The worst ethnic and political bloodshed in Karachi since the army was called in to ease street battles in the 1990s has increased fears of instability in Pakistan, a strategic nuclear-armed US ally.
Political parties are often accused of using ethnic gangs in a turf war over everything from land-grabbing schemes to extortion rackets to votes in Pakistan’s biggest city, allegations they deny.
The review, led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, carried on the Islamabad-based Supreme Court’s website, said political parties should denounce their ties with criminals and help stop bloodshed.
“We apprehend that any further failure to protect the lives and property of the citizens is likely to cause unprecedented disaster,” said the review, prompted by deteriorating security in Karachi.
Karachi has a long history of ethnic violence between the dominant Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) — which represents the Mohajirs, descendants of Urdu-speakers who migrated from India after Pakistan’s birth in 1947 — and the ethnic-Pashtun Awami National Party (ANP).
But this year has been particularly gruesome, and there are no signs the outgunned and underfunded police force of 33,000 can win against hardened criminals who are widely feared in the city of 18 million. Torture chambers have emerged. Some people are drilled, burned, carved up and beheaded, security officials say.
“Recent violence in Karachi represents unimaginable brutalities, bloodshed, kidnapping and throwing away dead bodies and torsos in bags,” said the review.
More than 1,300 people have been killed this year, said the Supreme Court. Security officials say political parties are giving their militant wings free rein in the teeming metropolis on the Arabian Sea.
Security concerns by the United States and other Western allies in Pakistan have focused on Al-Qaeda and the Taleban, who are fighting to topple the government.
But the turmoil in Karachi could be far more worrying in the long term, especially to Pakistan’s economy.
Karachi, home to ports, the stock exchange and central bank, contributes 25 percent of Pakistan’s gross domestic product and is the country’s main industrial base.
It is also a major transit point for supplies for US forces in Afghanistan and so upheaval here can hinder efforts to pacify the Taleban next door.
The violence can scare away foreign investors. Economic disruptions caused by violence causes millions of dollars a day in losses, a problem noted in the review.
Some areas of the city are so dangerous that police and security forces rarely venture there.
“We direct that there must be no “NO GO AREAS” at all in Karachi,” said the review.
