Ordered disorder?: Karachi’s recent target killers spare no one

Children who survived attacks that killed their parents struggle to continue life.

KARACHI:

Despite the ordered disorder phenomenon to Karachi’s violence, most residents of Karachi, regardless of their age, gender, religion, sect, ethnicity or social class, know that they can find themselves on the wrong side of the gun’s barrel.

When it comes to target killings though, even the mafia had some rules back in the day. A father was shot dead in the past, but his children were spared. A brother would be mutilated, but his sister wouldn’t be butchered. Now, the target killers are out with a vengeance and they spare no one. Be it children, brothers or fathers - everyone is paying the price.

The city is not new to sectarian violence, which flared up mostly in the 1980s and the early 1990s. Since 2008, the trend has gone up once again, perhaps due to the growth in the number of banned religious outfits operating in Karachi.

Senior police officials believed that the first such incident in which an entire Sunni family was killed on sectarian grounds occurred in 1995. Some armed men barged into a house on Tariq Road and shot down the entire family except for a toddler. Some time later, a few men belonging to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi were arrested. They confessed that they believed the family was Shia, not Sunni.



“At that time, we thought something like this will never happen again,” said Crime Investigation Department SSP Fayyaz Khan. “The situation has worsened now because the militants are now targeting the families too.”

Khan blamed the hatred among these groups which is mostly instigated by religious leaders, who should be more careful in what they say. “The hatred has increased so much that the arrested militants insist they will kill the same people once they get out of jail,” he told The Express Tribune. “It seems like their leaders are no longer in control of them [militants].”

No safety with families

In the past, the militants from both sectarian outfits had no fear roaming with their families as they believed they would not be targeted if they had family members along. “We don’t have this option anymore,” K, an operative of a Deoband organisation told The Express Tribune. “We can’t sit quiet if someone kills our family. Everyone pays for their actions.”

Meanwhile, another militant of a Shia outfit, A, admitted that there are no rules in this war. “Our entire community is being wiped out,” he pointed out. “I will sacrifice myself and my family again and again to prevent this.” When innocent family members are killed that causes more hatred, A explained, adding that several people became involved only to take revenge. “If we [target killers] were 100 in number before, we are now 10,000.”



CID SP Mazhar Mashwani feared that the situation would become worse. “You can understand the situation from the fact that only the bodies of young men were brought home before. Now the bodies of entire families are sent home.” Mashwani suspected that the next stage would be when these militants barge into homes to get to their target.

Coping with loss

Senior lawyer Kauser Saqlain was the recent victim of this new trend when he was killed along with his two teenage sons. After burying the bodies of his father and older brothers, Saqlain’s son, Mardan Ali, vowed to take revenge. “What was the father or my brothers’ fault?”

Six-year-old Moeed, who lost his father Sarfaraz Ahmed - a unit in-charge of the MQM for Nazimabad, has not been able to sleep since he saw six bullets piercing through his father. “Moeed is in severe shock,” his uncle, Asif Ahmed said. “What will his future be like now? What will he do?”

A timeline of targeted attacks involving children:

2000

Apr 7 – A senior Shia lawyer, Mirza Waqar Hussain Naqvi, was killed along with his son, Arshad Hussain Naqvi, 18, and a driver on Shaheed-e-Millat Road

2013

May 3 – An ANP candidate for NA-254, Sadiq Zaman Khattak, and his four-year-old son, Ahmed Zaman Khattak, were gunned down in Bilal Colony, Korangi

2012

Mar 24 – Salahuddin Haider, a former president of the Malir Bar Association, and his son were killed in Memon Goth

2013

May 4 – Two minors - eight-year-old Abdul Rehman and Shaheryar, 12, lost their lives in twin bomb blasts at MQM’s election office in Azizabad.

2012

May 30 – A 65-year-old fruit vendor Ghulam Qadir, who belongs to the Shia sect, and his son, Fazal Abbas, 32, were killed in Baldia Town

2013

May 6 – Lawyer Shakeel Ahmed Jan Bangash and his father, advocate Ali Ahmed Jan, were killed on Mauripur Road

2012

Sep 25 – Four brothers from the Deoband sect, Abdul Moeed, Abdul Waheed, Abdul Aziz and Abdul Muqeed, also associated with ASWJ, were killed in North Karachi

2013

May 28 – Senior lawyer Kauser Saqlain and his two sons, Aun Abbas, 15, and Mohammad Abbas, 12, were killed in Macchar Colony

2012

Nov 30 – A Shia Azadari Anjuman member, Nazar Abbas was killed while his daughter, Mehzar Zehra, 12, was injured in an attack on Shaheed-e-Millat Road

2013

May 28 – Dr Ahsan Ali Jafri, who belongs to the Shia sect, and his 12-year-old daughter, Laiba, were injured in Nusrat Bhutto Colony

2013

Jan 7 – A man of the Deoband sect, Asghar, and his daughter, Zainab, 1, were killed while his daughter, Dua, 1, and wife were injured in an attack near Ayesha Manzil

2013

May 29 – MQM unit in-charge Sarfaraz Ahmed was shot dead in Nazimabad in front of his children

2013

Jan 23 – PML-N Sindh joint secretary Mian Taimur was gunned down, along with his father, Mian Arbab on Khayaban-e-Jami in DHA

2013

May 29 – MQM worker Saleem Ameen was wounded in front of his children in New Karachi

Published in The Express Tribune, June 3^rd, 2013.