PPP would do the same to that group what it is doing to the Urdu-Speakers for the past 30 years.


Liaquat Ali is a real estate investor in Fairfield, CT. He is an MBA in management and strategy, and a graduate of Connecticut School of Broadcasting.