Karachi, with the largest population of any city in the country and the most seats in the National Assembly plays a vital role in politics of Pakistan. The city is also the industrial and economic hub of the country and houses the country’s biggest port. With the census being conducted after a gap of nearly 18 years the city’s share in terms of national assembly and provincial assembly seats may grow even further. Since the 1999-coup till the very recently the Altaf Hussain lead Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) had established a strong hold in the city, massive development work was also carried out in the city under the former Mayor Mustafa Kamal. Despite the unprecedented development the city was also plagued with serious law and order situation, target killings were uncontrollable, rampant extortion was forcing businessmen to leave the city and the city was in grip of a political as well as sectarian turf war with different players vying for power and resources.
Extremist groups had long treasured a secure basis in Karachi, as had religious terror groups. That was a conventional crime industry specializing in kidnap, drug smuggling and extortion (as mentioned). Pakistan’s politicians tolerated this. Pervez Musharraf, the former President was often accused of allowing the armed wing of Karachi’s largest political party, MQM, to operate with complete impunity. This policy continued under Musharraf’s civilian successor, Asif Zardari, whose Pakistan’s People’s Party (PPP) governed Karachi in coalition with MQM from 2008 to 2012.
The change in Karachi’s fortune came after the 2013 general elections when the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PMLN) formed government in the center. Soon after an operation was started in Karachi lead by the Rangers and despite the continuous tug of war between the security establishment and the Sindh government over the jurisdiction and policing powers of the Rangers, the law and order situation in Karachi improved tremendously. The stats in this regard speak for themselves, in 2013 there were 2,789 killings in Karachi. In the first 11 months of 2016 there were 592. In 2013 there were 51 terrorist bomb blasts. Up to late November this year, there were two. Three years ago, Karachi suffered from an orgy of kidnapping for ransom. There were 78 cases in 2013, rising to 110 the following year. This year, there have been 19. Some 533 extortion cases were reported in 2013; in 2016, only 133. Sectarian killing is sharply down: while 38 members of the Shia minority (who are brutally targeted in Pakistan) were killed in 2013, that figure was down by two thirds in 2016.
Now, with elections approaching (general elections 2018), the city is seeing a rapidly changing political map, the PMLN has managed to install its own man at the governor house, Muhammad Zubair, the PPP holds the Sindh government, the Pak Sarzameen Party under the reformed Mustafa Kamal is also hopeful of taking a slice from Karachi’s many seats, the MQM-Pakistan under Farooq Sattar and the MQM-London are rather quiet at the moment but both still command sizeable influence in the city, as a matter of fact the Karachi Mayor belongs to the MQM-Pakistan too and there’s the small matter of Imran Khan lead Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf who still believes that they can have a role in Karachi’s politics, there are also rumours that former President Pervez Musharaf may seek a return before the elections. The recent return of Saleem Shehzad is also being seen as a potential move in this regard. How the city’s political parties shape up for the elections will be very interesting to see.
Politically, the city has never been so open before.
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