From May 8, 2002, when a bus attack in Karachi, killed 11 Frenchmen and two locals, there have been a series of events, almost like the domino effect, of terrorist attacks. Many have been killed, and even more have been wounded, and these were the people who were not in the remotest sense connected to anything that would cause controversy.
Things started becoming worse with the June car bomb blast the same year, which exploded near the heavily guarded US Consulate killing 12 people and wounding over 50.
But these terrorist incidents are not new to this multicultural terror struck city. Karachi has been experiencing political upheaval on the basis of almost every kind of terrorism since back in the early 70s, when Z. A Bhutto became Prime Minister, and the Sindhi resistance against Karachi’s Mohajir enclave became stronger. In the long term what followed was a tug of war of power between the Mohajir community and the others, which took a solidly ethnic turn especially after the MQM was born.
The army then, sick of patronizing the MQM, and now wanting to weaken it, helped build a base of the MQM’s newest foe the Haqiqi group, who were regarded as dissidents of the Altaf group.
Nevertheless, these were, unlike the MQM (A), without any political goal and based themselves on extorting money from neighborhoods and spreading nothing but hostility, so they did not receive any popularity among the masses. The situation developed onwards till 1996, after which the city faced a cooling down period.
Now after the latest government has assumed power, attempting to promote peace and harmony, along with other elements important for a stable state, since 2002, there have been at least two bombings every year only in Karachi, which is the most sensitive city in Pakistan. The targeted bomb blasts have been alleged to have links with Al Qaeda, but there have been others that have been the work of banned sectarian organizations, such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. In fact, credible sources report that the city police are worried about there being links with the Abdullah Mehsud group from Afghanistan as well.
The biggest suicide bombing took place last year, at the Nishtar Park, and was thought to be a clash between the Wahabi and Barelvi schools of Islamic thought. 60 people were killed in it, including leaders. Then came the killing of the Shia leader Allama Hasan Turabi.
In this entire game of death, played between the leaders of various organizations, and in some militant group’s attempt to show that the current government is incapable of maintaining peace in the metropolis, it is the common man who is caught in the web, and pulled in towards his death.
Surprisingly as many would think, the people of Karachi have not shown themselves to be suffering from mass paranoia, even after this newest series of suicide bombings in the past few years. In fact, there is a running emotion, or perhaps better put, lack of emotion in the entire scenario.
One would think that the entire city would be enveloped in a shroud of fear: fear of stepping out of their houses, fear of going to any kind of public place, in short fear of almost everything. That is not wholly incorrect insofar as stepping out into the crowd is concerned.
Sajida a housewife, claims she is not scared of anything but once she starts thinking about the possibility of what might occur, she could be fearful for everything.
“If I start thinking about things that may happen, about the crime scene in Karachi, I will be scared even when I am in bed, in my own house. So I try not to think of these things. Keeping that in mind, I don’t feel scared of anything as such.”
But Abdul Rehman, a clerk shows a slight level of mistrust, and says that ever since the suicide-bombing trend has started, he is fearful of going out into public places.
“Once upon a time, the only thing we could feel scared about was open firing, but even that would have some kind of a personal vendetta attached to it,” he says, “Now this new trend of bombing, is too much to take. I cannot come to terms with it.”
Perhaps this seemingly paranoid situation is only among some people. The rest happen not to tilt to such an extensive degree.
“I’m not scared when I’m alone, or at a private place,” says Zeeshan, a student, “I do however feel scared when I’m at a crowded place, where I might think a bomb blast may occur, such as the railway station. I travel quite a lot using trains so I feel that whenever I am sitting at the platform waiting for my train.”
Others have completely given up control over their lives.
Mehmood, a paan seller, says that he doesn’t care about what happens, as such, as ‘his life is in God’s hands’. He thinks the whole game is about religious differences, and that there are groups that target each other for these personal differences.
Babu, a Rickshaw driver agrees.
“I work all day, but I’m not really scared of bomb blasts. What worries me more is a hold up, and me losing my day’s earnings. Otherwise, I hardly think about these things. If I have to die, I’ll die.”
The emotion showed by these people, most of which belong to the comparatively lower socio-economic classes, and who comprise the masses of Karachi’s population, points towards a trend that spells out disconnection or more appropriately, alienation. Perhaps it is lack of awareness that has led to this kind of emotion, but in general this may not be the exact cause. The reason is, Karachi becomes a chaotic mess whenever a blast occurs where dozens are killed. The general population is aware of what has happened, and many do react violently.
But when a bomb explodes and no one is killed, even though the media airs many opinions concerning the involved group, or several programs are shown where the situation is analysed, there is still a general indifference shown by the public. Therefore, the indifference is not in common the result of a lack of awareness.
On the other hand, this indifference is not present a little up the socio-economic ladder.
Kashif and his wife, who occasionally go to local hotels, for an exhibition, openly showed their fear. They say, they cannot rest in ease when they are present in such a place. In fact, they use the phrase “intense fear” to describe their state of mind at almost all times, when in public places.
Khalida Ashraf who has come to Karachi for a vacation too, was afraid of what could happen any time. “We put our lives at stake to come to this city, because no one knows what might happen next. She says, that in her opinion, such killings are political in nature, but it is the innocent people who are killed.
Another man, who wished to remain anonymous said, he was struck with trepidation every time he visited a local hotel in Karachi, because the last time, there was a bomb blast, which had killed a US envoy, he had left the place only an hour ago, so he could have very well been someone affected by it. He remains pessimistic about the situation saying nothing could be done to straighten it, and perhaps many other attacks on the top leaders of Pakistan, have been staged in order to gain sympathy, and to clear their own way.
Salman Haq, and Hissam Yusuf, however, remain unaffected.
“We were born and bred in Karachi, and we were always taught to never see the other person as a ‘different being’ regardless of his sex, his religion or his caste. For us everything may as well be an adventure, including life itself,” they say.
But they do agree that in Karachi a common trend of alienation has begun, where the person on the road has become immune to these things.
“It [terror] has happened to such an extent, that it has lost its effect. Now most people don’t even blink an eye when such a thing happens. But that is not to say that they don’t sympathise with it. It’s just that they are not scared anymore.”
Even someone with as sensitive a job as a valet in one of the hotels has not let his job go. He prefers to remain insensitive to any kind of potential threat rather than give up his well-paid job.
The running emotions that Karachi faces, is not just pathetic, it is also worrisome. To say that Karachi has been through such trauma, and the people have now been caught up in a web of both paranoia and indifference, brings up a situation, that simply shows that the city is going through a process of depoliticisation, and alienation and where it will all end no one knows.
The city is the victim of rape and torture, and has still not recovered from it. There is nothing of the sort, which is showing any kind of sign in which Karachiites might return to their state of vitality and once again, feel. There is in fact nothing but mass numbness.
Things started becoming worse with the June car bomb blast the same year, which exploded near the heavily guarded US Consulate killing 12 people and wounding over 50.
But these terrorist incidents are not new to this multicultural terror struck city. Karachi has been experiencing political upheaval on the basis of almost every kind of terrorism since back in the early 70s, when Z. A Bhutto became Prime Minister, and the Sindhi resistance against Karachi’s Mohajir enclave became stronger. In the long term what followed was a tug of war of power between the Mohajir community and the others, which took a solidly ethnic turn especially after the MQM was born.
The army then, sick of patronizing the MQM, and now wanting to weaken it, helped build a base of the MQM’s newest foe the Haqiqi group, who were regarded as dissidents of the Altaf group.
Nevertheless, these were, unlike the MQM (A), without any political goal and based themselves on extorting money from neighborhoods and spreading nothing but hostility, so they did not receive any popularity among the masses. The situation developed onwards till 1996, after which the city faced a cooling down period.
Now after the latest government has assumed power, attempting to promote peace and harmony, along with other elements important for a stable state, since 2002, there have been at least two bombings every year only in Karachi, which is the most sensitive city in Pakistan. The targeted bomb blasts have been alleged to have links with Al Qaeda, but there have been others that have been the work of banned sectarian organizations, such as Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. In fact, credible sources report that the city police are worried about there being links with the Abdullah Mehsud group from Afghanistan as well.
The biggest suicide bombing took place last year, at the Nishtar Park, and was thought to be a clash between the Wahabi and Barelvi schools of Islamic thought. 60 people were killed in it, including leaders. Then came the killing of the Shia leader Allama Hasan Turabi.
In this entire game of death, played between the leaders of various organizations, and in some militant group’s attempt to show that the current government is incapable of maintaining peace in the metropolis, it is the common man who is caught in the web, and pulled in towards his death.
Surprisingly as many would think, the people of Karachi have not shown themselves to be suffering from mass paranoia, even after this newest series of suicide bombings in the past few years. In fact, there is a running emotion, or perhaps better put, lack of emotion in the entire scenario.
One would think that the entire city would be enveloped in a shroud of fear: fear of stepping out of their houses, fear of going to any kind of public place, in short fear of almost everything. That is not wholly incorrect insofar as stepping out into the crowd is concerned.
Sajida a housewife, claims she is not scared of anything but once she starts thinking about the possibility of what might occur, she could be fearful for everything.
“If I start thinking about things that may happen, about the crime scene in Karachi, I will be scared even when I am in bed, in my own house. So I try not to think of these things. Keeping that in mind, I don’t feel scared of anything as such.”
But Abdul Rehman, a clerk shows a slight level of mistrust, and says that ever since the suicide-bombing trend has started, he is fearful of going out into public places.
“Once upon a time, the only thing we could feel scared about was open firing, but even that would have some kind of a personal vendetta attached to it,” he says, “Now this new trend of bombing, is too much to take. I cannot come to terms with it.”
Perhaps this seemingly paranoid situation is only among some people. The rest happen not to tilt to such an extensive degree.
“I’m not scared when I’m alone, or at a private place,” says Zeeshan, a student, “I do however feel scared when I’m at a crowded place, where I might think a bomb blast may occur, such as the railway station. I travel quite a lot using trains so I feel that whenever I am sitting at the platform waiting for my train.”
Others have completely given up control over their lives.
Mehmood, a paan seller, says that he doesn’t care about what happens, as such, as ‘his life is in God’s hands’. He thinks the whole game is about religious differences, and that there are groups that target each other for these personal differences.
Babu, a Rickshaw driver agrees.
“I work all day, but I’m not really scared of bomb blasts. What worries me more is a hold up, and me losing my day’s earnings. Otherwise, I hardly think about these things. If I have to die, I’ll die.”
The emotion showed by these people, most of which belong to the comparatively lower socio-economic classes, and who comprise the masses of Karachi’s population, points towards a trend that spells out disconnection or more appropriately, alienation. Perhaps it is lack of awareness that has led to this kind of emotion, but in general this may not be the exact cause. The reason is, Karachi becomes a chaotic mess whenever a blast occurs where dozens are killed. The general population is aware of what has happened, and many do react violently.
But when a bomb explodes and no one is killed, even though the media airs many opinions concerning the involved group, or several programs are shown where the situation is analysed, there is still a general indifference shown by the public. Therefore, the indifference is not in common the result of a lack of awareness.
On the other hand, this indifference is not present a little up the socio-economic ladder.
Kashif and his wife, who occasionally go to local hotels, for an exhibition, openly showed their fear. They say, they cannot rest in ease when they are present in such a place. In fact, they use the phrase “intense fear” to describe their state of mind at almost all times, when in public places.
Khalida Ashraf who has come to Karachi for a vacation too, was afraid of what could happen any time. “We put our lives at stake to come to this city, because no one knows what might happen next. She says, that in her opinion, such killings are political in nature, but it is the innocent people who are killed.
Another man, who wished to remain anonymous said, he was struck with trepidation every time he visited a local hotel in Karachi, because the last time, there was a bomb blast, which had killed a US envoy, he had left the place only an hour ago, so he could have very well been someone affected by it. He remains pessimistic about the situation saying nothing could be done to straighten it, and perhaps many other attacks on the top leaders of Pakistan, have been staged in order to gain sympathy, and to clear their own way.
Salman Haq, and Hissam Yusuf, however, remain unaffected.
“We were born and bred in Karachi, and we were always taught to never see the other person as a ‘different being’ regardless of his sex, his religion or his caste. For us everything may as well be an adventure, including life itself,” they say.
But they do agree that in Karachi a common trend of alienation has begun, where the person on the road has become immune to these things.
“It [terror] has happened to such an extent, that it has lost its effect. Now most people don’t even blink an eye when such a thing happens. But that is not to say that they don’t sympathise with it. It’s just that they are not scared anymore.”
Even someone with as sensitive a job as a valet in one of the hotels has not let his job go. He prefers to remain insensitive to any kind of potential threat rather than give up his well-paid job.
The running emotions that Karachi faces, is not just pathetic, it is also worrisome. To say that Karachi has been through such trauma, and the people have now been caught up in a web of both paranoia and indifference, brings up a situation, that simply shows that the city is going through a process of depoliticisation, and alienation and where it will all end no one knows.
The city is the victim of rape and torture, and has still not recovered from it. There is nothing of the sort, which is showing any kind of sign in which Karachiites might return to their state of vitality and once again, feel. There is in fact nothing but mass numbness.
