| Jul and Aug 2011 Karachi target killings | |
|---|---|
| Location | Karachi, Pakistan |
| Date | 6 July 2011 to mid August 2011, violence subdued as of September 2011 |
| Target | Various ethnic groups |
Attack type | Targeted killings |
| Weapons | Automatic weapons |
| Deaths | ~344 |
| Injured | Hundreds |
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. [1] 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. [2] In mid-July, ANP politicians accused the MQM expelling 3–4,000 Pashtuns out of their neighbourhoods. [3] Dawn reported in 29 August that ethnic Pashtuns were leaving Karachi due to the violence. [4]
Continuous target killings in the month of July claimed the lives of over 300 people. [5] The high death toll in July made it one of the deadliest months in almost two decades in the history of Karachi – in fighting linked to ethnic and religious tensions that plague the city. [6]
The shooting incidents, starting from 6 July, were perpetrated by unknown gunmen and fired indiscriminately in various neighbourhoods throughout the city. In the third day alone, at least 27 people were shot dead, in what was described as one of the worst days the city was witness to since the PPP-led coalition government came into power.
On July, 11 a night of violence resulting in 12 deaths. The violence was triggered by a government minister, Zulfiqar Mirza, who launched a verbal assault on the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Mirza's aggressive remarks were so extreme that members of his own party had to physically remove him from a press conference. [7]
During the course of the attacks, some three buses were fired upon; some shootings were conducted in Orangi Town, causing many suburban locals to vacate their homes and flee to safer areas. All of the attackers managed to escape immediately after the crime.
According to HRCP, businesses usually run by Pashtuns, or Pukhtuns, such as pushcarts, trucks, roadside restaurants, and rickshaws were often targeted, regardless of whether they were affiliated to a political party. [8] By July 12, up to 100 people were killed. These attacks were indiscriminate and involved automatic machine guns, grenades and rocket launchers. According to a rickshaw driver, Fazal Ayaz, "Sometimes, I tell my passengers I won't go to certain areas where they are shooting people who look Pashtuns. But this is my bread and butter." [9]
The President summoned a meeting of top officials to discuss the ongoing violence and find a solution. The attack was condemned by a number of people in the media. Meanwhile, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, one of the large mainstream political parties which dominate the politics of Karachi, threatened to call a strike if the government did not do enough to combat the incident.
Karachi has seen a number of target killings, most of which are allegedly politically motivated and usually carried out against political workers affiliated with political parties. Random shooting incidents however, like these attacks, are not as frequent and raise concerns over the deteriorated security situation of the city. [10]
In the month of August, 44 more people were killed in non-stop shootings. Most of the victims were members of the Muhajir community, the largest ethnic group in Karachi. [11]
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.
The Awami National Party is a Pashtun nationalist, secular and leftist political party in Pakistan. The party was founded by Abdul Wali Khan in 1986 and its current president is Asfandyar Wali Khan, grandson of Bacha Khan, with Mian Iftikhar Hussain serving as the Secretary-General. Part of the PPP-led cabinet of the Pakistani government during 2008−13, ANP's political position is considered left-wing, advocating for secularism, public sector government, and social egalitarianism.
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 lawyers, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), Awami National Party (ANP), Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), 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. Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-azam PMLQ and MQM party workers, with support from president and military dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf, were accused of launching highly coordinated attacks against lawyers, ANP, PTI, PPP, and news channels, especially Aaj News. 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 News headquarters which was shown on live television.
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.
There are or have been a number of separatist movements in Pakistan based on ethnic and regional nationalism, that have agitated for independence, and sometimes fighting the Pakistan state at various times during its history. As in many other countries, tension arises from the perception of minority/less powerful ethnic groups that other ethnicities dominate the politics and economics of the country to the detriment of those with less power and money. The government of Pakistan has attempted to subdue these separatist movements.
The Muhajir people are Muslim immigrants of various ethnic groups and regional origins, and their descendants, who migrated from various regions of India after the Partition of India to settle in the newly independent state of Pakistan. The community includes those immigrants' descendants, most of whom are settled in Karachi and other parts of urban Sindh. The Muhajir community also includes stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh who migrated to Pakistan after 1971 following the secession of East Pakistan in the Bangladesh Liberation War.
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. 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.
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.
Wali Khan Babar was a Pakistani journalist working for GEO News who was killed by gunmen in the Liaquatabad area of Karachi. His murderers Saulat Mirza and Faisal Mota are sentenced to death by the court on March 10, 2015. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Babar was the first journalist it had confirmed killed in a work-related death in 2011. Pakistan was the deadliest country for journalists in 2010. Despite the murders of several people associated with the investigation and the death of an accused, in March 2014 four people were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder, and two others were given death sentences in absentia.
Targeted killings in Pakistan have been a rising form of violence and have contributed to security instability in the country. They have become common and have gained attention especially in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, economic capital and capital city of the Sindh province. Several targeted killings have also occurred in Quetta, the capital of the southern province of Balochistan. Police and law enforcement agencies have sometimes come under criticism for their ineffectiveness in locating the perpetrators and investigating their motives. For most part, targeted killings in Karachi have been attributed to political, religious and ethnic reasons. There are speculations about the killing but no real proof has been found against any party.
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Anti-Pashtun sentiment refers to dislike and hostility towards Pashtuns, Pashtun culture, or the Pashto language. This includes fear as well as resentment exhibited by non-Pashtun ethnic majorities who have suffered decades of persecution at the hands of Pashtuns, including disappearances, murder, slavery, Pashtunization, and genocide, especially the Hazaras.
This is a list of terrorist incidents in Pakistan in 2013. Some of the incidents are sectarian in nature and the TTP is responsible for a majority of them.
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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.
According to the HRCP, businesses usually run by Pashtuns [also called Pashtos (RFE/RL 8 Aug. 2011), Pukhtoons (IRIN 11 July 2011), Pushtuns (The Economist 16 Dec. 2010, and Pakhtuns (HRCP 8 Oct. 2011)], such as pushcarts, trucks, roadside restaurants, and rickshaws, are often targeted, regardless of whether they are affiliated with a political party (8 Oct. 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 Aug. 2011). Dawn reports that some Pashtuns are leaving Karachi because of the violence (29 Aug. 2011).
According to the HRCP, businesses usually run by Pashtuns [also called Pashtos (RFE/RL 8 Aug. 2011), Pukhtoons (IRIN 11 July 2011), Pushtuns (The Economist 16 Dec. 2010, and Pakhtuns (HRCP 8 Oct. 2011)], such as pushcarts, trucks, roadside restaurants, and rickshaws, are often targeted, regardless of whether they are affiliated with a political party (8 Oct. 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 Aug. 2011). Dawn reports that some Pashtuns are leaving Karachi because of the violence (29 Aug. 2011).
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