The fighting in Karachi, a sprawling southern port city of
18 million people, has added to the political instability in this
nuclear-armed, US-allied nation and provided another distraction for the
government as it fights a Taleban-led insurgent movement. It also undercuts the
country's struggling economy, because Karachi is its main commercial hub.
The latest spell of violence is extraordinary even by the
standards of Karachi, a city that routinely witnesses more than 1,000 violent
deaths a year, many of them targeted killings linked to political, ethnic and
sectarian rivalries.
It follows the decision by the city's most powerful
political party, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement, to leave the federal ruling
coalition and join the opposition. Such moves by the MQM have traditionally
been accompanied by outbursts of fighting.
The fighting in some areas got so bad that security forces
were ordered to shoot gunmen on sight Friday.
"Four or five homes were burned in our own street, and
so badly that no one could put the fire out. And whenever someone tried to do
so, there was a shootout," said Mohammad Kashif, who spent much of the
week holed up in his house.
By Saturday evening, authorities said more than 150 suspects
were detained and that paramilitary Rangers and other security units had
brought the violence under "complete control." "The Rangers have
completely taken over the affected areas and the miscreants have been swept
out," said Maj. Farooq Bilal, a Rangers spokesman.
Many of the killings, which began Tuesday, appeared linked
to political and ethnic turf battles, officials said. Some of Karachi's leading
political parties have been formed along ethnic lines, though all deny
targeting one another's activists.
The MQM dominates Karachi politics, but over time it has
seen challenges to its power as an influx of ethnic Pashtun residents has moved
to the city and given a boost to the rival Awami National Party, a Pashtun
nationalist party.
Also in the mix is the ruling Pakistan People's Party. All
three parties were partners in the federal ruling coalition until late June,
when the MQM said it would join the opposition.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik said those behind the attacks
were ultimately helping the Taleban, who want "mass killings" and
"destabilization." The US has a keen interest in keeping Pakistan
stable — it needs the country to stay focused on fighting Taleban and other
Islamist militants, some of who threaten Western troops across the border in
Afghanistan. But Pakistan has for the most part taken action only against
militants who stage attacks on its soil.
Late Friday, a Pakistani warlord who has focused on fighting
US and NATO troops in Afghanistan condemned militants who carry out attacks on
Pakistani soil. Hafiz Gul Bahadur's statement illustrates the splintered nature
of the Islamist militant movement in Pakistan.
Because Bahadur's fighters don't go after Pakistani targets,
the Pakistani military has largely left him alone. However, his territory in
the North Waziristan tribal region has come under attack by drone-fired US
missiles.
Earlier this week, an army convoy was struck by a roadside
bomb in North Waziristan.
That prompted the army to retaliate, including destroying a
hospital where the suspected militants behind the bombing were believed to be
hiding, said intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because they were not authorized to speak on the record to media.
Bahadur warned that his fighters would pursue militants
behind such acts, saying they must be American agents.
"We give a go-ahead to all commanders in Waziristan,
mujahedeen and people to kill such criminals who come to do such acts again in
populated areas, houses or hotels, and we will take responsibility for
that," said his statement, issued after he met a group of like-minded
militant leaders.
