Bloodshed in Lyari

For a government that let hundreds die in Thar, killing of a mere 19 in Lyari is hardly going to make any difference.

In a brutal reminder of the government’s lack of writ over parts of Karachi, the volatile neighbourhood of Lyari bled once again. This time, violence took 19 lives — most of those killed were women and children who had gone shopping to Jhat Pat Market. The incredible death toll came a few hours after one of the brothers of notorious gangster Ghaffar Zikri was gunned down in an alleged encounter with law enforcers. This death toll also followed the brutal killings of three boxers and two of their family members earlier this week.

It remains to be seen whether or not the grenade attacks in the market were a reaction to any of these events but the loss of lives and the fact that the authorities clearly struggled to manage the situation makes one wonder what the point of deployment of the police and Rangers around the neighbourhood is. Another worrying fact that emerged in the aftermath of the Jhat Pat Market attacks was how the residents were utterly terrified of seeking help. When the injured reached the hospital, there was already a presence of burly men barking orders to the doctors and refusing to let families through. The survivors were scared to share their names with the media and the doctors were scared to attend to the patients, fearing they may face a backlash in case a rival group is offended. This is a truly a sad state of affairs. For a government that easily let hundreds die in Thar, the killing of a mere 19 in Lyari is hardly going to make any difference. Ironically, both Thar and Lyari are areas where the government boasts it has maximum support.

If the government and the law enforcers are even remotely interested in resolving the crisis in Lyari, they must address the issue at its roots. Find out if the killings were triggered by the earlier killings of the boxers, or the killing of Zikri’s brother, or an attempt to scare Jhat Pat market traders into paying extortion — and then, make sure Lyari does not see another day like March 12. It surely doesn’t deserve this.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2014.

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