Karachi target killings - A Citizen's perspective

When the term "target killing" is approached, the first thing that comes to mind is a well-organized and pre-planned assassination conducted using high-tech weaponry and a scene set to the fullest extent of a feature movie.When someone is assassinated due to his/her connection with any political, religious, ethnic or other group, the killing is said to be targeted. Karachi is a multi-ethnic city and consists of many ethnic groups and sects. Karachi's location plays a vital role in its politics. Because of these ethnic politics and differences, ethnic violence has remained an integral part of Karachi's history starting from partition in 1947.This violence has often turned into a large-scale bloody conflict. Following the partition of British India in 1947, Muslims migrated from areas of newly India to the newly made nation of Pakistan and many settled in the Karachi, the historical capital of Sindh. These settlers had educated middle-class to upper-class backgrounds and came from good families. They came to be known as the Muhajir people. They dominated much of Karachi's business society. In 1971, after the separation of East Pakistan (Bangladesh) from West Pakistan, Pakistan accepted a large number of Bihari people loyal to their country and even offered them citizenship. Some Bengali people also chose to stay in Pakistan rather than migrate to Bangladesh.
Karachi has always remained the economic and industrial hub of Pakistan. This publicized wealth attracted many people from Punjab, Baluchistan and NWFP. Further to this, many Iranians, Afghans and Arabs settled in Karachi following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. This widely spread ethnic blend led to many communal feuds and violences, some of which even last today such as the Muhajir-Pathan feud and the Punjabi-Sindhi feud.
The ethnic violence intensified when political parties began to associate with ethnic groups. For example the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) was founded for the political interests for the Muhajir people. Other groups also formed parties to protect their interests. As rivalry increased, social and political disorder also reached  record high. Religious, sectarian and Sunni-Shia feuds have also been vastly present in the history of Karachi. On top of this are drug mafias and criminal gangs which further enhance the disorder of the city. Since the mid-1990s, targeted killings and other forms of violence in Karachi have reached their peak. In 1990, 294 people in Karachi were killed by terrorists.
Target killing in Karachi has many dimensions, the most important of which are; political rivalries, territory feuds, ethnic/sectarian violence, intra-party wars, external involvement, gang wars etc. Karachi remains the only city in Pakistan to have seen a full-fledged Army operation (held in 1990's in which  more than 25,000 were killed, out of which 15,000 belonged to the MQM alone. This operation was headed by the Pakistan Army with mild support of Rangers while the target areas were decided by the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Military Intelligence (MI).
In 2009, 256 people including 69 workers of the MQM, 60 of Muhajir Qaumi Movement-Haqiqi (MQM-H), 28 of Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and 23 of the Awami National Party (ANP) and 41 of religious groups were killed in killings across the city.
According to official sources at least 436 people have been killed in just 4 months in 2011 because of the armed clashes among different ethnic, religious, political and different groups and target killings in Karachi. Day to day death counting showed that such incidents, only in the month of March, claimed over 190 lives in the city. But the Karachi police surprisingly, hiding the original figures, estimated the counting of killed persons at only 109 from January to March.
Karachi has been victim of target killing and violence. In March in only 36 hours, 18 people died in several incidents happened in different areas of Karachi. The major incident of target killing had taken place in Kharadar After that incident; violence broke out in many areas of the city which caused many killings in Karachi. On this day another bus was set on fire by the forced group of people in consequence of killing of a worker belonging to a political party.
In May 2011 Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the Rangers played a key role in eliminating targeted killing in Karachi and a single incident should not be used to malign the whole force. According to him the  media had no right to unnecessarily criticize the secret agencies as they had upset more than 1100 terror plots. He claims that the Rangers and police officials should also be appreciated who sacrificed their lives inline with their duty. 48 police officers were killed by criminal elements in Karachi during last five months.
On 8th July 2011 President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari ordered the Sindh government to ensure people’s safety and also ensure protection of precious human lives in Karachi, and ensured it of every possible help from the Federal government in this regard.

On 9th July 2011 The Sindh government authorized the Rangers to exercise the powers of police officers to use necessary force to prevent terrorist acts as steps promised and taken until now failed to stop killings in Karachi and 30 people died during violence in the month of July.

In the present month of August which also coincides with the holy month of Ramadan, things looked peaceful until the 15th of August. A key man of the PPP was gunned down in Karachi and in the aftermath, the city embarked on a bloodshed which broke all previous records. In one day, 27 people were killed across Karachi which promoted a standing feeling of fear among the citizens. The situation has so far remained far from improving as the bloodshed enters its second week. The citizens and industrialists of Karachi have demanded that the control of Karachi be handed over to the Pakistan Army so they can stage a full scale operation against the perpetrators of these killings. The Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani has assured the Federal and Provincial government of the Army's support and has offered to conduct a military crackdown against the miscreants. However, because an Army operation would be against the interests of the political leaders of the region, this request has been denied.The elected representatives in Karachi feel no shame as their people die in this violence. No one is doing anything while the city of the Quaid, Karachi dies a slow and painful death. MQM blames ANP for target killings, ANP blame MQM for lying, and while Rehman Malik says a third element is involved behind all these violence. Personal interests are the talk of the day for most politicians.
From another perspective, some say that this is a war to occupy as much land as possible, with MQM search into Pashtun, Baloch and Punjabi dominant areas, and vice versa. Whatever the reason, the common man is being punished not the political lords who benefit.
How long these target killings would continue in Karachi? No one has the answer, for sure.