Unrest in Karachi
PAKISTAN | Friday, 18 May 2007 | Views [636]
On 14 May 2007, a general strike closed banks, shops, markets and schools throughout Karachi, paralysing the Pakistani port city. Similar scenes could be witnessed in towns and cities throughout southern Sindh province, of which Karachi is the capital, as well as in Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta. The strike, called for by opposition groups, was in protest against President General Pervez Musharraf's handling of riots in Karachi over the weekend of 12 May. Clashes between supporters of the pro-government Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and supporters of the opposition Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD) and of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) resulted in the deaths of 41 people and injured a further 150. The violence in Karachi, perhaps the most serious politically inspired violence in Pakistan for 20 years, combined with the subsequent strike, has seriously weakened Musharraf's hold on power.
Political unrest in Karachi, and Pakistan as a whole, has been growing for some time. Musharraf's apparent unwillingness to guide the country toward a democratic future and his inability to deliver prosperity and stability for the Pakistani people has rendered him immensely unpopular. However, it was Musharraf's decision on 9 March to suspend one of Pakistan's most senior and influential judges, Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, over unspecified accusations of misconduct that galvanised opposition to his rule. It was a decision that was perceived by many of Pakistan's 158 million citizens as an attempt by Musharraf to remove an independently minded judge and to weaken the judicial system ahead of an attempt to extend his five-year term of office later this year, a move that would undoubtedly involve a legal challenge, particularly if he also sought to retain his position as army chief. Opposition supporters and an outraged judiciary soon took to the streets. Pro-Chaudhry anti-Musharraf protests spread throughout the country. Chaudhry addressed increasingly large rallies in Islamabad and Lahore, and another rally in Karachi, Pakistan's financial centre, was planned for 12 May. It was a protest that was always likely to invite violent confrontation.
The pro-government MQM has been increasingly active in Karachi in recent weeks. Earlier in the month it organised a rally to condemn religious militants; to support Musharraf and his involvement in the US-led 'war on terror'; and to criticise the activities of Chaudhry. The group arranged a second rally to coincide with Chaudhry's arrival in the city, a move many believe was orchestrated by Islamabad. This theory gained credence when Pakistani security forces did little to intervene when MQM supporters clashed violently, repeatedly and inevitably with pro-Chaudhry anti-Musharraf protesters from the ARD and MMA.
If Musharraf did foment the violence in the hope that the ensuing instability would pressure Chaudhry and anti-government protesters to tone down their campaign and that some degree of calm would be restored to Pakistan, it was a grave miscalculation. Firstly, the riots have unleashed the forces of sectarianism on the city of Karachi. The MQM is an aggressive, largely Muhajir pressure group. It has a track record of battling competing ethnic groups, particularly Punjabis and Pashtuns, and was largely responsible for the wave of inter-ethnic rioting and violence that blighted Karachi in the 1980s and 1990s. The movement’s actions on the weekend, where it reportedly began rounding up and executing Pashtuns or Punjabis, will have re-awakened the city's ethnic wounds - reprisal killings and further sectarian violence are now a very real possibility.
The rioting has also severely weakened Musharraf and has emboldened the opposition. With resentment toward Musharraf already high in Balochistan and in the North-West Frontier provinces of Pakistan for his support of the US and its war on terror, Pakistan's generals and Musharraf's political allies will be alarmed at the erosion of support for the president in Sindh and Punjab and at the president's inability to ensure stability in those areas. Leaders of the Pakistan Muslim League Party, which has acted as a civilian appendage to the military, have already started to distance themselves from Musharraf, as has the military.
The Karachi riots have not only opened Karachi's sectarian wounds, but also mark the beginning of the end for President General Pervez Musharraf. With support haemorrhaging away and with the opposition increasingly self-assured and belligerent, Musharraf is in a tight corner. His only means of survival now is to make concessions. Reinstating Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, standing down as army chief and striking a deal with Pakistan's main opposition group, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP), for joint governance may be the only way for Musharraf to cling to power. Perhaps the best Musharraf can hope for is to be able to play a role in Pakistan’s transition from military rule to democracy during the general election scheduled for early 2008. If he fails to make such concessions, further unrest and violence is highly likely and Musharraf will risk being quickly pressured by the army generals to step aside in the interest of safeguarding the authority of the military establishment.
Tags: travel safety, red24, karachi, pakistan, unrest
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