Karachi a Pawn

#134 by mannyd

[Are you really saddened by the passing of Nek M?]

I`m not. All I want is for Pakistanis to reflect on is how their brazen support to terrorism has brought the Americans at their doorsteps, to the point where Pakistani citizens are either being killed by the Americans themselves or by the Paki Government at their behest. Wouldn`t it have been much better if the Pakis had tackled this problem much before 9/11?

#134 by mannyd

[Are you really saddened by the passing of Nek M?]

I`m not. All I want is for Pakistanis to reflect on is how their brazen support to terrorism has brought the Americans at their doorsteps, to the point where Pakistani citizens are either being killed by the Americans themselves or by the Paki Government at their behest. And how their attempts at bleeding India to death has resulted in the loss of sovereignty for Pakistan. Wouldn`t it have been much better if the Pakis had tackled this problem much before 9/11?

#130 by temporal on June 26, 2004 0:32am PT

``...with my rather well known (or irritable) penchant for blaming the occupying army for all ills...``

`The occupying army` has a formidable task of holding the country together for the near future and avert a civil war. Whatever ills in the past may be the Army`s doing, I hope there are enough civilians to see the clear and future danger.

Thanks for the Fal-melon-ny. LOL.. Here is to your health too.

#128 by arjun_m on June 22, 2004 2:32pm PT

Thanks Arjun_m. Yes I can see US cooperating with the Pakistan forces and providing technical help. Howecver I have some doubts about the efficacy of this type of snooping. Why has Osama not been apprehended yet? You think he swore off the satellite phones.

Whenever AL-Zajeera plays some tape from an AL=Quaida figure, it generally takes US agencies up to one or two days just to confirm the authenticity of the broadcast taped voice. That is plenty of time to turn the phone off and slip away out of harm`s way.

But I could be wrong.)

#125 by harish_hyd on June 22, 2004 2:03am PT
`Shame on you guys` if you do and `Shame on you guys` if you dont. LOL. Are you really saddened by the passing of Nek M?

Come on Harish. Give them a break.)

EDITORIAL: Taking on the MMA

The new Sindh administration has caught MMA secretary general Maulana Fazlur Rehman at Karachi airport and sent him back to Islamabad. The same treatment was meted out to the MMA’s parliamentary leader Qazi Hussain Ahmad. Reason: the MMA was preparing for a big show of muscle in its ‘peace march’ in the big city yesterday despite the warning from the new chief minister of Sindh, Arbab Ghulam Raheem, that the march would not be permitted. He thought the MMA should hold it in the NWFP where it had its own government. Karachi, he believes, is already on the boil after the recent MMA-MQM clashes. He then went ahead and arrested the secretary general of Jama’at-e-Islami, Munawwar Hassan, who was most likely to stir things up for the new chief minister.

The crisis in Karachi, which began by the MQM and MMA killing each other’s supporters during a by-election, was resolved by President Pervez Musharraf in favour of the MQM. A weak chief minister was removed and the only political governor in the country, the MQM’s Dr Ishratul Ibad, was retained. The MMA had demanded that the ‘terrorist’ governor be removed and the PPP, with the largest representation in Sindh Assembly, be allowed to form the new government. Instead, General Musharraf called the MQM parliamentarians to the presidency Saturday and said ‘yes’ to all their demands arising out of the controversial by-elections. The MQM had issued an ultimatum against possible changes in Sindh which it thought inimical to its political position. Islamabad’s response to the ultimatum was positive, after which the wife of MQM leader Altaf Hussain arrived in Karachi from London, triggering rumours that she may be a kind of precursor of his own return to the country one day.

President Musharraf has been irked by the MMA’s gathering challenge to his authority. He has complained bitterly over its negation of the commitments given during the negotiation of the Legal Framework Order (LFO), especially with regard to the National Security Council (NSC) which the MMA later forced out of the 17th Amendment and then boycotted at the last moment. Many analysts see in the presidential plaint a threat that he may not stand by his own pledge to remove his uniform at the end of the year. The MMA policymaking has been dominated by Qazi Hussain Ahmad who tends to upstage Maulana Fazlur Rehman by holding him to the extremist demands of the constituency that mostly belongs to the latter’s JUI. In the event, it is quite possible that Maulana Fazlur Rehman may live to regret that he allowed Qazi Sahib to run away with the clerical alliance.

Qazi Hussain Ahmad thought that he would put the cat among the pigeons by calling the MQM a ‘terrorist organisation’ and then inviting the PPP to take on Altaf Hussain and his lieutenants in Sindh. But President Musharraf saw through that and moved closer to the MQM, despite its track record and because there are elements of the MQM’s analysis of the political situation in the country that make sense to General Musharraf — the MQM correctly argues that terrorism has come out of jihad and that jihadi terrorists are being covertly supported by the religious parties in the MMA. In the streets of Karachi the two combatants are more or less similar in their style. While the MQM has been known to employ violence to achieve its ends, the Jama’at has been using its street-fighting student wing behind the rhetoric of religion. (Karachi’s secretary-general Munawwar Hassan is a former Jamiat leader like Qazi Sahib.) Thus it appears that President Musharraf has decided to throw the weight of the government behind the MQM to take on the MMA and make it suffer for what it has done to him and his plans for the country’s future.

Karachi’s peace has been bought in the past by meeting violence with violence. Unfortunately this has received the approval of many who see no political solution to a city that continues to be described in international journals as the ‘city of terror’. Violence will not resolve the crisis of Karachi. Disorder returns to the city again and again because violence simply begets more of it and assumes the pattern of a cycle depending on who comes to power. Good governance is the solution provided the politicians allow the administration to act professionally. But we should prepare for more violence between the MQM and MMA. *

mannyd:

I am not sure where your sympathy lies but I am rooting for the Law and order guys. Your inimitable sense of humor is always welcome on Chowk.

...nice words...am not sure i deserve them...with my rather well known (or irritable) penchant for blaming the occupying army for all ills...it is obvious where i lay the blame...not to mention sympathies!...khair...indeed nice to see you back...with your encouragement i will concoct a new falsa-watermelon shake tonight!...if it tastes good i will christen it fal-melon-ny …here`s to manny!

rgds,

t

Thats right shame on us for becoming what we hate and who cares if the Pakistanis did it or the americans did it. we suck.

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#121 by Temporal on June 18, 2004 10:12pm PT

Yes Temporal Saheb, it has been quite a few moons since I lost my password and stopped lurking here due to several different reasons. It is great to be back and see familiar handles plugging away with quiet determination and solemn responsibility to save the world.)
The Chowk has changed in some ways for the better such as reduced influence of `Lahori` culture. In other cases the (inter)actors have changed but the lines still remain the same.

Your article covered all the angles of events in Karachi very well. Strangely `Fairdinkum` was reporting from Karachi on Shia-Sunni strife years ago. I think the annual death toll of 300 remains about the same except that Jamat and Nek Mohammad add a new aspect.

I am not sure where your sympathy lies but I am rooting for the Law and order guys. Your inimitable sense of humor is always welcome on Chowk.

``For those kind folks who enquired, I am alive and bravely trying to enjoy the summer of mangoes and falsa.`` brought a lump to my throat, tears to my eyes and dripping drool to my dropped jaw. LOL. Have a few more Falsas in my name)

Arjun Sahib,

``Word on the streets is that this was an American operation....tracking satellite phone signals and all.... ``

Care to elaborate on that, please?

#122 by arjun_m

Our Pakistani friends never tire of condemning Israel for targeted assassinations of Palestinian terrorists, yet Pakistan has done the same to its own citizen? At least the Israelis do that to the Palestinians, whom they do not consider their own, but Nek Mohammad was a Pakistani, wasn`t he?

Now I know some guys lurking in the shadows will come out and say that Pakistn doesn`t have the technology to do it and surely, the Americans must have done it. Even so, I say what kind of a nation is Pakistan, when it can allow an American missile strike on a Pakistani citizen? Shame on you guys.

Pervaiz Musharaf has his head so far Bush`s rear end that he cant even tell if he is the head of the pakistani army or an american GI. it is horrific that pakistanis are killing pakistani`s and they describe what they are doing as ``targeted killings``. does that phrase ring a bell. we continously refer to them as the defenders of pakistan i fail to see what they are defending? Musharaf`s idea of pakistan what about the other 99.999% of the population. and please lets not equate whats going on in pakistan with whats going on in kashmir and palestine, atleast not yet.

Pervaiz Musharaf has his head so far Bush`s rear end that he cant even tell if he is the head of the pakistani army or an american GI. it is horrific that pakistanis are killing pakistani`s and they describe what they are doing as ``targeted killings``. does that phrase ring a bell. we continously refer to them as the defenders of pakistan i fail to see what they are defending? Musharaf`s idea of pakistan what about the other 99.999% of the population. and please lets not equate whats going on in pakistan with whats going on in kashmir and palestine, atleast not yet.

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hey mannyd..long time;)... naik mohammed was taken out at 10pm while having dinner in the courtyard of his friend`s house ... the tip was received by the army and acted upon quickly...by a well aimed missile...reminds you of the tactics of israelis in gaza?.... rgds, t