2010 Karachi riots

Last updated
2010 Karachi riots
Location Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan
DateAugust 3, 2010-
Attack type
Riots
Deaths90+
Injured100+

The 2010 Karachi riots started on August 3, 2010, after the assassination of Parliament member Raza Haider, a member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement political party, on the night of August 2, 2010, in Karachi, Pakistan. [1] The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) represents the Urdu-speaking Muhajir and is a political rival of the Pashtuns who have migrated to the city from northwest Pakistan. Haider, a Shia Muslim, was killed as he attended a funeral at a mosque. [2]

Contents

The riots began when the Pashtuns attacked Karachi to occupy and tag it as a "Pashtun plot", to which the Muhajirs responded back.

By August 6 at least 90 Pashtuns were killed and more than 100 people injured in widespread violence that engulfed the city. [3] Economic losses over two days of riots were estimated to be about 17 billion Pakistani rupees (approximately 200 million USD). [2]

Background

Karachi has a history of political bloodshed stretching back to the late 1980s when the city was regularly rocked by political and ethnic shootings that killed dozens every week. Analysts said the city was again in the grip of a political turf war. [4]

Karachi, which is provincial capital of Sindh and Pakistan's commercial capital and largest city, has a population of 18 million and contributes about 70% of the country's tax income. [2] The city has seen a wave of political killings in 2010 which have deepened ethnic tensions.

Violence

Most of those killed and injured in the reprisal shootings came from the smaller Pashtuns. The MQM, which ruled Karachi until earlier 2010, represents the city's Muhajir community. Most of the injured were Pashtuns, with a few Sindhis and Punjabis among the victims, said one source. Jan Sardar, a 35-year-old Pashtun, was shot seven times. "When they fired the first shot, I jumped in a sewer to save myself, but they came after me and fired more bullets," he said from his hospital bed. The gunman was carrying an MQM flag, he added. Clothes trader Ahmed Shah, who was shot in the leg, was travelling in a bus with 50 passengers when it came under fire. "I didn't see who it was; it was dark," he said. A cousin said he saw seven dead bodies at the site. Iqbal Hussain, a teenager from Swat, said he was left for dead after a gunman burst into his house in north Karachi, opening fire. A less fortunate friend was killed.

[4] Several buildings were set on fire and vehicles destroyed after angry mobs went through the city streets seeking revenge. Most of those killed were Pashtuns. [5] Most of the injured had been shot point blank and were targeted for their ethnicity. [1] [6] In the neighboring city of Hyderabad gunmen attacked a train going to Lahore, injuring the driver and destroying the locomotive. [5]

Reactions

MQM declared three days of mourning after the assassination. Business activities in the city virtually shut down. The local police arrested 40 people including 20 Islamist hardliners. [7] Interior minister Rehman Malik blamed Sipah-e-Sahaba of fomenting violence against the minority Shia community in Pakistan. [2] President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, ordered an immediate investigation into the violence. The Karachi Stock Exchange saw very slow activity in the aftermath of the riots and the rupee hit a record low of 85.80 to a United States dollar. [8]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muttahida Qaumi Movement – London</span> Political party in Pakistan

The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), previously known as Muhajir Qaumi Movement, is a secular political party in Pakistan that was founded by Altaf Hussain in 1984. Currently the party is split between 2 main factions. MQM-London faction is controlled by Altaf Hussain from London, while MQM-Pakistan is run by Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui based in Pakistan. Its electoral symbol was a kite.

Altaf Hussain is a British Pakistani politician who is known as the founder of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement. He holds United Kingdom citizenship and has been living in exile in the UK since the start of Operation Clean-up. Since 2015, he has been a fugitive from the Anti Terrorism Court of Pakistan on the charges of murder, targeted killing, treason, inciting violence and hate speech. He went on trial in the UK in January 2022 for promoting terrorism and unrest through hate speech in Pakistan, and was acquitted the next month. He had fled the country in 1992 after a crackdown against his party was launched.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All Pakistan Muttahidda Students Organization</span> Pakistani student organization

The All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organization is a Pakistani student organization notable for creating a political party: the Mohajir Quami Movement, now called the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

The 12 May Karachi riots, also known as Black Saturday riots, were a series of violent clashes between rival political activists in Karachi. The violence resulted in 58 killings of ethnic Pashtuns. The unrest began as the recently suspended chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry arrived at the Jinnah International Airport on 12 May 2007. Gunfights and clashes erupted across the provincial capital as Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), and Pashtunkhwa Milli Awami Party (PMAP) activists, who supported the judge, and the pro-government Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) activists took to the streets against each other. MQM party workers were accused of launching highly coordinated attacks against both ANP and PPP supporters.Government machinery was used to block all major roads. Police was accomplice and a silent spectator to the violence. News media was attacked at Guru Mandir when MQM activists began firing at AAJ TV headquarters which was shown on live television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Clean-up</span> Pakistani military intelligence operation

Operation Clean-up, also known as Operation Blue Fox, was an armed military intelligence program led by the Sindh Police and Pakistan Rangers, with an additional assistance from the Pakistan Army and its related intelligence agencies. Planned by the FIA, Intelligence Bureau and launched the directives of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 1992, the program was more strictly pursued by upcoming Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 1993–94, as part of her internal policies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohajir Qaumi Movement Pakistan</span> Political party in Pakistan

The Mohajir Qaumi Movement Pakistan formerly known as Mohajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi), MQM-Haqiqi is a political party claiming to represent the Mohajir in Sindh, Pakistan whose leader is Afaq Ahmed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan</span> Pakistani Political party

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan) (Urdu: متحدہ قومی موومنٹ (پاکستان)Muttaḥidah Qọ̄mī Mūwmaṅṫ Pākistānabbr.MQM-P) is a Social liberal Muhajir nationalist Secular political party. The leader of the party is Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui The party's symbol is the kite. It is mostly active in Karachi where up to majority of Muhajirs currently reside. The party aims to represent the Human rights of Muhajirs in Pakistan through peaceful and democratic struggle. The Party is a splinter faction of Muttahida Qaumi Movement – London.

Events from the year 2010 in Pakistan.

Imran Farooq was a British-Pakistani politician who was best known for his association with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a political party in Pakistan, of which he was a very senior member. He was also a founding member of the All Pakistan Muhajir Student Organization. Farooq held several positions in MQM and the Pakistani government. He lived in London in self-imposed exile from 1999 until he was murdered on 16 September 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of Karachi</span> Overview of the political system of Karachi, Pakistan

The Politics of Karachi takes place at the municipal, provincial and federal levels of the government. Karachi is a multiethnic, multilingual, multicultural and multireligious metropolitan city. The demographics of Karachi are important as most politics in Karachi is driven by ethnic politics.

During the months of July and August 2011, a number of targeted killings in Karachi, Pakistan left hundreds of people dead. The attacks are part of an ongoing terrorist campaign of political, ethnic and religious violence that has gripped the city in its worst form in the recent years. The targeted killings of Shias in Pakistan have been described by international human rights groups as a genocide. Since 1963, the government of Pakistan estimates more than 23,000 Shias have been killed in Pakistan, however, that number is widely believed to be a vast undercount. In mid-July, ANP politicians accused the MQM expelling 3–4,000 Pashtuns out of their neighbourhoods. Dawn reported in 29 August that ethnic Pashtuns were leaving Karachi due to the violence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afaq Ahmed</span> Pakistani politician

Afaq Ahmed is a Pakistani politician who is the founder and leader of Muhajir Qaumi Movement (Haqiqi) (MQM-H), a break-away faction of the much larger than Muhajir Qaumi Movement which later became Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

Zahra Shahid Hussain also known as Zara Apa, was a Pakistani activist-politician, teacher and the senior vice president of Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) in Sindh. She had formerly served as the president for PTI's women's wing of the party in Sindh, and was a member of the central executive committee of the party. On 18 May 2013, she was assassinated outside her house in the upscale Defence Housing Authority neighborhood in Karachi.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Operation Lyari</span>

Operation Lyari was a Pakistan Government crackdown against local gangs and other crime syndicates and part of the greater Karachi Operation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pak Sarzameen Party</span> Defunct Pakistani political party

Pak Sarzameen Party commonly known as PSP was a Pakistani political party founded by Syed Mustafa Kamal and Anis Kaimkhani on 23 March 2016. Ashfaq Mangi, Hassan Sabir, Iftikhar Alam and Shabbir Qaimkhani were senior members of the party. It merged into Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan on 12 January 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amir Khan (politician)</span> Pakistani politician

Aamir Khan is a Pakistani politician who is the senior deputy convenor and leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Persecution of Muhajirs</span> Mistreatment of the Muhajir people

Persecution of Muhajirs or Human rights abuses against Muhajirs or Anti-Muhajir sentiment ranges from discrimination, mass killings, forced disappearances and torture, to political repression and suppression of freedom of speech of Muhajirs, mainly those belonging to the right wing party Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhajir Province</span> Proposed Province in Pakistan

The Muhajir Province or Karachi Province is a proposed province movement in the Pakistani province of Sindh. This movement is backed by a Muhajir pan-nationalist political and ethnic movement seeking to establish a separate province in Sindh which seeks to represent the Muhajir people of Pakistan. It is proposed to consist of Muhajir-majority areas of Sindh which would be independent from Sindh government.

Kamran Tessori is a Pakistani politician and businessman, currently serving as the Governor of Sindh since 9 October 2022. Tessori is a member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan party.

MQM Militancy refers to militancy in Pakistan associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement party.

References

  1. 1 2 Walsh, Declan (3 August 2010). "Karachi riots leave 45 dead after MP assassinated". London: The Guardian . Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Anis, Khurrum (4 August 2010). "Karachi Streets Grow Calmer After 63 Gunned Down Over Two Nights of Riots". Bloomberg L.P . Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  3. ↑ "Karachi death toll tops 90". CBC News. 6 August 2010. Retrieved 6 August 2010.
  4. 1 2 Walsh, Declan (3 August 2010). "Karachi riots leave 45 dead after MP assassinated". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 6 August 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  5. 1 2 "Karachi death toll rises after Raza Haider killing". BBC. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  6. ↑ "Karachi burns in wave of violence". Dawn. 3 August 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  7. ↑ "Haider murder: Karachi police arrest 'hardliners'". BBC. 4 August 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
  8. ↑ "Rupee hits another record low of 85.80". The News International. 4 August 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.