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| Discrimination |
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| Muhajirs |
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| Violence against Muhajirs |
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| Pakistan |
| Bangladesh |
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.
According to Amnesty International, extrajudicial executions of Muhajirs by law enforcement personnel, often portrayed by the authorities as "encounters" with police, continued to be reported from Karachi with distressing frequency. [1] In Karachi, extra judicial killings against Muhajirs is not a new phenomenon. It began in 1992 during an operation against MQM. [2]
The Muhajirs were persecuted all across India in the aftermath of 1947 Partition of India.
The Muhajirs were given refuge by native Sindhi Muslims in large numbers with open arms. Muhajirs were given clothes to wear & food to eat by local Sindhis.
Many Urdu speaking bihari Muhajirs supported west Pakistan Army to persecute Bengali revolutionaries of East Pakistan (Bangladesh).
As a result of this disloyalty, the Bengalis retaliated the Muhajirs with good amount of violent attacks & mass persecution to such an extent that ghetoizzed the Muhajirs finally to small Geneva camps .
From 1992 to 1994, the MQM was the target of the Pakistan Army's Operation Clean-up, The period is regarded as the bloodiest period in Karachi's history, with thousands of MQM workers and supporters killed or gone missing. [3] [4] [5] Although 25 years have passed since the alleged arrest or disappearance of MQM workers, families of the missing people are still hopeful after registering the cases in the Supreme Court of Pakistan. [6] The operation left thousands of Muhajir civilians dead. [7] [8] During the operation clean-up there was growing evidence that the Rangers and police were involved in human rights abuses, including beatings, extortion, disappearances, torture and extrajudicial executions of suspected militants in faked encounter killings of Muhajirs. [4] The police and army carried out raids, mass round-ups and siege-and-search operations in pursuit of MQM(A) leaders and militants over the next 30 months, thousands of ordinary MQM supporters and Muhajir were subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention, extrajudicial execution, beatings, torture, extortion and other ill-treatment. [4] [9]
During tenure of Benazir Bhutto, interior minister General Naseerullah Babar conducted second operation against MQM between 1994 and 1996. [10] On 5 September 1995, 8 MQM supporters were killed and 11 were injured when security forces attacked what the MQM billed as a peaceful protest against abuses by security forces against MQM women workers. [11] Due to serious doubts over credibility of operation due to fake encounters, extra judicial killings and rise of killings in Karachi, [12] Benazir Bhutto's government was dismissed by the then President of Pakistan, Farooq Ahmed Laghari. [13]
On 2 August, Farooq Patni, alias Farooq Dada, and three other MQM workers, Javed Michael, Ghaffar Mada and Hanif Turk, were shot dead by police in an alleged armed "encounter" near the airport when, according to police, they failed to stop and opened fire on the police. [1] Family members, however, claimed that the men had earlier been arrested from their homes. Moreover, another MQM worker, Mohammad Altaf, arrested later on the same day was reportedly identified by Farooq Dada and his three companions when they were brought to Altaf's house by police to help identify him. Witnesses were reported to have seen the four MQM workers at the time of Altaf's arrest; they were at that time reportedly held in shackles. [1]
In 2015, a senior policeman, who declined to be named, put the figure of deaths of MQM workers at 1,000, saying a majority of the deaths were extrajudicial killings. [14] Three other serving officials confirmed the assessment. [14] In 2015, the HRCP expressed concern over the rise in extrajudicial killings and lack of transparency about the number of MQM activists picked up or later let off. [15] During Nine Zero raid, MQM worker Waqas Shah was brutally shot down by Ranger's 9mm pistol fire from point blank range. The video evidence released on electronic media confirmed the incident. [16] Farooq Sattar's coordination officer Syed Aftab Ahmed was killed while in the custody of paramilitary forces. Initially the force denied torture and stated that he died of heart attack but it had to accept after social media publicized videos of torture marks on Aftab's body and autopsy report conforming death due to torture. [17] [18] [19] During the raid on Nine Zero, Syed Waqas Ali Shah was shot by rangers, “Don’t misbehave with the women,” were said to be the 25-year-old Shah's last words to Rangers personnel, who according to eye-witnesses accounts were shoving and pushing women protesting outside the MQM headquarters. [20] As a result of operation, MQM claims 67 of its workers have been extra judicially murdered the paramilitary force while 150 are still missing and more than 5,000 are behind bars. The Amnesty International, US state department, United Nations Human rights commission has published several documents highlighting gross human rights violations during the targeted operation against MQM. [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] [28] [29]
The Qasba–Aligarh massacre was a massacre that happened when recently settled armed tribal Afghan Refugees 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. [30] According to official reports, around 49 people were killed (unofficial reports are significantly higher at 400) and several hundred were injured in what was perceived as a "revenge killing" [30] by newly settled armed Afghan Refugees following an unsuccessful raid on an Afghan heroin processing and distribution center in Sohrab Goth by the security forces. [31] Most of the residents of the two colonies happened to be Muhajirs like Biharis who had been freshly repatriated from Bangladesh. [32]
On 27 May 1990, Sindh government launched a crackdown in Hyderabad, the center of MQM power. A shoot- on-sight curfew was imposed, and a police house-to-house search began. The Muhajirs protested at this treatment and fighting broke out. In what has become known as 'the Pucca Qila massacre'. More than 250 women and children were killed, leading to retaliations in Karachi and elsewhere and over 300 more deaths. [33]
The 1988 Hyderabad massacre, also known as Black Friday was the coordinated massacre of more than 250 Muhajir civilians in Hyderabad, Sindh near Hyderabad cantt on September 30, 1988. [34] Identified gunmen, led by Sindhi nationalist and terrorist Qadir Magsi, opened fire on a large unarmed crowd. Sindhi nationalists, including Qadir Magsi, and the Sindh Taraqi Pasand Party, were widely seen as responsible for the massacre. [35]
Muhajirs from Pakistan held a peaceful demonstration in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York against the alleged human rights violations in the country. [36] Displaying placards and banners calling the Pakistan Army generals "war criminals". The protest was organised by the United States wing of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). The protestors claimed that thousands of innocent people of their community have been killed in Pakistan over the last three decades and several thousands have been held under illegal captivity without a trial. [36]
MQM America has staged a protest demonstration, on February 20, 2014, over the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of MQM’s workers in Karachi. Junaid Fehmi, Central Organizer America, Joint Organizers Muhammad Arshad Hussain and Nadeem Siddiqui and members of central committee, in-charges and office bearers of different wings and a large number of Muhajirs participated the protest demonstration. [37] They came to take part in the demonstration despite severe cold and snowing.
MQM USA held a peaceful protest in front of Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC on Saturday, October 17, 2020 against the ongoing injustices in Muhajir Province, illegal occupation and sale of islands along Muhajir Province coast, illegal occupation of resources of Muhajir Province and Balochistan by Punjabi Establishment, sale of Muhajir Province minerals and land to China, and the ongoing military atrocities, illegal arrests, extrajudicial killings in Muhajir Province and Baluchistan. The demonstration was attended by a large number of Urdu-speaking Muhajirs. [38]
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) Canada Toronto Chapter held a protest in Mississauga against the state brutalities in Pakistan. [39] They protested against the burning of the MQM head office and parental residence of MQM founder leader Altaf Hussain in Azizabad, Karachi known as “Nine Zero” by paramilitary Rangers, the extrajudicial killing of its workers and the illegal arrest of former MNA Nisar Panhwar. The protesters carried pictures of MQM founder leader Mr. Altaf Hussain, former MNA Nisar Ahmed Panhwar and MQM flags. They carried placards against the burning of MQM leader Mr. Altaf Hussain's residence and MQM center known as Nine Zero, and extra-judicial killings of MQM activists, with words of condemnation written on them. The protestors continued to express their feelings by raising slogans against the state atrocities on MQM workers and Mohajirs in Pakistan from time to time. [40]
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.
Azeem Ahmed Tariq was a Pakistani politician who was the Chairman and one of the founding members of MQM and its student wing APMSO. The party was formed to fight for the rights of the Mohajir people in Sindh, who were immigrants from India during the Indo-Pakistan split.
The All Pakistan Muttahida Students Organization is a Pakistani student organization notable for creating a political party: the Muhajir Quami Movement, now called the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
Syed Faisal Ali Subzwari is a Pakistani politician and senior leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement – Pakistan. He was elected as a member of the Provincial Assembly of Sindh on the ticket of MQM-P in 2013 Pakistani general election and has served as the opposition leader in Sindh Assembly.
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.
The Mohajir Qaumi Movement Pakistan also 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.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement (Pakistan) (Urdu: متحدہ قومی موومنٹ (پاکستان)Muttahidah Qọ̄mī Mūvmaṅṫ Pākistānabbr.MQM-P) is a social liberal, Muhajir nationalist, and secularist 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 the 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.
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.
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.
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).
Waseem Akhtar is a Pakistani politician of the Muttahida Quami Movement (P). He served as the Mayor of Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, from 2016 to 2020. Shortly after his nomination as Mayor, he was controversially arrested for what his supporters saw as political reasons.
Pak Sarzameen Party 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.
Nadeem Nusrat is a Pakistani-American politician who had been former convener and leader of Muttahida Qaumi Movement London.
Aamir Khan is a Pakistani politician who is the senior deputy convenor and leader of 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.
Pucca Qila Massacre was a coordinated massacre of Muhajir civilians conducted by Sindh police on the orders of the PPP-led Sindh Government. The massacre resulted in the deaths of more than 162 Muhajirs. The massacre resulted in the dismissal of the Benazir Bhutto government by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, allegedly on the orders of Pakistan army.
MQM Militancy refers to militancy in Pakistan associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement party.
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. Its intensity died down following Operation Lyari and Karachi targetted action but it is still a low level insurgency.
Approximately 250,000 of the estimated 1.5 million Pashtuns of Karachi were living in Orangi.