MQM: Has the machine begun to creak? By Nadeem F. Paracha

The future of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement is at best uncertain, but not necessarily bleak.

Ever since the late 1980s, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has aptly been described as ‘a well-oiled electoral machine’.

In Karachi – the country’s largest city and an MQM stronghold – the party’s electoral dynamics have evolved in such a manner that during national and provincial elections, most of what is required to run a successful campaign and contest an election begins to almost automatically fall into place.

Same is the case now with the protest aspect of the party’s politics. The city of Karachi begins to shut down even before (or any) call for a shutdown or a strike is given by the party, and when Karachiites believe that an event has occurred that might ruffle the party’s feathers.

In both circumstances, the MQM operates like a machine that automatically gets switched on to do the needful during an election or a protest. Much of the city of Karachi falls in line, as if instinctively.

Unlike the populist Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), that has always had an overriding degree of spontaneity and an impulse in its ranks and support, the MQM is quite the opposite.

The MQM is a highly structured and well-organised unit that, ironically, is a counterpoint to the chaotic nature of the sprawling metropolis it draws a bulk of its support from.

The party’s edifice and inner-workings reflect the psychological and emotional disposition of the man who formed it – first in 1978 as a student organisation and then in 1984 as a mainstream political party: Altaf Hussain.

For long most of the people who worked closely with Altaf Hussain have considered him to be a ‘control freak;’ a man who is obsessed with maintaining discipline and order in the party – two things that for more than three decades now have eluded the city in which his party is a major political force.

Altaf Hussain: Obsessed with discipline?

But Karachi’s topsy-turvy and edgy nature is not entirely missing in the party’s temperament.

The constant flux that this city’s politics, economics and sociology are always in, has often seen the MQM use its strict disciplinary and organised aspects to systematically swamp, encircle and then absorb anything emerging from this flux, whether as a political and economic advantage to be gained or as a perceived threat to the party’s supremacy in the city.

Karachi: Edgy and chaotic.

In the first few years of its existence or between 1984 and 1992, its rise as a Mohajir (Urdu-speaking) nationalist party was so dramatic and sudden, that it’s early electoral sweeps in Karachi and the consequent political and economic resurgence of the middle and lower-middle-class Urdu-speakers of Karachi, left most of the party’s potential detractors shell shocked.

Since Karachi’s resources and ethnic balance had begun to come under great stress due to the unchecked influx of a large number of Afghan refugees in the early 1980s who had begun to pour in after Pakistan hopped into the Afghan Civil War, the crime rate and incidents of sectarian and ethnic violence in the city witnessed an almost three-fold growth and jump.

By the mid-1980s, Karachi, once called the ‘city of lights’ and ‘gateway to Asia,’ and a popular destination to do business in and seek out all kinds of modern pleasures, had become acerbic.

Its once radiant and famous cosmopolitan veneer began to erode, giving birth to a rumbling dark underbelly feeding on an anarchic black economy that revolved around guns, drugs, kidnapping and murder.

Suspicion and paranoia gripped the city’s populace, as one ethnic group began to accuse the other of trying to marginalise them and steal the city’s dwindling economic resources.

It was during this creeping malaise that the MQM was born.

A party that claimed to look after the economic and political interests of the Mohajirs in a city where they were the majority ‘ethnic’ group but supposedly being sidelined through violence and economic malpractice by the Punjabis and the Pukhtuns.

It was thus only natural for the party to get infected by certain side-effects of the malaise that it was born into. That’s why the party’s highly disciplined and organised electoral popularity and presence ran parallel to a more elusive and darker manifestation of its agenda.

The MQM’s sudden popularity also came with a heightened sense of paranoia; a feeling that the party had to grow a militant wing as well if it is to retain its political gains in an environment where the state and the government seemed helpless to contain Karachi’s changing rules of business.

These rules did not emerge from the parliament, a court of law or from a government’s cabinet. They had evolved from the city’s new underbelly.

In 1992, the state finally decided to step in.

By then, the MQM’s street power, electoral supremacy and militancy had all become willing hostages to the power plays between the country’s two major parties, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the moderate right-wing, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

The MQM thought it was being clever by extracting economic and political influence for itself by jumping to and fro between these two parties as they, apart from fighting each other, were also locked in a complex tussle for power with intelligence agencies trying to influence electoral politics in Pakistan.

Altaf Hussain with PPP Chairperson, Benazir Bhutto, in 1989.

With PML-N leader, Nawaz Sharif in 1992.

Throughout the 1990s this complex wrangle saw the fall of two PPP and two PML-N governments, the ouster of two ‘establishmentarian’ Presidents, and a growing rift between the military and the politicians.

It also saw Pakistan reeling from a collapsing economy, ethnic violence and a more intense and ferocious rise of sectarian and sub-sectarian violence.

But did the MQM benefit from a tactic that it thought was a clever ploy?

No.

Instead, between 1992 and 1999, it faced at least three full-fledged operations by the military, para-military and police forces.

Its legitimate electoral rise, as well as its many illegitimate militant attributes began to be seen as parasitic and problematic by the government and the state and they set out to clear Karachi from this freakish political anomaly that, interestingly, was still an awkward enigma and hard to understand outside of Sindh and beyond the province’s troubled capital, Karachi.

A grandmother of a slain MQM worker wails over his body during the first operation against the party in 1992.

Contributing to this lack of understanding was not really the fact that (during the three operations against the MQM), the PPP and PML-N governments and state agencies had constantly highlighted only the more militant dimensions of the MQM through state-owned media.

What was more confusing to understand for those living outside of Sindh’s two largest cities, Karachi and Hyderabad, was the whole notion of ‘Mohajir nationalism’ upon which the MQM was founded and due to which it attracted support in the Mohajir-majority areas of Sindh.

After all, unlike the country’s four major ethnicities (Punjabi, Sindhi, Pukhtun and Baloch), the Urdu-speakers were not an ethnic whole with a shared history, culture, myths or, since a majority of Mohajirs had migrated from India to Pakistan, they were not ‘people of the soil.’

The two greatest waves of Mojairs (which in Urdu means refugees), that migrated to Pakistan after its creation in 1947 came from various parts of North India and East Punjab.

The Urdu-speakers among them mostly settled in Sindh, whereas the Punjabi-speakers entered the Pakistan side of Punjab.

The Urdu-speakers came from various parts of India that were distinct in their respective cultures. That’s why conceiving them as an ethnic whole was problematic and even improbable.

During the first two decades of Pakistan’s creation, the Urdu-speakers rose to become an integral part of the country’s initial elite classes (along with the Punjabis). But from the early 1960s onwards they were nudged out by the Pukhtuns in this respect and found themselves feeling scattered and lost.

Though socially their disposition was liberal, in the absence of having a cohesive ethnic identity in a country where ethnic politics was gaining strength, the Mohajirs politically aligned themselves with the conservative groups that were repulsed by ethnic politics and explained Pakistan as a united national entity held together by a common majority religion.

This arrangement lasted till the late 1970s and it was also the reason that had created the contradictory anomaly in Karachi that saw the liberal and cosmopolitan city of Karachi vote for right-wing religious and conservative parties in elections.

But all that began to change with the emergence of the MQM.

The Mohajir dichotomy between social liberalism and political conservatism was dissolved and replaced with a new identity-narrative concentrating on the formation of Mohajir nationalism that was socially and politically liberal but fiscally conservative and provincial in outlook.

The project was a success; first expressed in the manner the MQM broke the electoral hold of religious parties in Karachi and the subsequent invention of the Mohajirs of Sindh as a distinct ethnic group.

By 1992, the MQM had become Sindh’s second largest political party (second to the PPP).

A 1990s poster.

But as the city’s economics and resources continued to come under stress due to the increasing migration to the city from within Sindh, KP and the Punjab, corruption in the police and other government institutions operating in Karachi grew two-fold.

The need to use muscle to tilt the political and economic facets of the city towards a community’s interests became prominent.

Thus emerged the so-called militant wings in the city’s prominent political groups.

These cleavages saw the MQM ghettoising large swaths of the city’s Mohajirs in areas where it ruled supreme.

The results were disastrous. It replaced the pluralistic and enterprising disposition of the Mohajirs with a besieged mentality that expressed itself in an awkwardly violent manner attracting the concern and then the wrath of the state and two governments (in the 1990s).

In 2002, the MQM began to regenerate itself after the crises of the preceding decade when it decided to end hostilities with the state by allying itself with the General Musharraf dictatorship (1999-2008).

The party now added two more dimensions to Mohajir nationalism.

It began to explain the Mohajirs as ‘Urdu-speaking Sindhis’ who were connected to the Sindhi-speakers of the province in a spiritual bond emerging from the teachings of Sindh’s ‘patron saint’, Shah Abdul Latif.

This was MQM’s way of resolving the Mohajirs’ early failures to fully integrate into Sindhi culture.

The other dimension that emerged during this period among the Mohajir community (through the MQM), was to address the disposition of the Mohajir identity in the (urban) Mohajir-majority areas of Sindh.

This dimension explains Mohajir nationalism in the context of Pakistan’s status of being a Muslim-majority state.

It expresses Mohajir nationalism through a version of socio-political liberalism based on the modern reworking of 19th century ‘rational and progressive Islam’ (of the likes of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan). It sees spiritual growth as a consequence of material growth (derived from modern free enterprise, science, the arts and the consensual de-politicisation of faith).

An MQM rally in Karachi.

On the ground, MQM’s success as a constructive party during the Musharraf regime saw the party largely neutralising its so-called militant wings. But whereas this helped Karachi to enjoy a much-awaited spat of progress and peace during this period, it also opened up spaces for various other political groups to replace MQM’s hegemony in the city’s underbelly.

When the country’s economy began to slide again in 2007, the economic boom of the early 2000s in Karachi had already attracted an unprecedented number of migrants from the Punjab, KP and from within Sindh.

The gloss of Musharraf’s regime began to evaporate and Karachi’s resources once again came under duress.

A struggling legitimate economy again gave way to the dictates of the underbelly that was now populated by those who had begun to nudge out the MQM factor and hold over those instruments and businesses that the underbelly uses to draw money and political patronage in a collapsing economy.

The MQM’s response was one of panic and of a sudden realisation that the Mojair majority in Karachi had shrunk from being 51 per cent in 1981 to 48 per cent in 1998 to approximately 41 per cent in 2008.

Though the MQM was part of the PPP-led coalition government that followed Musharraf’s ouster, its street-power in the city had begun to be usurped by the more clandestine militant arms of the PPP and the Pukhtun nationalist party, the ANP. The ANP had become a minor force in Karachi because the Pukhtun population in Karachi now stood at about 20 per cent.

Desperate to regroup itself to retrieve what it had lost in the city’s underbelly during the Musharraf regime, the MQM behaved rather erratically as a coalition partner.

Then, after 2010, the situation in Karachi became even worse when sectarian and extremist organisations began to set up their own shady shops in the city.

The ANP’s influence was almost wiped out by the strong-armed tactics of these groups and the PPP’s elusive militant group began being ripped apart by vicious infighting.

As the more aggressive new entrants in Karachi’s underbelly continue to strengthen their hold over whatever assets and profits the city’s illegitimate sides have to offer, the MQM has gone into a tailspin.

Cracks have begun to appear within the party’s leadership. Some want it to continue evolving the way it was during the Musharraf regime, whereas some want it to revive itself as a purely Mohajir nationalist party.

The future of the party is at best uncertain, but not necessarily bleak. Because not only did it survive a decade of crackdowns in the 1990s, its electoral machine still seems well-oiled and highly functional.

MQM POPULAR SLOGANS WHO BETRAY ALTAF NEEDS TO BE KILLED

Abstarct from Article "Political Slogans in Pakistan by Nadia Khan":

MQM, in our national politics have coined number of political slogans to idolize Altaf Hussain, party’s founder, by coining & chanting Jeeya Altaf in the style of Jeeay Bhutto. As MQM lovers say that our sloganeering basically symbolizes the founder, conveys admiration for him and loyalty to Muhajir cause. Such slogans convey a lot more than hours long speeches or lengthy articles with true arguments. The activists of any political party wouldn’t work on their own unless they have been instructed to do so and MQM “fighters” are die hard lovers of Altaf Hussain, as their slogan is “Hum ko Manzil Nahee Rehnuma Chaheya” means we don’t need to achieve our goals; we need only a leader, is the guiding light for them or Quaid kay ferman pay jan bhee Qurban hay was a candle light for Muhajir activists.

However MQM critics say that you have not seen such an idiotic or funny slogan all the way in slogans history, which says that a leader is needed rather than the goals set by the party. Another view is that leader is having precedence over the targets. Or some analysts say that Muhajir community, who liked MQM only, will not accept anything without Altaf Bhai.

Few Karachi based political analysts did some analysis on to this slogan by extending it to the founder of Pakistan . If this slogan would have been there before partition in 1947 and common people used to say, “Hum ko Pakistan Nahee Quaid e Azam Chaheya” means we don’t need Pakistan ; we need Muhammad Ali Jinnah only. If it would have been the case then most likely, Quaid e Azam himself, should have asked his lovers to stop chanting this slogan.

They say that, no one in pre-partition India had raised any such slogan – we don’t need independence of India ; we need only Gandhi. Even the man with whom Altaf Hussain is inspired in his early political days – G M Syed; his followers, with so much love for Syed, didn’t raise any such slogan. Few say that this slogan is mostly the brain child of military dictators who are the true reflection of MQM’s this slogan such as Yahya Khan proved it with his actions that he doesn’t need Pakistan but his own self was more important than the country. Same is true in case of Musharraf when he was demolishing the institutions and tribal Pakistanis as he felt that his own personality (or his prolonged tenure of govt) is more important than Pakistan or Pakistanis.

Jo Quaid Ka Ghaddar Hay Wo Maut Ka Haqdarr hay, means anyone who betrays Altaf Hussain; only deserves death punishment was quite common among MQM activists during the days of 1992 Karachi Army Operation & there after. As there’s no election mechanism within MQM, the loyalty with Altaf Hussain is trend-setter in the party to gain benefits, national or provincial assemblies’ seats tickets or minister ships portfolios. I believe that within this context this slogan appears to be a practical approach for MQM activists!

Beside that, Karachi residents are aware of few other slogans such as MuhajirouN kay teen Ghaddar – Mir Jaffer, Mir Sadiq, and Mir Khalil ur Rehman. This means there have been three traitors within the Muhajir community, Mir Jaffer who betrayed Muslim Indian ruler Siraj ud Daula during war of Plassey, Mir Sadiq who betrayed Shaheed Tipu Sultan and the founder of Jang group, Mir Khalil ur Rehman. Probably it is assumed that Jang group had betrayed Altaf Hussain, being a Muhajir, by not publishing his photo at his desired place. This was chanted by MQM activists when Jang group of news papers had refused to publish Altaf Hussain’s photo on to the front page of daily Jang, an Urdu newspaper, near the main headline.

It is still in memory of many Karachi residents that they have seen number of banners hoisted in district central where a welcoming note for Altaf Hussain birthday celebration mentioning him as Mohsin e Insaneeyat Ko Salgirah Mubarak means happy birthday to the well wisher of humanity. Whole world knows that this title in Urdu language is meant for last Holy Prophet Muhammad Sallahu Alihay wassallum (peace be upon him) and no one attributed after him for same!

Until recently, MQM’s new slogan Karachi Kis Ka – MQM Ka, means who is the owner of Karachi - that’s MQM, had raised major concerns for other communities residing in the city such as Pathans, who own most of the transport business in the city. 

Lawyers’ movement, beside its success, had brought number of literary things such as poetry, poems from Aitazaz Ahsan, and slogans against ex-President Pervaiz Musharraf when he sacked the Chief Justice. Go Musharraf go was quite famous and repeatedly chanted against him in almost all the functions. When it came to docking off Army Chief Uniform, the popular Punjabi slogan Chacha Wardee Lahenda Kioun Naiee, Pension lay kay janda kioun naiee?as asking why Uncle Musharraf is not docking off his uniform and why he is going away by taking his retirement pension, chanted by lawyers had stir the environment.

The lovers of Ali Ahmed Kurd used to chant Dekho dekhko Koun Aaya – Sheer aya sheer aya upon his arrival in lawyers processions.
Communist and Mazdoor Kissan Party (CMKP) workers after the incident of 12^th May 2007 in their rallies were using this new slogan against the MQM. It was extremely popular in the rally in front of the Supreme Court building:

Yeh MQM kya hai...MAFIA
Altaf ka yeh...Mafia
Musharraf ka yeh..Mafia
Jarnailon ka yeh...Mafia

Khoonkharon ka yeh..Mafia
Nafrat ka hai yeh..Mafia
Fasciston ka yeh...Mafia
Zaalimon ka hai yeh...Mafia

Yeh MQM kya hai....Mafia
Har zaalim ka yeh..Mafia
Har jaabir ka yeh....Mafia
Makkaaron ka yeh...Mafia
Ghaddaaron ka yeh...Mafia

Altaf Hussain plans to divide Sindh

The people whom Sindh protected once they migrated to Sindh capital is now demanding the Division of Sindh.They helped those people once they had nothing.They did not sacrificed there lives for Pakistan.The areas adjoining the Indian Punjab Amritsar-Gurdaspur had a miserable story of Migration.They wera also Muahjir or New settlers.
They were more learned then the other Pakistani They become the Leaders of this country and then they become a part of Establishment and they did a lot of un-justice to Sindh depriving its Rural Areas by not sharing any funds and making them poorer.
The majority of these so called settlers come into Pakistan during the days of there Leaders Liaquat Ali-Khan.The man was not seen as a realisitic secular in the eyes of Jinnah the Founder of Pakistan.He openly become Angry with a Leader a government employee Ayub Khoro when he tried to stop the massacre of Hindus He said why you tried to stop the Looters from killing the Hindu when many Muslims are being killed in India.
Liaquat Ali-Khan was the man who allowed Migration of these people to Sindh in 1956 after the creation of Pakistan.These become a part of this country and the new establishment was being made which with the Help of Army ruled the country.
Sindhi will never allow division of Sindh.The major parties all over Pakistan are very un-happy due to there constant Black-Mail.They have just 17 Votes in a Parliament of 346 and they broke every Government.
They took fights with Sindhi and killed thousands of them.Then they took the revenge against Punjabi.Then Pashtoons and in the last Baluch.
The time has come when the Pakistan nation must unite against the ugliest plans of this Organization that will bring more Terrorism then the world can handle.

TERRORISM BY A PAKISTAN PARTY MQM

http://tune.pk/video/54009/12th-May-detailed-report-proof-of-MQM-terrorism-live-on-TV

A TERRORIST ORGANISATION OF PAKISTAN MQM SPONSORED BY BRITISH

MQM – A terroristoutfit and the nextMukti Bahini in themaking

MQM Terrorism by Terminal X

Altaf demands demolition of Lal Masjid, Jamia Hafsa

2007: Altaf demands demolition of Lal Masjid, Jamia Hafsa

  KARACHI: Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain on Sunday demanded of President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to get Lal Masjid and the Jamia Hafsa vacated from the “Mullahs” who were trying to enforce what he called “Kalashnikov and Danda Bardar Shariah”. Addressing a huge protest rally in the evening, Altaf described it as a “tide of moderate Muslims against religious fanaticism” and warned of “Dama Dam Mast Qalandar” if the mosque and the seminary were not vacated. The rally, which was organised by the Muttahida’s Coordination Committee, started from Gurumandar and terminated at Tibet Centre. Tens of thousands of people, waving party flags and chanting slogans against “Kalashnikov and Danda Bardar Shariah”, participated in the rally. Altaf lamented that the Jamia Hafsa students and the Lal Masjid clerics were burning video cassettes shops and threatening their owners to switch over to other businesses and bullying women to give up driving. “These are not only un-Islamic but also barbaric acts,” he said, adding that “this is against the spirit of Islam, which teaches humility and tolerance.” On his call a number of religious scholars, including Aun Muhammad Naqvi, Shah Sirajul Haq Qadri, Asas Abdullah Farooqi and Alama Asad Deobandi, announced over the public address system that Islam forbids building mosques on illegally occupied land, and praying there or imparting Islamic teachings at these mosques is un-Islamic. The Muttahida chief claimed that Lal Masjid and the Jamia Hafsa are built on illegally occupied land. He asked the Ulema of different schools of thought who were present at the rally about the status of the mosque. And they said offering prayers at such places is “Haram” in Islam. Altaf said the two buildings were illegal and should be demolished. Altaf appealed to all the “Ulema-e-Haq” to appear on TV and radio and issue edicts against “Jamia Hafsa women and those masquerading as guardians of Islam at Lal Masjid.” “Had Imam Abu Hanifa, Imam Shaafai, Imam Hambal, Imam Malik or Imam Jaffar Sadiq ever used batons or swords to enforce their interpretation of the Holy Qur’aan and Hadith, he asked, and said: “There is no evidence of use of force in Islam.” The Muttahida chief said Sunday’s mammoth rally, attended by a large number of people from all over the country and Azad Kashmir, was a referendum against the “Kalashnikov and Danda Bardar Shariah”. He advised “the so-called Mullahs not to confront the Muttahida” or else “be ready to face the music”. “This is not Islamabad, this is Karachi where the 98 per cent middle class people live, and they are ready to stand up against the Kalashnikov Shariah.” He announced that the Muttahida would extend all-out cooperation to the “Ulema-e-Haq,” who would raise their voice against the “Ulema-e-Soo”. “Let me make it clear that the Muttahida is not against the Madrassas which are teaching modern technology as well as Islamic education, but we are against those seminaries which are teaching extremism and terrorism.” Referring to a pamphlet of the Lal Masjid and Jamia Hafsa, which threatened throwing acid on women who were found driving, Altaf warned that the Muttahida members would protect their mothers and sisters and cut off the hands of those who throw acid on women in Karachi. He said these Ulema wanted to push the country back to the Stone Age but the Muttahida wanted that each and every person in this country is free to acquire education — religious as well as modern technology. He criticised the Jamaat-e-Islami Amir Qazi Hussain Ahmed. For the first time Altaf referred to Naib Amir of the Jamaat-e-Islami, Professor Ghafoor Ahmed, and said he could never become the JI Amir, therefore, “I invite him to join the Muttahida”. The Muttahida chief said his party firmly believed that the minorities be considered as equal citizens of the country.

THE INVOLVEMENT OF UK IN PAKISTAN POLITICS.THE MAN RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING OF THOUSAND IN PAKISTAN IS A BRITISH CITIZEN.

THE INVOLVEMENT OF UK IN PAKISTAN POLITICS.THE MAN RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING OF THOUSAND IN PAKISTAN IS A BRITISH CITIZEN.

PROTECTED BY MI IT RAISES QUESTION WHERE ARE THE MONEY LAUNDERING CASES WHERE IS JUSTICE

Karachi violence, over 100 dead

By Shaheryar Popalzai / Atika Rehman / Gibran Ashraf

Published: July 9, 2011

Pakistan ordered 1,000 extra troops to deploy in the southern port city with shoot to kill instructions, after 65 people were killed since July 5, in the deadliest six months of political violence since 1995. PHOTO: AFP

KARACHI: More than 100 people have been killed during the last four days in an ongoing wave of violence that has hit Karachi and paralysed life in the port city. While President Zardari has ordered the commissionerate system to be restored in Karachi.

The violence continued on the fourth day even as the city bore a deserted look following a call by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to observe a ‘black day’ on Friday in honour of those killed in the violence.

At a high level meeting in Islamabad, President Asif Ali Zardari ordered that the commissionerate system in Karachi be restored. While Manzoor Wasan was made the new Sindh Home Minister.

The MQM opposed the move and said they would protest the revival of commissionerate system in the assembly.

Sindh Rangers had received a written notification for taking charge of the troubled areas, to conduct operations and take all ‘necessary’ actions to restore peace.  Meanwhile, the police said that they had arrested over 100 people in connection with the ongoing violence in the city.

A Rangers spokesperson said that they will be undertaking operations in the troubled areas with police providing back-up.

Along with the expected arrival of 1000 FC personnel to beef up security, 1000 policemen from Interior Sindh had also been summoned to add steel to the ongoing security efforts in the city.

End of live updates.

01:30am

Late on Friday, as Sindh’s new home minister visited Karachi, at least eight more lives were lost to the 4 day long wave of target killings while nearly a dozen reported wounded. According to reports a driver was killed while six, including two women, were injured in an attack on a bus near Hassan square in PIB colony. Reports of sporadic killings in new town, baldia town, lines area and Kati pahari were received as well.

As far as 1500 rangers personnel had repeatedly tried to enter the Kati pahari area to conduct an operation and rescue affected families but to no avail.

11:30pm

Karachi’s police chief said that they did not have enough armoured personnel carriers and other equipment to efficiently carry out operations. However, the police will take stricter action against criminals.

Capital City Police Officer, Saud Mirza, while talking to The Express Tribune said that as many as one thousand policemen from interior Sindh had also been called in to help control the law and order situation in the city.

He added that more than one hundred miscreants had been arrested over the past two days, while two miscreants were killed in Pak Colony during an encounter.

The promised FC regiments was expected to be deployed in the city over the next day or two.

A Rangers spokesman told The Express Tribune that Rangers jurisdiction had been extended to the affected areas of the city.He said that Rangers were preparing to conducting overnight operations especially in the affected areas of the city.

He said that the Rangers would be leading the operations, while the police would provide backup. He said that the Rangers have also increased patrolling and snap checking in entire city and flag marches had also been started in the city.

He said that the operation would be initiated at any time.

10:30pm

According to sources the Sindh Government has given special powers to the rangers to restore peace in Karachi.

After receiving the written orders on Friday, heavy contigents of rangers reached the most affected area of Kati Pahari.

Using armoured vehicles rangers took out the women and children confined in their houses and shifted them to safe places.

Sources also said that the rangers have been given the task to restore peace by any means necessary.

9:30pm

President Asif Ali Zardari issued orderes to restore the commissioner system in Karachi.

The decision was taken at a high level meeting in Islamabad which also proposed amendments to the local bodies system.

Meanwhile, the MQM has opposed this decision. Raza Haroon said that MQM will oppose it in the assembly.

The meeting, which included Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Zulfiqar Mirza among security officials.

It is also believed Manzoor Wasan will be asked to take charge as the Home Minister of Sindh.

9:00pm

Express 24/7 correspondent Shaheryar Mirza reported that the overall death toll from four days of violence in the city had reached 95.

The police and rangers were currently evacuating families from the troubled area where intermittent firing was still going on as dusk fell, Mirza reported.

He said that one by one, police and rangers armoured vehicles would venture in to Qasba colony and extract estranged families. These families were then dropped off at Shahrah-e-Noorjehan. Police had promised them protection and the provision of food and other items, however thin deployment of law enforcement agencies meant the families extracted only got a ride out of the troubled area.

He reported that heavy firing was continuing in Metroville area.

8:45pm

The Karachi University has postponed all exams for Saturday.

A Karachi University spokesperson said that all examinations scheduled for Saturday had been postponed and new dates will be announced at a later time.

Meanwhile, Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah said that the situation in Karachi has begun to improve.

8:15pm

President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani are holding a meeting to discuss the situation in Karachi.

According to sources, the future of Zulfiqar Mirza was also discussed and it is believed that the Sindh Home minister will be given an ‘important’ role in the province.

Earlier, Interior Minister Rehman Malik briefed President Zardari over the situation in Karachi.

8:00pm

The Sindh coordinator for the ANP, Shahi Syed addressed a press conference at Mardan House. He urged the media to objectively report over the recent killings, naming the areas where the murders have taken place and what reports have been filed with the police.

He said that Rehman Malik had not contacted the ANP during his emergency visit to Karachi. On the other hand, he said that the ANP Sindh chapter was in contact with the Chief Minister.

Syed said that the ANP did not believe violence was the answer and would not want to take up guns. However, their patience was running out.

Responding to questions on whether the 1000 FC personnel promised by the Interior Minister would help solve the situation in Karachi, he said that without empowerment, no institution could be successful in tackling the problem. “If the Rangers are properly empowered, then peace can be established”.

However he maintained that government’s writ was not visible on the streets of Karachi.

Shahi Syed called for a weapons-free Karachi as a solution to the repeated episodes of violence in the port city.

He also urged ANP workers to remain calm.

7:35pm

President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI) Muhammad Saeed Shafiq told PPI that the local business community is suffering a loss of Rs2.7 billion a day due to the ongoing violence.

“How can one expect the boost economy And improve living standard of Karachiites when law and order is worsening with each passing day?” said Shafiq.

Citing an estimate, he said Rs7 million loss was suffered by petroleum industry in Karachi on average strike day.

7:15pm

Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan has said that the PPP, MQM and ANP are responsible for the ongoing violence in the city and that the parties would have to arrest their own workers to control the situation.

Opposition leader in Sindh Assembly, Jam Madad Ali says the government has failed to restore peace in the city. He said that the interior minister knew who was responsible for violence in the city and that bringing in the FC will not restore peace in the city.

6:45pm

Express 24/7 correspondent, Shaheryar Mirza reports an operation is currently underway at Kati Pahari.

6:35pm

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and MQM have submitted a joint requisition for calling a National Assembly session on the deteriorating law and order situation in Karachi.

The requisition calls for a debate on the worsening condition in the city and failure of the law enforcement agencies in maintaining peace in the city.

6:00pm

Express 24/7 correspondent, Shaheryar Mirza reports firing has not stopped in Qasba Colony despite two police trucks arriving in the area.

Residents in the area are saying gunmen have started going into houses and are shooting people and setting houses on fire. Firing and screaming can be heard in the area, reports Mirza.

5:40pm

Radio Pakistan has started special broadcasts to meet challenges rising out of the ongoing violence in the city, PPI reported.

In case of emergency, people can call 021-99232096 and 021-99230464 for assistance. The helpline will communicate difficulties being faced by the people to the concerned departments.

5:20pm

Thirteen people have been injured as a result of firing in Old Sabzi Mandi and Qasba Colony.

Anwer Kazmi, who works for Pakistan’s largest charity, the Edhi Foundation, said it was difficult to deliver food and water because of incessant gunfire.

“Seven of our ambulances have been fired on so far and one of our volunteers has been shot and injured,” he told AFP.

Local residents in troubled neighbourhoods spoke of their fear, saying they were running out of supplies and could do little but cower at home.

“The walls of my house are riddled with bullets. Many of our household items have been destroyed. Most of time we duck inside the house to save ourselves from frequent volleys of bullets,” said Akber Khan from Orangi neighbourhood.

“We are so afraid. We haven’t slept for nights. One day I was on my balcony, when some bullets were fired at our house, Allah saved me. I haven’t been on the balcony since,” said third-grade student Shaista Ahmed, eight.

“Most people in our neighbourhood are short of food and water. Our children are hungry and thirsty,” fellow resident Mohammad Imran also told AFP, as gunfire could be heard in the background down the telephone line.

Witnesses said many people have started fleeing troubled neighbourhoods to stay with relatives in safer areas.

The worst affected areas are impoverished, thickly populated neighbourhoods in the western part of the city, dotted with construction sites where armed men of different ethnicities are exchanging gunfire.

4:05pm

Malik said both the MQM and ANP had identified troubled areas and the government will focus on these spots after verification.

He said that well trained FC personnel have been called in from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The interior minister said the government was using Google maps to identify troubled areas. He said the law enforcement personnel have been ordered to take action against miscreants regardless of their party affiliation.

He said an operation will soon be launched and no media personnel will allowed in those areas due to safety reasons.

4:00pm

The interior minister said miscreants were using children and the elderly for protection and police was taking action against them.

He said out of the arrested very few had political affiliation.

Malik said the late night operation could not be launched properly due to power cuts in the city.

3:45pm

Interior Minister Rehman Malik is addressing the media in Karachi.

Malik has said that 89 people have been arrested since targeted operations were launched last night. He said out of the arrested 12 were found to be Urdu-speaking, 19 Pakhtun and 3 Baloch.

3:30pm

Irfan Aligi reports that people with injured relatives have been forced to stay at hospitals due to nonavailability of  transport and heavy firing in different areas.

Aligi also reports that Bacha Khan flyover, Kati Pahari and Bab-e-Khyber in Metrovile have become volatile areas for those using public transport.

3:20pm

Four shops have been set on fire in Paan Mandi and Khara areas.

Two police trucks have arrived in Qasba Colony, reports Express 24/7correspondent Shaheryar Mirza.

An MQM and ANP leader were involved in a heated debate on a television channel and blamed each other for the ongoing violence in the city.

3:15pm

Irfan Aligi reports sources have said the MQM has issued stern directives to all unit and sector incharge to stay vigilant in their respective areas.

Special watchmen teams have been formed to guard areas adjacent to affected localities.

Aligi reports that people in different areas did not offer prayers atjamia masjids and either stayed home or went to smaller mosques in the vicinity of their residences.

Attendance is low at the offices of City District Government Karachi (CDGK), Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and Karachi Water & Sewerage Board (KWSB).

Aligi also reports that town level offices remained open but with very low attendance.

3:05pm

“This can be summed up in five words – a turf war between political parties,” security analyst Imtiaz Gul told Reuters.

“This is a turf war between the MQM, and ANP and the PPP, for territory – for political space in this big city.”

2:50 pm

The Express Tribune reporter Saba Imtiaz says that the Sindh Rangers have arrived in Joona Market. Gunfire has reportedly stopped.

Here’s the Twitter update:

arafattehsin Black sheep in media are just ranting around for their own good, so are political parties. #Karachi

zehrarizvi Annoying that stories about Karachi violence (very city specific–political and ethnic) end with something about the Taliban…NOT RELATED!

anushkabelle i have never seen Karachi this empty and sad before. its about time all political parties came together and saved #Karachi for a change

SaifQuadri Why is #Karachi in such bad shape??? :(

Saba_Imtiaz Right, felt like that last volley went off right next to us.

saadbinshahid A CNBC reporter puts it very well,”Not humans but humanity is being killed in #Karachi“

sohails1977 I wish we could have every day in Karachi so quiet and calm like today…of course…minus the violence…well…just a wish!!!

2:40 pm

Express 24/7 correspondent Shaheryar Mirza reports that 89 suspects have been  arrested in Karachi by police.

Mirza reports that 20 pistols and one kalashnikov have also been seized, and that there are raids taking place in three zones of Karachi according to IG Sindh.

Mirza added that firing resumed again as about four shots are fired in Qasba Colony at the Gazzafi Chowk.

2:20pm

Irfan Aligi reports the Awami National Party has claimed that 161 families have been forced to migrate from District East areas, including Korangi, Shah Faisal Colony and Malir to Pushtoon dominated areas.

Sources have said the MQM is gathering data of people who have been forced to migrate to safer areas and is making arrangements for rations and other essential commodities.

2:10pm

The Express Tribune‘s Saba Imtiaz reports that there has been a volley of gunfire in Juna Market.

Twitter buzz:

YusraSAskari I hate strife induced long weekends even more! RT @sanakazmi: i hate long weekends.

Saba_Imtiaz Karachi’s cameramen and photogs are pulling off some heroic stuff today.

thekarachikid Karachi is a complete ghost town today. Well, at least this part of it.http://ow.ly/i/e2aI& http://ow.ly/i/e2aL & http://ow.ly/i/e2aQ

hiranajam wow Karachi, talk about being deserted.

2:05pm

Irfan Aligi reports load-shedding has worsened in some areas. A high tension electricity cable has fallen on the street in Qasba Colony.

A police officer has said that he has not been able to go on duty for the last three days as a result of heavy cross firing. He says rations have finished and all markets in the area are closed.

Aligi spoke to another resident in the area who said that families were being forced to migrate to safer areas. He said people will be forced to become IDPs and take shelter in refugee camps if the situation did improve.

1:45pm

The Express Tribune’s Irfan Aligi has reported that the MQM is expected to announce a new schedule for the protest rally and MQM MPAs are also expected to submit an adjournment motion in the Sindh Assembly tomorrow (Saturday). The rally was postponed as a result of situation in the city.

Residents of violence hit areas have started fleeing to homes of relatives located in nearby areas.

There is a shortage of flour, milk and other cooking items in Qasba Colony.

Aligi reported an MQM MPA, under police cover, had fetched rations for people in affected areas. Residents have said more ration is required.

Twitter buzz:

MatthewGreenFT Karachi getting uglier, residents reporting killings in neighbourhoods that have been peaceful in previous bouts of violence

jahanarawattoo Karachi has become Titanic, but whoever doing this, its really not worth it over so many dead bodies

saadbinshahid Inshallah ~ A day will come, when there will be all good in Karachi and all of us will live here happily after forever.

smitaprakash Appeal to maintain peace in Karachi has come in from Amb Munter (via @YusraSAskari ) Where are the PM and President? Any statements?

1:00pm

MQM has cancelled the protest rally which was to be taken out from Karachi Press Club to the Chief Minister House.

12:20pm

Express 24/7 correspondent, Shaheryar Mirza reports fighting has spread to different parts of the city, including Kharadar, Banaras, Kati Pahari, SITE, Baldia Town and Korangi.

Miscreants are reportedly firing from the rooftops and windows of houses in different areas.

“What good is a day of mourning? We haven’t had any food, water or petrol in the last three days,” a resident of Qasba Colony said in response to the MQM call for a day of mourning.

There are no reports of Rangers or Police conducting raids. Police is yet to enter some neighbourhoods.

Twitter buzz:

Razarumi Shame on the political parties, their death squads and gangs in #Karachi which are killing poor innocent citizens of this wretched country

ammaryasir Situation in Karachi is all time worse in recent times but running tickers like: Khi main khoon ki holi etc is only sensationalizing news.

kashaziz Why Dr. Ishrat ul Ibad left Karachi for Dubai as soon as he resigned as Governor Sindh?

bilalshaw Dont you think that the citizens of Karachi must remove the flags of different political parties from the roof..

farrukhahmed no rain, no business, no traffic, no light! Karachi

BinaShah Oh, Karachi, my love.

jahanarawattoo Karachi has become Titanic, but whoever doing this, its really not worth it over so many dead bodies

12:00pm

Three people have been killed near Hassan Square and Sabzi Mandi.

The Embassy of the United States in Pakistan has expressed concern over the escalating violence in Karachi

A statement released by US ambassador, Cameron Munter, called on all parties to refrain from further violence and work towards a peaceful resolution.

Twitter buzz:

tasnimfatima We are sick of being shut down every now and then !

khan_maaz Only if the political parties understand the cost of a strike… Karachi

Pin drop silence in a commercial area Karachi

mirza9 Death toll is increasing by the half hour, impossible to keep up. going to stop updating the death toll. crossed 85 now Karachi

Aadill If there is no writ of the government, and it is the case, Army should be called up to restore the order in Karachi.

11:35am

The Karachi transporters union, traders association and several petrol pump owners have announced a strike to protest the ongoing violence.

More than 90 percent of the petrol pumps in the city have shut down,Express 24/7 reports.

Major markets are also shut down in the city.

Transporters are complaining the government is not providing them enough security.

Twitter buzz:

Saba_Imtiaz Abdul Sattar Edhi appeals for calm as the city goes up in flames. Again. Dozens of their ambulances have been fired on.

AndieDeArment sad for Karachi today but always amazed by the resilience of the city & its people

RiazToori Prez Asif Ali #Zardari further directed all concerned 2 deal sternly with criminal elements regardless of political affiliations in Karachi

baylinveil Ethnic violence in Karachi, offices closed, long weekend. This feels like, well, all of my childhood except I’m not excited about it anymore

Hafsa_Khawaja To say our hearts bleed for Karachi, would be an understatement. Whats the solution to its situation other than massive deweaponization?

NadeemfParacha Karachi quiet. But more birds in the sky than usual. Chalo, something good coming from a strike that’s not a strike is a strike.

shyyawn Any updates on the Karachi situation. Do we go to offices normally or should we wait and see? What’s the scene out there?

Saba_Imtiaz Very little traffic on the roads. Cabbie says he was stopped by some men on Shahrah-e-Faisal and told not go further.

11:20am

Heavy contingents of police have been deployed in Baldia Town, Ghousia Mohalla and Muslim Mujahid Colony.

All shops and markets in Hyderabad and interior Sindh have been shut down.

Security forces are set to launch a crackdown against miscreants but no arrests have been made so far.

11:16am

Eleven people have been killed overnight.

One person was killed in North Karachi and a body was found from Soldier market.

Two people were killed in Orangi Town, one person was shot dead in Joriya Bazaar, two in Kharadar, two in Qasba Colony, one near Kati Pahari and two people, including a 6-year old boy, were killed in New Karachi and Baldia Town.

A slideshow of pictures from Karachi on Friday can