Mahreen Khan’s piece on Karachi’s ongoing violence was very good, especially the analogy that she used.
ABU DHABI: Mahreen Khan’s piece on Karachi’s ongoing violence was very good, especially the analogy that she used. The Chicago mobster Al Capone drew his powers from the state’s inefficiency and corruption. He benefitted from the enactment of Prohibition which was legislated by the US Congress. Karachi suffers from the same malady, where police and the administration have been corrupted. State patronage of violence against others and its own people has created this gun and drugs culture.
Karachi has no factory for guns or ammunitions but there is no dearth of these weapons. The question is, where are these weapons coming from — and perhaps more importantly, why isn’t the government doing anything to prevent this from happening by arresting those involved in this massive gun-running racket? Deweaponisation is not the answer; we need to eliminate these factories of death.
Arif Qadri
Published in The Express Tribune, October 24th, 2010.
