Living with violence: Lyari gang war driving residents out of their homes

Children who witness rocket attacks reluctant to go back.

KARACHI: Relocating has become so frequent in Aslam’s* life that he had to leave his home on his wedding day, and spend the night at a relative’s house. “The gangsters started firing at people during my wedding function,” the young electrician exclaimed. “Imagine a groom running for his life at his own wedding.”

This happened in February. These days, Aslam, a resident of Lyari, lives as a displaced person at his in-laws’ house on Jummah Baloch road. It has been nearly 25 days since he moved out of his house on alFalah road. Aslam has not been able to go out for work and is surviving on the Rs200 rent he earns every day from a rickshaw driver.

Since tension erupted between two communities in Lyari last month - reaching its extreme in the past few days - dozens of families have locked their houses and shifted to their relatives’ homes. “I am afraid to step outside the house,” Aslam admitted. “The gangsters are looking for youngsters who they can accuse of fighting from their rivals’ side.”

Aslam may have just sacrificed the comforts of his own house but some residents, such as Shakeela, are watching their loved ones become victims of the ongoing violence. Her daughter, Naima, and her husband were shot while they were on their way to a bakery to get breakfast. “They weren’t stepping outside for the past few days and when they did, this is what happened,” quivered the woman as she spoke over the phone.

Another displaced person, a mother of two minor girls, has to deal with the trauma her children face as they cry when gunshots ring through the neighbourhood and bullet casings fall into their courtyard. “The area is booming with gunshots and rockets. Even my own house in Rahimabad was attacked by a rocket,” she said. “Thankfully, we had left before it happened but my children are scared of going back home now.”

Haroon, who is staying at his aunt’s house, said that they had very little to eat and drink. Shops are closed in the area and there was no way to get food supplies, he said, adding that the place seemed no less than what he thinks Waziristan is like. “Why are the Rangers not taking action to ensure peace in the area?”

A representative of one of the communities, Hussain, pointed out that around 35 houses have been damaged and some of them have been looted. “The situation is very bad because anyone can be killed anywhere by the gangsters,” he said, adding that no one has approached the residents of Lyari to address their displacement issue. “Taking risks, people are coming out to protests but there have been no genuine efforts to ensure peace.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 13^th, 2013.