Rockets over Clifton!
If leadership were assessed on a scale of one to ten with respect to the gift of speech as its primary indicative quality, PM Ms Benazir Bhutto would easily go past that measure of assessment. An extremely confident and articulate Ms Benazir fielded searching questions from a select group of senior journalists the day before the announcement of the 1995 Federal Budget for an off-the-record briefing, ostensibly on the Federal Budget. That document got very cursory attention, not even the fact that Rs 25 billion additional taxation was envisaged excited many ripples as the focus shifted to the unspoken agenda of the day, the situation in Karachi. While there was certainly a sense of urgency among those seated in the PM’s Conference Room, as the only person in that gathering actually living presently in that city on a full-time basis, one came away with a deep sense of frustration and anxiety, endless frustration that even a perceptive leader like Ms Benazir who should be sensitive to democratic solutions for such problems was adamant about not “negotiating” with terrorists and deep anxiety at the helplessness of millions of innocent Karachi-ites who fear death, destruction and injury everyday at the hands of rapacious and ruthless gunmen without any qualms about targeting innocents, age (and sex) making no difference as to opportunity targets.
Having failed to get the attention of the PM in this small but august assemblage one can only hope that unlike other leaders who read but do not understand and others who understand but cannot read, Ms Benazir will have the time to scan this fervent appeal to the senses and intelligence of an educated PM who is herself part time resident of Karachi and the mother of three small children.
Karachi is aflame, make no doubt about it. The fire may not be visible to the naked eye but it is burning, none so fiercely as within the hearts and minds of its populace, a mass that is gradually losing hope of any succour between the many devils that strut gun in hand through the streets of this city and the deep sea. Islamabad is a world removed from Karachi, a city for golf and tennis, occasionally polo, an 8:30 to 2 p.m. town that is laid-back and seems insensitive to the chaos and confusion that is threatening to engulf this nation’s only port city and major commercial centre. In a city where everyone has a theory (and solution) to offer, in fact about the only person who would understand the situation (and be affected by it politically and as a person) is the PM. So why this insensitivity to the apocalypse that this city is headed for?
The immediate cause for attention is the killing spree that gunmen staged only a few days back in Clifton, symbolically crossing that fail-safe line that divides Karachi into areas of violence and islands of peace. One bright Government functionary, faced with daily reports in the media about violence in Karachi had even suggested that a government edict be promulgated that only the peaceful Southeast region of the city be called Karachi so that when violence took place in Liaquatabad, Mangophir, Malir, Korangi, the government information machine could say tongue-in-cheek that “Karachi” was peaceful. So much for that idea! While the PM readily blamed the MQM(A) for the dastardly attack that claimed the innocent life of a three-year-old child, this could be laid at the doorstep of a number of terrorists factions operating in the city, including those from the MQM(A), who could be responsible for the attack. The PM spoke about a particular “signature” on the rockets and bullets. They may well be forged! One must go over the compulsions of these militant factions in order of priority as to the possibility of their involvement or otherwise in the symbolic rain of rockets over Clifton.
Prime suspect should be brother Murtaza’s Al-Zulfiqar. This is a self-confessed Indian-supported and trained terrorist organization. There are reams (and videos) of evidence about Murtaza Bhutto’s involvement in training terrorists and abetting their activities in Pakistan. Given the sliding scale on which people are being kept in jail for one reason or the other, Murtaza has no business roaming about freely. But then he is Nusrat Bhutto’s son and the PM’s hands are tied. Which organization has threatened Navy personnel with retaliation and dire retribution for the Shah Bunder incident? Why was a Navy installation a target for one of the rocket attacks? Earlier a car bomb exploded near the Navy flats and on June 13 a Navy lieutenant was gunned down crossing a bridge in a car. Murtaza’s people have been trained by RAW, conceivably they may not be under his control anymore but the targeting of Navy personnel has only one obvious smoking gun to point at. The fiction that there is friction between brother and sister is now wearing thin.
There is no doubt that Indian RAW trained terrorists are on the loose in this city. For any number of reasons, the Indians have a vested interest in destabilizing Karachi, the gateway to Central Asia, a matter of great commercial concern to a nation with commerce as its main for religious ideology. It is a well documented fact that RAW has established training bases for disaffected elements from PPP who went and joined Al-Zulfiqar, similarly Jeay Sindh and MQM have given over potential recruits who have sold their souls to the devil. It would be in Indian interest to spread apprehension and scare in the affluent areas of the city so that the entrepreneurial skills that form the backbone of this city’s (and nation’s) economy think seriously of shifting their experience and talent elsewhere. What better way to cripple a nation than to spread chaos and confusion, death and destruction in its commercial heart? And to drive fear for the safety and welfare of their families in the minds of our commercial leaders so that their ability to function is impaired. Bleeding in Kashmir, there is every reason for India to try and “persuade” Pakistan to stem the logistics supports (official or unofficial) to Kashmir freedom-fighters. That is called “taking off pressure.”
MQM(A) is the next obvious suspect. Their areas of inhabitation have been battlegrounds for the most part of three years, the sound of automatic fire is a living nightmare on a daily basis. The population in the Central District do resent an island of peace in Karachi’s South as they face encirclement operations, raids and various other humiliations on a daily basis. This could well have been a warning that no areas would be safe from retaliation if Gen Babar’s “grand operation” is launched. Also there can be no doubt that militants in MQM(A) have gone across the border and been willingly accepted by RAW as potential recruits for causing mayhem in this city. A combination of their frustration and cause for revenge could have driven extremists within MQM(A) to go on this killing spree, with rockets directed without aim to cause fear and panic. Very rapidly it seems that MQM’s “field” commanders may be losing control over their units, in the face of Altaf Hussain’s call for restraint this may well have been a defiant act by disgruntled elements. By itself this loss of control may be viewed with alarm.
The PM very rightly called MQM(H) Javed Nasir creation. Acknowledgement at the highest level of government that an organization of the State sponsored a terrorist faction with money and material besides government protection is a pathetic commentary of the level to which we have descended. This happened daring Mian Nawaz Sharif’s time as PM and since Lt Gen Javed Nasir was his appointee as DG ISI, it must have been cleared by him. In a subsequent election during Mian Sahib’s tenure as PM, the MQM(H) got a “massive” 20,000 votes (2% of the voting populace) despite Syed Muzzafar “George Bernard” Shah’s Herculean efforts at rigging as Jam Sadiq Ali’s handpicked successor as CM Sindh. How can people act civilized even they support the uncivilized? That is the paradox of Johnny-come-latelies in politics, they cannot digest power and/or absorb its realities. Their only stake is in their own survival at all costs and damn all principles! It is no secret that MQM(H) was passed on by the ISI temporarily to the MI before being set free and taken over by the IB. How else can Afaq and his men get such protection as they now enjoy? It would be in the fitness of things for them to spread mayhem in order to (1) blame it on MQM(A) as the obvious suspects and (2) thus also enhance their own longevity as a useful instrument to be used whenever the situation demanded. Remember the border incident that was staged by Germany as a pretext for invading Poland? The PM’s equating of the Haqeeqis to the MQM(A) sounds ludicrous but gives credence to this fact. There are a number of other terrorist factions that can also be considered for accusation, among them militant factions of Jeay Sindh, SSP and SPM, etc. How does one know how the convoluted mind of a terrorist works? How are we to discern the psyche of various deprived militant minds that operate in the city and think nothing of targeting women and children?
There is a dangerous vacuum of leadership here at the grassroots level. Before this void is completely filled with gun-toting killers, the Federal Government must take the bit in its teeth and initiate a series of steps to defuse the situation. There is no alternative to gaining time immediately by announcing a schedule for Local Bodies elections. Unless an alternate democratic leadership comes up post-haste to replace the rule of the gun, we shall be forced to watch this city go down under a rain of rockets.
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