We witness mysterious moves and unpredictable scenarios unfolding in this country as general elections draw closer. The chessboard is laid, and pawns are readied to move at the command of the movers and shakers. The Sardars and their sons and nephews from the hapless lands of Balochistan, Sindh, and South Punjab are shoved into the ranks of one mainstream political party, which was actually reduced to a regional political group in the general elections of 2013 and subsequent electoral contests.

The footprint of these powers is also visible in the political and electoral process in the city through the MQM’s consistent subservience to them to produce desired results.

The Metropolis has experienced frequent cycles of bloodletting, killings, agony, and misery caused by ethnic factionalism and conflicts since the advent of Zia’s martial law and the encouragement of the politics of ethnicity in the Metropolis. Karachi took many long years to shake off the grip of fear stemming from target killings, arson, extortion, and shutdowns.

Strangely enough, ethnic politics refuse to die down and are mysteriously revived as elections in the country or the Metropolis draw near. Some ethnic groups are washed, purified, scented, and cloaked in a saint's apron to be imposed on the megacity.

The hapless citizens of the city have witnessed the bloody politics of an ethnic group since its inception in 1984. It waged a long internecine war within its groups and engaged in bloody conflicts with almost all other ethnic segments of the populations of the megacities of Karachi and Hyderabad. We lost prodigal sons of the city, including Hakeem Saeed, Salahuddin, Shahid Hamid, Tariq Azeem, and scores of police officers in target killings.

The peaceful people of the city........

© The Friday Times