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MQM Violence (1994–2016)

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Second MQM insurrection
Part of MQM Militancy

Pakistan Rangers in 2015 when MQM's HQ Nine Zero was getting raided
Date1994–present
Location
Karachi and Hyderabad
Result

Ongoing

Belligerents

MQM-London

MQM Haqiqi

 Pakistan

Sindh Sindh

ANP
PPP

Sunni Tehreek
TTP
SSP
Units involved

MQM-London

MQM Haqiqi

 Pakistan

Sindh Sindh

ANP
PPP

Sunni Tehreek
TTP
SSP
Casualties and losses
6000+ killed

The second MQM insurrection refers to an insurrection by MQM, a political and militant organisation representing Muhajir people which launched an insurrection in 1978 against Sindh government as well as multiple other opponents. This insurrection was suppressed by Pakistan army in the Operation Cleanup. In 1994, after the military's withdrawal, MQM launched another wave of anti-state, sectarian and ethnic violence. Its intensity died down following Operation Lyari and Karachi targeted action. The 2015 Nine-Zero raids saw several key MQM leaders arrested and the beginning of a crackdown on the party.[1] Another crackdown in August 22, 2016 saw the closure party headquarters near 90 Azizabad, Khursheed Memorial Hall, MPA Hostel, and Jinnah Park, the arrest of other MQM leaders and "marked the end of the story for the party founder, Altaf."[2] of In 2016 the Muttahida movement began to fragment, seeing the rise of MQM-Pakistan and other breakaway factions like the Pak Sarzameen Party (PSP), MQM-PIB colony and MQM-Bahadurabad factions. The original faction becoming known as MQM-London.[3][4]

MQM also began to experience deterioration in electoral results. In 2018 PTI was able to win 14 out of 21 of Karachi's National Assembly seats due to MQM's decline, while the PPP was able to secure its first mayoral victory in Karachi in 2023.[1] Another breakaway faction established in 1992, MQM-Haqiqi also saw a decline in popularity, not winning any seats in 2013 and 2015 elections.[5] According to an article in Dawn, the Security Establishment's influence over the MQM has grown significantly.[6] In 2023 PSP and Farooq Sattar Group factions announced their merger into MQM-P,[7] but boycotted 2023 Local Bodies elections, which MQM leader Raza Haroon criticized, stating it "essentially threw the party out of politics for the next four years."[8] In the 2024 General Elections MQM-P was able to win 20 National Assembly seats in Karachi.[9] In an alleged leaked video Sindh Governor and MQM-P leader Kamran Tessori purportedly admitted "We did not get votes in the elections," and considered the real voting bank of MQM to consist of seven NA seats from 2018 general elections.[10]

Violence

[edit]

Anti-state activities

[edit]

During the months of May and June in 1994, the MQM carried out a series of attacks following the army's withdrawal. These included car bombings, riots, and secret killings, leading to the deaths of around 750 people, including non-Urdu speakers and other opponents of the MQM.[11][12] The conflict its most bloodiest in May 1995, when MQM militants resurfaced to the ground, and systematically ambushed government offices, police stations and police patrols using rocket launchers. Although sporadic ethnic and sectarian violence had been a permanent feature of the Karachi landscape since 1980s, the level of organization and intensity of the violence in 1995 was unprecedented. About 300 people were killed in the month of June, the death toll reached 600 deaths in two months and 2,000 deaths in a year attributed to ethnic violence, leading analysts to compare the situation to the Kashmir insurrection which were also taking place in the 1990s.[13][12] On June 25, 1995, nearly 80 policemen were killed in a five-week long assault by the MQM militants, and a total of 221 security forces were killed over the year, while over 70 police operations killed over 121 "terrorists" believed to be MQM activists or sympathizers. By 1996 it was described as a virtual civil war between the Pakistani security forces and the MQM.[13][14][15] In 2002, the MQM assumed office in the provincial government and were elected to the city government in 2006 and 2008, while Karachi newspapers were accusing the MQM of eliminating opponents with impunity. This also involved violent, unchecked land expansion and real estate 'entrepreneurs' who were speculated to be illegally or violently occupying land driven by powerful political patrons in the MQM.[16] Karachi experienced an exceptionally high level of violence in 2011 with some 800 people killed, where the MQM was widely viewed as the perpetrator of targeted killings, out of a total 1800 killings in Karachi.[17][18][19]

Ethnic violence

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In 2007, the 12 May Karachi riots saw the MQM party workers being accused of launching highly coordinated attacks on ANP and PPP supporters, resulting in the killings of 58 people as well as hundreds of injuries, most of whom were Pashtuns. 14 MQM workers were killed in relation during the clashes.[20][21][22] In several occasions in 2007 and 2008, Pashtun-majority neighbourhoods were subject to violence and bombings, including coordinated attacks against Pashtun street vendors, restaurant owners and labourers, as well as "target killings" of ANP activists, who were accused to be involved with the Pakistani Taliban.[23][24][25] In 2010, in response to the assassination of an MQM politician, Raza Haider, MQM-affiliated gangs gunned down close to 95 people, primarily Pashtuns as well as a minority of Sindhis and Punjabis, during the 2010 Karachi riots.[26][27] In March 2011, beginning with an attack on a PPP office, 50 people were killed, mainly Pashtuns, although Urdu-speakers and Balochs were also among the killed, as well as another 18 in the month of April. These were blamed by Pashtun activists on the MQM. although MQM denied the claims.[28][29] In a five-day period beginning on July 5, MQM led a protest quitting the ruling government, resulting in 114 deaths indiscriminately targeting ethnic Pashtuns regardless of their affiliation to any political party.[30][31][32] While in mid-July, ANP politicians accused the MQM expelling 3–4,000 Pashtuns out of their neighbourhoods,[33] the Sindhi politician Zulfiqar Mirza's comments criticizing MQM which were seen as offensive to Urdu-speakers re-ignited violence as MQM mobs went on a rampage and burned vehicles, resulting in further 14 deaths by morning,[34] while the death toll increased to 200–318 by the end of July.[35][36] According to Fawad Chaudhry, neither PPP nor ANP had a comparable militant wing as the MQM in the past 10 years.[37]

Extortion

[edit]

In 2015, the MQM faced accusations of setting fire to a factory to extort money, resulting in the deaths of 258 people.[38][39][40][41] MQM managed to build a successful network of businessmen and marketeers, to influence what was in effect a parallel economy in Karachi which produced organizational profits from alliances cemented with violence.[42] Dawn reported that Karachi as an economic hub was essentially a "hostage city" of the MQM.[42] MQM made use of its violent control over the economy not just through profits from extortion, but also an organized strategy of intimidation to enforce "strikes", pen-downs, tool downs (a.k.a. down tools), and shutdowns of the entire economic hub in Karachi, which essentially used the city's economy as a hostage from the rest of Pakistan, to gain political concessions from the central government and force it to accept the MQM as a ruling power.[42][43]

Attacks on journalists

[edit]

In one incident in 2011, after a Pashtun journalist Wali Babar was allegedly killed by the MQM in Karachi, 4 journalists linked to the murder investigation of the dead journalist, two policemen, a police officer's brother, and an informer, were all "methodically targeted" by the MQM.[44]

Secterian conflict

[edit]

Throughout 2008, about 143 killings in Karachi were attributed to clashes between MQM and the Sunni Tehreek, a Barelvi Sufi Islamist organization which recruited former MQM members.[45] Contrarily to MQM-A, MQM-Haqiqi, a breakaway faction of the MQM, united with the Sipah-i-Sahaba in Karachi in attacks against Shi'a places of worship.[46] MQM also involved in clashed with the Taliban is which believed to profit from criminal activities such as bank robberies, thefts, car snatchings, and kidnappings for ransom.[45]

MQM Infighting

[edit]

MQM's violent activities were not limited to external confrontations, as internal factional violence also occurred, with party members being targeted in drive-by shootings. An instance of this occurred in the initial half of 2009 when over a hundred killings took place due to infighting between the MQM-Haqiqi and MQM factions.[47]

Government Response and Operations

[edit]

Operations from 1994–1996

[edit]

During the tenure of Benazir Bhutto, interior minister General Naseerullah Babar conducted second operation against MQM between 1994 and 1996.[48]

Due to serious doubts over credibility of operation due to fake encounters, extra judicial killings and rise of killings in Karachi,[49] Benazir Bhutto's government was dismissed by the then President of Pakistan, Farooq Ahmed Laghari.[50]

State Operations in 1998

[edit]

In the aftermath of Hakeem Saeed's assassination, governor rule was imposed by Nawaz Sharif in the Sindh province and military operation was initiated against MQM,[51]

Karachi Targeted Action (2013–present)

[edit]
See also: Operation Lyari

Due to rise in Target killing and organised crimes of extortion, kidnapping for ransom and increased crime rate of the city, Karachi operation began by the Nawaz Sharif government in 2013 with the intention of creating peace in the city. Even though it was claimed by the interior minister Chaudhry Nisar that the intentions of the operation were apolitical, there have been systematic crackdowns against MQM. In 2015 MQM's Headquarter Nine Zero was raided twice by the paramilitary Rangers and many top officials of MQM were taken into custody. On August 22, 2016, The Headquarter was sealed and hundreds of MQM offices were bulldozed.

Many Journalists opine that Army establishment is behind the formation of PSP and MQM-Pakistan.[52] Many MQM officials including Prof. Zafar Arif, Kanwar Khalid Yunus, adv Sathi ishaq, Amjadullah khan, Qamar Mansur, Shahid Pasha have been in detention since four months.

MNA Kanwar Naveed Jameed, MPA Kamran farooqui have also been arrested by the paramilitary forces.

Nine zero raids

[edit]
Pakistan Rangers at Liaquat Ali Khan Chowk in 2015 when MQM's headquarters Nine Zero were getting raided

On 11 March 2015, Pakistan Rangers carried out a raid at Nine Zero, the headquarters of MQM in Karachi as well as the party's public secretariat Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall and arrested over 100 MQM activists.[53][54]

At least 27 suspects were presented before an anti-terrorism court. Rangers claimed that they apprehended nearly half a dozen target killers – including Faisal Mehmood, aka 'Faisal Mota', who was sentenced to death in the murder case of Geo News journalist Wali Khan Babar in 2011 and a huge quantity of arms and ammunition, walkie talkies, binoculars and other military gear used by NATO forces in Afghanistan were also seized during the raid.[55][54]

Nine Zero was sealed on 23 August 2016 by the Pakistan Rangers following a hate speech delivered by MQM's leader, Altaf Hussain. In this speech, he incited the party workers to attack Pakistani media houses, which resulted in street rioting and one death in Karachi. This 2015 Rangers raid turned out to be a turning point for MQM party or some people call it a beginning of the MQM's end as a political party. A section of political analysts believe that the situation had already started worsening against the MQM, when London's Metropolitan Police arrested and detained Altaf Hussain, the party founder, in 2014 for investigation which washed away the impression that he was untouchable and safe in Britain.[53][56]

Later many leaders of MQM have been arrested by Pakistan Rangers for investigation. Since this 2015 raid, many surprising and sudden developments led to the splitting of the MQM into many factions. A group of former MQM people have formed a new party called Pak Sarzameen Party under the leadership of Syed Mustafa Kamal and Anis Kaimkhani.[53]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Rehman, Zia Ur (27 August 2023). "TEN YEARS OF THE 'KARACHI OPERATION'". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Resurrection of MQM-Pakistan". www.geo.tv. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  3. ^ hafeez.tunio (8 February 2018). "Divided Muttahida stands: PIB, Bahadurabad fail to mend rift, nominate separate candidates". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  4. ^ Dawn.com (23 March 2016). "Kamal announces 'Pak Sarzameen Party'". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  5. ^ Azfar-ul-Ashfaque (15 June 2017). "25 years on, MQM-H facing tough fight for political survival". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  6. ^ Azfar-ul-Ashfaque (10 December 2023). "WILL THE REAL MQM PLEASE STAND UP?". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  7. ^ Desk, Web (12 January 2023). "PSP, Farooq Sattar formally announce merger with MQM-P". ARY NEWS. Retrieved 26 May 2024. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  8. ^ "'MQM Played A Losing Hand By Boycotting Local Govt Polls'". The Friday Times. 15 June 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  9. ^ "MQM-P wins 20 seats from Karachi division". The Express Tribune. 10 February 2024. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  10. ^ news.desk (28 February 2024). "After Kamal, Tessori admit MQM-P's poll 'setback'". The Express Tribune. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  11. ^ George Childs Kohn (2013). Palan Wars. Routledge. ISBN 9781135954949.
  12. ^ a b Najeeb A. Jan (2019). The Metacolonial State:Pakistan, Critical Ontology, and the Biopolitical Horizons of Political Islam. John Wiley & Sons. p. 100. ISBN 9781118979396.
  13. ^ a b Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali (1996). "The Battlefields of Karachi: Ethnicity, Violence and the State". Journal of the International Institute. 4 (1). The Journal of the International Institute: Volume 4, Issue 1.
  14. ^ Zahid Hussain (25 June 1995). "Nearly 80 Police Killed in 5-Week-Old Assault By Militants". Associated Press.
  15. ^ Chronology for Mohajirs in Pakistan. Minorities at Risk Project. 2004. Wrap-up: Political violence in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi claimed 2,052 lives in 1995, including 121 terrorists and 221 members of the security forces, according to police records. The MQM also called a total of 26 protest strikes in 1995, at an estimated cost to the national economy of the equivalent of 38 million dollars per day. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur 12/31/95)
  16. ^ Nichola Khan (2017). Cityscapes of Violence in Karachi: Publics and Counterpublics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-086978-6.
  17. ^ World Report 2012: Events of 2011. Human Rights Watch. 14 February 2012. p. 367. ISBN 9781609803896.
  18. ^ Siddiqui, Tahir (7 February 2015). "Rangers' report blames MQM for Baldia factory fire". dawn.com. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  19. ^ Huma Yusuf. Conflict Dynamics in Karach. United Institute of Peace.
  20. ^ Christophe Jaffrelot (2016). The Pakistan Paradox:Instability And Resilience. Fifty-eight Pashtuns died and accordign to Zia-ur-Rehman that was a "watershed moment" because "on that day the Pashtuns of Karachi realized they were not welcome in the city."
  21. ^ "MQM-P Apologises For Deadly May 12 Riots In Karachi". 4 March 2022.
  22. ^ Huma Yusuf (2012). Conflict Dynamics in Karachi (PDF). MQM party workers were accused of launching highly coordinated attacks against ANP and PPP supporters, killing forty-three people, primarily Pashtuns. Four- teen MQM workers were also killed in retaliatory actions
  23. ^ Lieven, Anatol (2012). Pakistan: a hard country. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-103824-7.
  24. ^ Tania Ahmad (2009). Jagged Trajectories: Mobility and Distinction in Karachi, Pakistan. Stanford University. p. 96.
  25. ^ Karachi:Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City. Oxford University Press. July 2014. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-19-023806-3. tali- banisation' to mobilise its supporters and armed cadres against the ANP and the Pashtuns at large, leading to a resumption of 'target killings' of party activists but also to coordinated attacks against Pashtun street vendors
  26. ^ Walsh, Declan; Imtiaz, Huma (3 August 2010). "Karachi riots leave 45 dead after MP assassinated". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 3 August 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  27. ^ "Karachi death toll tops 90". CBC News. 6 August 2010. Archived from the original on 8 May 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  28. ^ Shoaib Hasan, Syed (24 March 2011). "Karachi political attacks kill 50, say rights groups". BBC News. Archived from the original on 9 May 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  29. ^ Shoaib Hasan (14 April 2011). "Pakistani city is hit by new round of targeted killings". BBC News.
  30. ^ Ambreen Agha (3 February 2022). "Battleground Karachi". At least 114 persons were killed in just five days of violence, commencing July 5, 2011, in Karachi. Unidentified assailants on a shooting spree in several neighbourhoods in Pakistan's commercial hub, killed 14 persons on July 5; another 25 on July 6; 36 on July 7; 35 on July 8; and 4 on July 9.
  31. ^ Shah, Imtiaz (27 June 2011). "Pakistan's MQM quits governing coalition". Reuters. Archived from the original on 6 May 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2024.
  32. ^ Pakistan: Criminal activity and violence in Karachi perpetrated or directed by political, ethnic or religious groups, including the state's response. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa. 7 December 2011. According to the HRCP, businesses usually run by Pashtuns [also called Pashtos (RFE/RL 8 August 2011), Pukhtoons (IRIN 11 July 2011), Pushtuns (The Economist 16 December 2010, and Pakhtuns (HRCP 8 October 2011)], such as pushcarts, trucks, roadside restaurants, and rickshaws, are often targeted, regardless of whether they are affiliated with a political party (8 October 2011). The HRCP told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) that the Pashtun population in the Kali Pahari district of Karachi has been particularly impacted by the violence (8 August 2011). Dawn reports that some Pashtuns are leaving Karachi because of the violence (29 August 2011).
  33. ^ Khattak, Daud; Recknagel, Charles (22 July 2011). "What's Really Behind The Violence In Karachi?". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The real problem is that a particular organization [MQM] claims the ownership of Karachi and denies other communities the right to live here," he says. "That organization has forced 3,000 to 4,000 Pashtuns from their neighborhoods so far.
  34. ^ Faisal Aziz (14 July 2011). "Fourteen killed in Karachi violence after minister's comments". Reuters.
  35. ^ Faisal Aziz (2 August 2011). "No end to violence in Pakistan's Karachi; 26 killed in 24 hours". Reuters. Local media put the number even higher, and the Dawn newspaper reported that 318 people were killed in July.
  36. ^ August 01, 2011 (1 August 2011). "Violence continues in Karachi; 200 killed in July".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  37. ^ "PPP And ANP Has Not That Type Of Militant Wing Which MQM Has Since Last 10 Years - Fawad Chaudhry". July 2015.
  38. ^ Husain, Irfan (10 March 2018). "MQM: decline & fall". dawn.com. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  39. ^ "MQM pioneered 'bhatta' culture in Karachi: Asma". The Nation. 6 September 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  40. ^ Jamal, Umair. "Why the Pakistani State Can't Seem to Figure Out the MQM in Karachi". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  41. ^ "2012 Karachi factory fire an act of terrorism, with MQM involvement, report says". gulfnews.com. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  42. ^ a b c Nichola Khan (2010). Mohajir Militancy in Pakistan:Violence and Transformation in the Karachi Conflict. Routledge. ISBN 9781135161927.
  43. ^ Nichola Khan (2010). Mohajir Militancy in Pakistan:Violence and Transformation in the Karachi Conflict. Routledge. p. 44. ISBN 9781135161934.
  44. ^ Siddiqui, Niloufer A., ed. (2022), "Who Owns the Guns? the Muttahida Qaumi Movement and Violence in Karachi", Under the Gun: Political Parties and Violence in Pakistan, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 73–112, doi:10.1017/9781009242530.004, ISBN 978-1-009-24253-0, retrieved 14 April 2024
  45. ^ a b Marco Mezzera (10 October 2011). Dante in Karachi: circles of crime in a mega city.
  46. ^ Laurent Gayer (2014). Karachi: Laurent Gayer Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-935444-3.
  47. ^ Anas Malik (2010). Political Survival in Pakistan. Routledge. p. 77. ISBN 9781136904196.
  48. ^ "Major's kidnapping, Jinnahpur, 1992, 1994 anti-MQM operations". www.thenews.com.pk. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  49. ^ Bahadur, Kalim (1 January 1998). Democracy in Pakistan: Crises and Conflicts. Har-Anand Publications. ISBN 9788124100837.
  50. ^ "Benazir violated rules: Leghari". DAWN.COM. 28 December 2003. Retrieved 7 January 2017.
  51. ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | Pakistan: An army operation conducted in August 1998 in Karachi against Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activists; role of Mujahid Battalion in assisting the army in this operation; MQM members killed". Refworld. Retrieved 14 December 2020.
  52. ^ (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "Why Pakistan's army is targeting the MQM party | Asia | DW.COM | 23.08.2016". DW.COM. Retrieved 1 January 2017.
  53. ^ a b c Zia Ur Rehman (11 March 2020). "From Nine Zero to ground zero: a groundbreaking raid that ended MQM's reign of fear". The News International (newspaper). Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  54. ^ a b "27 MQM workers arrested in Nine Zero raid presented in ATC". Geo TV News website. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  55. ^ Faraz Khan (2015). "Karachi Operation - Target Acquired". The Express Tribune (Tribune Labs). Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  56. ^ "Nisar seeks UK action against Altaf". The Express Tribune (newspaper). 23 August 2016. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
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