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.
Lyari is a historic locality in Karachi, Pakistan. It is the most densely-populated part of Karachi, and is one of its earliest settled areas.
Sardar Nabil Ahmed Gabol is a Pakistani politician who has been a Member of the National Assembly of Pakistan since 2024. Previously he had been a member of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2015 and a member of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996. He served as Minister of State for Ports and Shipping from 2008 to 2011 and as Deputy Speaker of the Sindh Assembly from 1993 to 1996.
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.
Sardar Abdul Rehman Baloch alias Rehman Dakait was a Pakistani gangster based in Karachi's Lyari neighbourhood who formed the Peoples' Aman Committee. In urban Karachi, he is a mythical figure from the feared but not talked about underworld. Dakait was a cousin of Sardar Uzair Jan Baloch, who is in the custody of law enforcement.
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 cultural history of Karachi goes back at least five thousand years to the emergence of the Indus Valley Civilization in the third millennium BC. The early culture is mostly Neolithic with widespread usage of small cart implements and semi-precious stones. The many megalithic Arab graves around Karachi gave evidence towards megalithic movements of the Arabian Peninsula.
Pakistan is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country. The major Pakistani ethnolinguistic groups include Punjabis, Pashtuns, Sindhis, Gujjar, Saraikis, Muhajirs, Balochs, Paharis and Brahuis, with significant numbers of Baltis, Kashmiris, Chitralis, Shina, Kohistanis, Torwalis, Hazaras, Burusho, Wakhis, Kalash, Siddis, Uzbeks, Nuristanis, Pamiris, Hindkowans, Kyrgyz, Turkmen, Uyghurs and other various minorities.
Karachi is the largest and most populous city in Pakistan. The population of Karachi is estimated to be around 16 million (16,093,786) in 2020. The population and demographic distribution in the megacity has undergone numerous changes over the past 150 years. On 14 August 1947, when it became the capital city of Pakistan, its population was about 450,000 inhabitants However, the population rapidly grew with large influx of Muslim refugees after independence in 1947. By 1951, the city population had crossed one million mark. in the following decade, the rate of growth of Karachi was over 80 percent. Today, the city has grown 60 times its size in 1947 when it became the country's first capital. Although, Islamabad remains the nation's capital since the 1960s, the city's population continues to grow at about 5% per annum, largely thanks to its strong economic base.
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 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.
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.
The Peoples' Aman Committee was an alleged militant group tied to the Pakistan People's Party and based in Karachi, Pakistan. The PAC was founded by the infamous Karachi gangster Rehman Dakait in 2008 and is accused of being involved in organized crime and gang wars. After Rehman's death in 2009, leadership of the group was taken over by Uzair Baloch.
The Qasba–Aligarh massacre was an ethnic massacre that took place when recently settled armed tribal Pashtuns from KPK, Pakistan and Afghanistan attacked densely populated civilized locals in Qasba Colony, Aligarh Colony and Sector 1-D of Orangi in Karachi in the early hours of the morning on 14 December 1986. According to official reports, around 49 people were killed and several hundred were injured in what was perceived as a "revenge killing" by newly settled armed Pashtuns following an unsuccessful raid on a Pashtun heroin processing and distribution center in Sohrab Goth by the security forces. Most of the residents of the two colonies happened to be Muhajirs like Biharis who had been freshly repatriated from Bangladesh.
Uzair Jan Baloch is a Pakistani gangster and former crime lord originally from Karachi, Pakistan. He was a key figurehead of Karachi underworld and notorious gang war in his hometown, Lyari, at his peak around 2012. Baloch is accused in various cases involving murder, extortion, drug trafficking, terrorism, and after being arrested many times, became a fugitive wanted by law enforcement agencies. Due to his influential ties, it is alleged that Baloch enjoyed political patronage and was "protected" by the ruling PPP from facing charges but was eventually nabbed after intervention of federal authorities. Baloch denies all the charges against him and says they are "politically motivated". He is also the former chief of the Peoples Aman Committee, which was a militant group linked to the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP).
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.
The Muhajir Province Movement 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.
In between 1972 and 1992, MQM militants launched multiple attacks against Sindh government and civilians in order to get a stronghold over Karachi. The first insurrection came to end following Operation Cleanup by Pakistan government in order to destroy the MQM stronghold in Karachi.
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 military's withdrawal, MQM launched another insurrection this time more bloody than the previous one. It's intensity died down following Operation Lyari and Karachi targetted action but it's still a low level insurgency.
