I HAVE never been tired of visiting Karachi, Pakistan's economic hub and melting pot. It's a microcosm of Pakistan with virtually every ethnic group in the country represented – Balochis, native Sindhis, Punjabis and Pashtuns. There are Muslims, Christians and even Hindus in the population, spanning every class of society from poor to super rich, weak to mighty, lawmakers to lawbreakers – all of whom are densely packed into a colorful and culturally vibrant port city that's outrageously full of life, good or bad. Ethnic tensions, car jackings, drug peddling and mafia gun running are not new in this city dominated by Mohajirs (emigrants), the ethnic group of Urdu-speaking Muslims ing who fled India at the time of Independence in 1947. Yet the latest round of clashes between the Mohajirs and the Pashtuns – the dominant group in the Pakistani Taleban that has created a national crisis in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) – has got everybody in Pakistan worried, gauging from the outcry in the press. Having always had the impression that there is first the Karachiite – an amalgam of the variously affecting influences the city has to offer – and then there's the other Pakistani you'd run into elsewhere in the country, the reports of “serious fighting” in Karachi puzzled me, and it was not without doubt by understanding of the city and its peoples that I met with Abbas Rizvi, a member of the National Assemby of Sindh of which Karachi is the capital, last week in Islamabad. Rizvi is deputy parliamentary leader of the Mohajir-led Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), in his second term as member of the National Assembly (MNA). People from the MQM voter base had clashed with the poor Pashtun economic migrants from the NFWP, I had gathered. Media reports suggested that banned sectarian outfits were regrouping in Karachi and robberies and kidnapping for ransom by the jihadis were rampant. I wondered out loud what MQM was planning to do about this, and Rizvi, who holds a Masters in Chemical Engineering from the US, characteristically replied: “First of all we are exposing them (the Taleban) before the world with the help of the media. Second, we are asking all Pakistanis to be vocal against them. Third is asking the Pakistanis to have a mechanism of neighborhood watch – to report suspicious movements in their neighborhood.” The neighborhood watch system was already producing results, Rizvi said. “Five Taleban got arrested in Hyderabad with weapons and explosives as a result of this neighborhood watch system,” he said, arguing that their problem is not with the Pashtuns en masse but with the Taleban. “We are a completely secular party,” he said. “We respect and appreciate all sects and all religions.” In the MQM's view, the Taleban are presenting a wrong kind of Islam to the world. “They are trying to blend the values of the tribals with the values of Islam – basically tribalizing Islam. They believe that the High Court and the Supreme Court are not Islamic, the lawyer's profession is not Islamic and democracy is un-Islamic.” This is the argument that the MQM is taking to the people of Karachi. “We are trying to ask Pakistanis to be vocal against the Taleban, because we believe that the silent majority of Pakistanis are moderate Muslims. They have their own sects and they would love to follow those rather than this tribalized kind of Islam.” Rizvi said there is already an awakening among the people of Pakistan. “They have started speaking up.” Now contrast this with what the editorial in the Daily Times of May 11 had said: “All the three secular parties ruling Sindh have fallen apart. The MQM and the ANP (Awami National Party) have inclined to ethnic politics, the latter only recently showing inclination to represent all the four million Karachi Pashtuns floundering without political leadership because the JUI is almost non-existent there and the Deobandi madrasas are under pressure. The Pashtun is also pushed into a corner by the rise of the Barelvi clergy, which is increasingly militant and shows an anti-Pashtun ethnic bias like the MQM. While opposed to the Taleban in the rest of Pakistan, it is not oblivious of the prospect of a grand weaning of the radicalized Pashtun back under the ethnic banner.” Rizvi did not go into the nitty gritty of Karachi politics and said only that the MQM would join any move to strengthen the integrity of Pakistan. “We will support any national movement which can prevent the Taleban. This is the time for the people of Pakistan to choose between the Taleban or Pakistan.” The Mohajirs are generally well-educated and professional. But the first generation, being immigrants, was never fully accepted in Pakistan and they suffered discrimination, which eventually led to the formation of the MQM to fight for equal rights in education and employment. Having suffered ethnic discrimination, the Mohajirs do not discriminate, Abbas said, pointing out that the MQM's voter base has expanded over the years to the other ethnic groups. “We have been living in harmony with every ethnicity in Karachi for the last 40 years,” he said. “The MQM has won the ninth consecutive election this time. Out of 19 seats in the National Assembly, we have won 17. So that means 90 percent of the voters belong to the MQM. So do you think that 90 percent of the Urdu-speaking people live in Karachi? No. that's not right. Other ethnic groups are also voting for MQM as well and it is no more a Mohajir party. We have six senators of whom four are non Urdu-speaking.” He claimed that the MQM has the proven clout to take on the Taleban who are reported to be infiltrating into the city at the rate of 20-25 militants every fortnight. “In the last five years when we were in government with full powers, we succeeded in controlling all kinds of mafia – the biggest Al-Qaeda leaders got arrested from Karachi, the biggest leaders sending suicide bombers got arrested from Karachi, the biggest sectarian killers were also arrested from Karachi.” He listed a lot of names of those arrested. Given all that clout, it remained a mystery to me why MQM supremo Altaf Hussain still lives in exile in London, England. Does his country not need him at this stage? Rezvi repled: “After the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, you can very well understand the security issues of Pakistan. Just what has happened consecutively to the top leadership of Pakistan? Musharraf, three suicide-bombing attempts; Shaukat Aziz, one; Sher Pro (former interior minister), two; and so on – despite their use of the ways and means of the national security apparatus.” Altaf Hussein has publicly declared long ago that he would never become an official of the State, which mean he would never be able to enjoy any security cover provided by the government. “If people think that he (Altaf) has cases against him and that as soon as he comes back he would get arrested, this is not the case,” Rizvi went on. “All the cases against him have been dismissed by the courts.” Rizvi argued that the people of Karachi and the MQM itself think that this is not the right time for Altaf to return, “because we are unable to protect him.” We – but not Altaf Hussein – are scared of his assassination. We won't allow him to come back to Pakistan right now because there will definitely be attacks on his life within a week. Rizvi did not say that the threat to Altaf Husein's life was from the Taleban, but he said that the Taleban was poised to take over the city from the MQM. “The spokesman of Baitullah Mehsud, in a video footage on TV, has said that the Taleban is present in a big number in Karachi and, whenever Baitullah Mehsud asks, they would take over Karachi,” Rizvi said.
