We need Karachi back on its feet
John F. Kennedy said it many decades ago. “Those who make peaceful revolution impossible , make violent revolution inevitable” . This universal quote proves is weight today and especially in Pakistan when peaceful revolution faces the dread of the blade. Karachi is the city which is on the edge of that blade as we speak.
Every few days the city receives dead bodies of its sons. charred , bruised , holed and cut into pieces . Sometimes you would find a remorseful killer who would choose to be less violent and gift his victim with a single bullet through the head. But the many cases you see are much violent to the core. The incidents which we see in our city would lead Jack the Ripper to the shame. More ironic it is that whilst murderers of high society victims are caught under media glare but the murderers of the poor and middle class remain scott free. Sometimes I wonder if is it because that we don’t cherish life or is it because that some of those who die belong to a certain community .
I wonder what is the strategy of our dear Prime Minister of Pakistan who is playing all sides in bringing peace to the country. What is his strategy? Don’t he think that peace to Karachi is essential for the growth and development of Pakistan? Or he thinks that longer the unrest in the capital of Sindh would ensure that more investment would flow in his dear province of Punjab and infact let me say that too in a few cities only as the other cities do not have the good fate of getting his attention. They say that there are investments happening in various parts of Punjab even especially in the power sector. But lets see how much benefit would it give to the locals as I feel that again land and resources are being utilized to benefit a few . Now I am not at all against benefitting the ones who the Prime Minister wants as they are also Pakistanis. But I would not protest if its equally given to all.
Anyways coming back to the issue of Karachi where the facts are being ignored and another cloak and dagger story is being presented to the people of Pakistan and who unfortunately agreeing to the same. My view is simple that as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his team negotiates with Talibans. These traitors are re-grouping and are taking out their opponents or instilling fear to consolidate their positions. One such act of terrorism is happening in the city of Karachi where these Talibans are rushing towards taking control of the city so that their leverage at the negotiation table is much wider. Now , it looks like that unfortunately the government has turned a blind eye towards this criminal effort out of ignorance or out of intention as I feel that out of its hatred against MQM they are willingly letting Talibans kill, maim, torture and brutalize the workers of MQM. In a way I do not believe in the folk lore that the government considers Talibans as terrorists as they i.e. PMLN sits with them shoulder to shoulder in Punjab.
At the same time Talibans are being used to keep our Pakistan Army under check by keeping them engaged on the western borders as the Sharif brothers fear a third one in the row. Now don’t tell me that they do not intend the same. The recent barrage of accusations against ISI ; Pakistan’s first line of defence by Geo was fully sanctioned by the government. The way PEMRA handled the notice to Geo is quiet evident that it was designed to give time to fizzile out things or get more traction behind the same. The group of people who are kidnapping and killing MQM workers intentionally desire that yet again there is an MQM vs Agencies happening in Karachi so that they can take out both the sides and create wider penentration in the city to enable absolute control.
Meanwhile, MQM workers are being taken out and in a country where we saw suo mottos by a corrupt Chief Justice on the increase of price of menial items . There is no hue and cry on the inhumane murders of MQM workers. Strangely , every one look the other way around when it comes to MQM , its workers and its supporters knowingly that they are part of the conflict against Talibans. The apathy or the silence of the civil society of the city and the country makes me remember Martin Luther King’s famous quote “In the end , we will remember not the words of our enemies , but the silence of our friends” . If you put in Karachi’s perspective the eerie quietness or silence of the people of Karachi and the civil society towards the genocide of MQM workers or supporters would come back to bite them in the face ; as this fire which spreads would reach their corridors sooner or later.
Now a days , I feel that there is a dark night upon us . But I am sure and have a strong believe that every night has a dawn and soon people or the civil society would realize that there is a life beyond the confines of their four walls and there are bigger issues faced and Talibanization is one fact of which . The shadows would hover over them soon if they do not stand up against it. After all how many would be able to leave the country at the end. The lines need to be defined now.
We should stand up and protest against the government’s in apathy towards this issue which in my view has created the law and order issue in the whole country and especially Karachi where the whole economics is getting failed as the wolves play in the streets with the lives, honor and even heads of its inhabitants. We shall rise as a nation or face doom. Karachi has to come out of its gloom for the betterment of Pakistan as its port’s significance cannot replace any other location in the whole country however green it might be. The city of Quaid has to brought back to its feet at any cost by this government who have gotten absolute majority ( by illegal means in my opinion) otherwise they must resign if incapable to do so. At the end if they choose to ignore than they should be ready of the people’s revolution coming towards them as I am sure that people of Pakistan would like to see Karachi come out of its gloom for their own benefit as well. Pakistan Zindabad!