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Second MQM insurrection | ||||||||
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Part of MQM Militancy | ||||||||
Pakistan Rangers in 2015 when MQM's HQ Nine Zero was getting raided | ||||||||
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Belligerents | ||||||||
MQM Haqiqi | Sunni Tehreek TTP SSP | |||||||
Units involved | ||||||||
MQM Haqiqi | Sunni Tehreek TTP SSP | |||||||
Casualties and losses | ||||||||
6,000+ 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]
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]
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]
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]
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]
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'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]
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]
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]
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.
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]
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 two 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 Aimal Wali Khan, great-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.
Nine Zero was the name given to the headquarters of Pakistan's political party, Muttahida Qaumi Movement founded in 1984. It was located in Azizabad, a sub-division of Federal B. Area, Karachi.
This is a timeline of Pakistani history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in the region of modern-day Pakistan. To read about the background of these events, see History of Pakistan and History of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
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 1993–1994, as part of her internal policies.
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General elections were held in Pakistan on 16 November 1988 to elect the members of the National Assembly and Senate.
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) blamed the Awami National Party, it's political rival, for the killing. Haider, 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.
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.
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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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Aamir Khan is a Pakistani politician who is the senior deputy convenor and leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan.
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MQM militancy refers to militancy in Pakistan associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement party.
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has generic name (help)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)
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."
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
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
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.
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).
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.
Local media put the number even higher, and the Dawn newspaper reported that 318 people were killed in July.
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