Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi faces a growing menace from some of the world’s most dangerous militant groups because political and ethnic rivalries destabilizing the city are making it easier for them to operate.
Provincial coalition politicians have become so consumed by rivalries they are hindering the war on militancy in Karachi, which officials say contributes 68 percent of the government’s total revenue and 25 percent of GDP.
“All these parties have to be on board and they have to trust each other if they want any kind of plan to be effective on the ground,” said Sharfuddin Memon, a consultant for the Home Affairs Department of the provincial government of Sindh, of which Karachi is the capital.
Intertwined organizations like al-Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban are already well established in Karachi, a major transit point for supplies to Afghanistan for the US and NATO-led anti-insurgency effort.
They enjoy safe havens and benefit from funding networks in the sprawling metropolis, where hard-line religious seminaries churn out young men eager for holy war.
Tackling militants is made more difficult by Karachi’s complex ethnic politics. Animosities between political parties — that go back decades — still trigger bloodshed.
The dominant Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) represents the Mohajirs, descendents of Urdu-speakers who migrated from India after Pakistan was created in 1947.
The ethnic Pashtun-based Awami National Party (ANP) is the MQM’s main rival for political posts and spoils.
Karachi’s so-called targeted killings, often blamed on MQM and ANP supporters, have risen to 1,132 this year, the highest level since 1995, according to the Citizens--Police Liaison Committee.
Rising numbers of drive-by shootings, drug wars, extortion rackets and land grabbing are deepening chaos in Karachi, giving militants even more opportunities to find hideouts, generate cash, gain recruits and plan and stage attacks.
“If the police launch an operation against militants here, they will hit back hard. They have plenty of weapons,” said MQM official Khawaja Izhar Hassan, driving through enemy territory during a quiet period.
As political parties trade accusations, a far more subtle but equally troubling security threat looms in Karachi, home to the central bank, stock exchange, main port and offices of most foreign companies investing in Pakistan.
Containing the militant threat will require pouring resources into law enforcement agencies so they can improve intelligence gathering, disrupting the kidnappings and extortion which fund militants.
However, generating cash to boost the fight against militancy is unlikely soon. Pakistan is being kept afloat by a 2008 US$11 billion IMF loan.
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