MQM Militancy

MQM Militancy refers to militancy in Pakistan associated with the Muttahida Qaumi Movement party.

History

Rise (1978-1992)

Senior Leader Farooq Sattar & Tariq Javed, with founder Altaf Hussain

The ancestor of the MQM was the All Pakistan Muttahidda Students Organization (APMSO), drew its support from muhajir defectors from the heavily armed Islami Jamiat ut-Taleba(IJT). A large number of Jamaat-i-Islami members who were ethnic Muhajirs shifted their loyalties to the MQM overnight, resulting in the elimination of the former influence of the Jamaat. APMSO was radicalised when in 1985-86 the first (of the many) major clashes took place between Karachi's Muhajir and Pushtun communities.[1] Faced by the superior firepower brought in by Afghan refugees, MQM dispatched a delegation of APMSO members to Hyderabad to meet a militant group from the Sindhi nationalist student organisation, the JSSF. APMSO were given some small firearms by PSF in the early 1980s, but it was JSSF that sold the APMSO its first large cache of AK-47s that were then used to tame the heavily armed IJT in 1987 and 1988, eventually breaking IJT's hold at KU and in various other state-owned campuses in Karachi. Admist ethnic violence, MQM's armed wings used street fighting and urban warfare as ethnic Muhajirs sought to use violence to control governing structures and appointments such as the Karachi Port Trust, Karachi Municipal Corporation and the Karachi Developmental Authority.[2] During the MQM's stint in power in 1991, when it was part of the provincial government of Sindh, the party endorsed and participated in raids and the mass-arrests of its political rivals. Additionally, the MQM, supported by the government, was accused of operating as a mafia organization where its heavily armed militants used extortion and coercion to increase their influence.[3]

1992 Operation Cleanup

In 1990s the Pakistani army and intelligence agencies according to multiple sources were growing increasingly concerned with the MQM's growing influence in urban Sindh, where it had become a de facto parallel government and was becoming more aggressive towards the government in Islamabad. The military high command viewed the MQM's treatment of opponents and journalists with alarm and saw the group as a "state within a state." A turning point came in 1991 when allegedly MQM activists mistreated two army officers in Karachi, leading to the launch of "Operation Cleanup" in May 1992. This operation was aimed to target "terrorist" and "criminal" activities in Sindh, but primarily focused on the MQM. The army claimed to have aimed to cleanse Muhajir neighbourhoods of militias, but in order to avoid charges of targeting a single political party, the army soon handed over the operation to the paramilitary Rangers.[4] The crackdown, which involved a massive deployment of the army, resulted in the movement going underground, the party leader's exile, and a significant change in the MQM's operational strategy.[5][3] A propaganda campaign was started by the army to label MQM as terrorists.[6] As a result of the operations, while the organizational structure of the MQM were in disarray, its mass support among ethnic Muhajirs increased tremendously.[5] The rise in the support mainly came due to the violent tactics used by the army to curb MQM.[7]

Post-1994 insurrections

During the months of May and June in 1994, the MQM carried out a series of attacks following the army's withdrawal. These included car bombings, riots, and secret killings, leading to the deaths of around 750 people, including non-Urdu speakers and other opponents of the MQM.[8][9] The conflict its most bloodiest in May 1995, when MQM militants resurfaced to the ground, and systematically ambushed government offices, police stations and police patrols using rocket launchers. Although sporadic ethnic and sectarian violence had been a permanent feature of the Karachi landscape since 1980s, the level of organization and intensity of the violence in 1995 was unprecedented. About 300 people were killed in the month of June, the death toll reached 600 deaths in two months and 2,000 deaths in a year attributed to ethnic violence, leading analysts to compare the situation to the Kashmir insurrection which were also taking place in the 1990s.[10][9] On June 25, 1995, nearly 80 policemen were killed in a five-week long assault by the MQM militants, and a total of 221 security forces were killed over the year, while over 70 police operations killed over 121 "terrorists" believed to be MQM activists or sympathizers. By 1996 it was described as a virtual civil war between the Pakistani security forces and the MQM.[10][11][12]

2002

In 2002, the MQM assumed office in the provincial government and were elected to the city government in 2006 and 2008, while Karachi newspapers were accusing the MQM of eliminating opponents with impunity. This also involved violent, unchecked land expansion and real estate 'entrepreneurs' who were specualted to be illegally or violently occupying land driven by powerful political patrons in the MQM.[13] Karachi experienced an exceptionally high level of violence in 2011 with some 800 people killed, where the MQM was widely viewed as the perpetrator of targeted killings, out of a total 1800 killings in Karachi.[14][15][16]

Militant recruits

MQM armed wing was composed of thousands of criminals, hitmen and university student-origin activists belonging to APMSO.[17] According to ethnographic research conducted by Khan and Gayer, the militant members of the MQM were made up of both professional militants and part-time militants, the latter who carried out violent activities only occasionally. Some of the professional militants were trained in Afghanistan, and the MQM had a separate headquarters known as 'peeli kothi' located in Liaquatabad, where they planned and organized violent activities. Initially, this location was used as a torture chamber for the party's political opponents, and later, it housed party cadres recruited for violent activities. The Pakistani Rangers alleged that the MQM's military wing had an "elite corps" engaged in torture and murder without the approval or knowledge of the party's leadership. The recruitment process included inspiration from Altaf Hussain and the promise of "career, income, power, respect, leadership, and brotherly love."[18]

Attacks

The origins of MQM anti-state militancy originated as a response to the 1992 Operation "Cleanup", which primarily aimed at cracking down on terrorists in Karachi, but largely targeted MQM members, forcing the party leader into exile. The MQM's militant wing responded with violent resistance between May and June 1994, and the conflict took its most bloody turn in 1995.[3] Numerous sources suggest that the MQM frequently targeted police officials to discourage them from cracking down on the MQM for illegal activities. By 1996 it was described as a virtual civil war between the Pakistani security forces and the MQM.[10] According to one officer, from 2003 to 2013, 450 police officers were killed by members of the MQM. As many police officials were targeted for their presumed role in the 1992 operation against the party.[19]

Ethnic violence

The first victims of the MQM in the 1980s were primarily ethnic Pashtuns, who were generally targeted on trivial grounds which the MQM did its best to exacerbate.[19] In 1985, a bus accident led to the death of Bushra Zaidi, by an Azad Kashmiri Punjabi driver,[20][21][22] ignited tensions and resulted in riots in Orangi Town of Karachi. Mobs, especially university students, attacked ethnic Pashtuns and policemen, blaming the ethnic group for car accidents in the city, resulting in the killings of over 100 people.[21][23][24][25] During the riots, the APMSO printed and distributed inflammatory pamphlets against the ethnic group, grounding the city to a halt and shutting down educational institutions.[26] In 1990, in a response to a police raid on MQM militants which caused the deaths of 60 Muhajirs civilians,[27][28] MQM retaliatory attacks led to the deaths of 130 Sindhis.[29][30] In 2007, the 12 May Karachi riots saw the MQM party workers being accused of launching highly coordinated attacks on ANP and PPP supporters, resulting in the killings of 58 people as well as hundreds of injuries, most of whom were Pashtuns. 14 MQM workers were killed in relation during the clashes.[31][32][33] In several occasions in 2007 and 2008, Pashtun-majority neighbourhoods were subject to violence and bombings, including coordinated attacks against Pashtun street vendors, restaurant owners and labourers, as well as "target killings" of ANP activists, who were accused to be involved with the Pakistani Taliban.[34][35][36] In 2010, in response to the assassination of an MQM politician, Raza Haider, MQM-affiliated gangs gunned down close to 95 people, primarily Pashtuns as well as a minority of Sindhis and Punjabis, during the 2010 Karachi riots.[37][38] In March 2011, beginning with an attack on a PPP office, 50 people were killed, mainly Pashtuns, although Urdu-speakers and Balochs were also among the killed, as well as another 18 in the month of April. These were blamed by Pashtun activists on the MQM. although MQM denied the claims.[39][40] In a five-day period beginning on July 5, MQM led a protest quitting the ruling government, resulting in 114 deaths indiscriminately targeting ethnic Pashtuns regardless of their affiliation to any political party.[41][42][43] While in mid-July, ANP politicians accused the MQM expelling 3–4,000 Pashtuns out of their neighbourhoods,[44] the Sindhi politician Zulfiqar Mirza's comments criticizing MQM which were seen as offensive to Urdu-speakers re-ignited violence as MQM mobs mobs went on a rampage and burned vehicles, resulting in further 14 deaths by morning,[45] while the death toll increased to 200-318 by the end of July.[46][47] According to Fawad Chaudhry, neither PPP nor ANP had a comparable militant wing as the MQM in the past 10 years.[48]

Extortion

The MQM's initial source of funding relied on Zakat, voluntary donations from its members. However, in the 1990s, the MQM adopted a new approach called "Bhatta" or forced tax and protection money collection from commercial areas in Karachi. The party also resorted to illegal funding methods such as bank robberies in 1988.[49] The "Bhattia" mafia extorted money from various professionals, including traders, businessmen, bankers, doctors, teachers, construction workers, and religious figures. This illegal funding scheme blurred the lines between politics and crime in Karachi, as some criminal groups transformed into political parties' armed wings.[50][51] In 2015, the MQM faced accusations of setting fire to a factory to extort money, resulting in the deaths of 258 people.[52][53][54][55] MQM managed to build a successful network of businessmen and marketeers, to influence what was in effect a parallel economy in Karachi which produced organizational profits from alliances cemented with violence.[56] Dawn reported that Karachi as an economic hub was essentially a "hostage city" of the MQM.[56] MQM made use of its violent control over the economy not just through profits from extortion, but also an organized strategy of intimidation to enforce "strikes", pendowns, tooldowns, and shutdowns of the entire economic hub in Karachi, which essentially used the city's economy as a hostage from the rest of Pakistan, to gain political concessions from the central government and force it to accept the MQM as a ruling power.[56][57]

Attacks on journalists

MQM has allegedly resorted to violence against journalists and media outlets critical of the party's violent activities.[58] Starting from 1991, the MQM engaged in destructive activities against newspapers that criticized them, with members of the group involved in looting and burning down offices. In fact, the management of Herald publications in Karachi had to suspend the distribution of the Dawn newspaper on March 21, 1991, after what it called a week-long "terror campaign" carried out by the MQM which involved abductions, intimidation, and attacks against newspaper vendors, distributors, and hawkers.[59] In one brazen incident in 2011, after a Pashtun journalist Wali Babar was allegedly killed by the MQM in Karachi, 4 journalists linked to the murder investigation of the dead journalist, two policemen, a police officer's brother, and an informer, were all "methodically targetted" by the MQM.[58]

Attacks on Hindus

In response to the massacre of Muslims in Meerut in India, the MQM attacked local Hindu temples forcing a Hindu delegation to seek the protection of G. M. Syed.[60]

Infighting

MQM's violent activities were not limited to external confrontations, as internal factional violence also occurred, with party members being targeted in drive-by shootings. An instance of this occurred in the initial half of 2009 when over a hundred killings took place due to infighting between the MQM-Haqiqi and MQM factions.[61]

Sectarian violence

Throughout 2008, about 143 killings in Karachi were attributed to clashes between MQM and the Sunni Tehreek, a Barelvi Sufi Islamist organization which recruited former MQM members.[62] Contrarily to MQM-A, MQM-Haqiqi, a breakway faction of the MQM, united with the Sipah-i-Sahaba in Karachi in attacks against Shi'a places of worship.[63] MQM also involved in clashed with the Taliban is which believed to profit from criminal activities such as bank robberies, thefts, car snatchings, and kidnappings for ransom.[62]

References

  1. Nadeem Paracha (August 23, 2012). "Born to Run: The Rise and Leveling of APMSO".
  2. Michael R. Glass, Phil Williams, Taylor B. Seybolt (January 13, 2022). Urban Violence, Resilience and Security Governance Responses in the Global South. Edward Elgar. p. 146. ISBN 9781800379732.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali (1996). "The Battlefields of Karachi: Ethnicity, Violence and the State". The Journal of the International Institute. 4 (1).
  4. Huma Yusuf. Conflict Dynamics in Karachi (PDF). p. 6.
  5. "The Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM) in Karachi January 1995-April 1996". Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada. 1 November 1996.
  6. Kaur, Ravinder (2005-11-05). Religion, Violence and Political Mobilisation in South Asia. SAGE Publications. ISBN 978-0-7619-3430-1.
  7. "KARACHI: Families of 'missing' MQM workers still hopeful". dawn.com. 2010-04-23. Archived from the original on 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2021-02-24.
  8. George Childs Kohn (2013). Palan Wars. Routledge. ISBN 9781135954949.
  9. Najeeb A. Jan (2019). The Metacolonial State:Pakistan, Critical Ontology, and the Biopolitical Horizons of Political Islam. John Wiley & Sons. p. 100. ISBN 9781118979396.
  10. Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali (1996). "The Battlefields of Karachi: Ethnicity, Violence and the State". Journal of the International Institute. The Journal of the International Institute: Volume 4, Issue 1. 4 (1).
  11. Zahid Hussain (June 25, 1995). "Nearly 80 Police Killed in 5-Week-Old Assault By Militants". Associated Press.
  12. Chronology for Mohajirs in Pakistan. Minorities at Risk Project. 2004. Wrap-up: Political violence in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi claimed 2,052 lives in 1995, including 121 terrorists and 221 members of the security forces, according to police records. The MQM also called a total of 26 protest strikes in 1995, at an estimated cost to the national economy of the equivalent of 38 million dollars per day. (Deutsche Presse-Agentur 12/31/95)
  13. Nichola Khan (2017). Cityscapes of Violence in Karachi: Publics and Counterpublics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-086978-6.
  14. World Report 2012: Events of 2011. Human Rights Watch. 14 February 2012. p. 367. ISBN 9781609803896.
  15. Siddiqui, Tahir (2015-02-07). "Rangers' report blames MQM for Baldia factory fire". dawn.com. Retrieved 2018-09-22.
  16. Huma Yusuf. Conflict Dynamics in Karach. United Institute of Peace.
  17. Christophe Jaffrelot (2002). Pakistan:Nationalism Without a Nation. Zed Books. p. 75. ISBN 9781842771174.
  18. Niloufer A. Siddiqui (2022). Under the Gun. Cambridge University Press. p. 106. ISBN 9781009242493.
  19. A History of Pakistan and Its Origins. Anthem Press. 2004. ISBN 9781843311492.
  20. Verkaaik, Oskar (2018-06-05). Migrants and Militants: Fun and Urban Violence in Pakistan. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-18771-6.
  21. Tarique Niazi (1997). Ecological Bases of Social Violence in Pakistan. University of Wisconsin--Madison.
  22. Sanaa Alimia (2022). Refugee Cities: How Afghans Changed Urban Pakistan. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 42. ISBN 9781512822793.
  23. The Herald. Pakistan Herald Publications. 1995. p. 50.
  24. Clemens Spiess, Mike Enskat, Subrata Kumar Mitra (2004). Political Parties in South Asia. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 181. ISBN 9780275968328. However, after the MQM emerged on the scene, it changed the direction of mohajir politics and decided to join hands with Sindhis in a grand coalition against "outsiders". In 1985, when Bushra Zaidi was crushed under traffic, the mohajir-armed bands attacked the residential colonies of Pathans who were generally identified with the transport sector.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  25. Ashraf Tariq (1999). Panic in Karachi: Altaf Hussain, MQM and Underground Mafia · Part 1. p. 191. In fact , Sarwar Awan's PPI was the ultimate reaction against the open hostilities of MQM on pretext of Bushra Zaidi's mishap . Bushra Zaidi was a student of a college situated at the Rizvia Chowrangi , Nazimabad , Karachi .
  26. Niloufer A. Siddiqui (2022). Under the Gun:Political Parties and Violence in Pakistan. Cambridge University Press. p. 77. ISBN 9781009242493.
  27. Tambiah, Stanley J. (2023-04-28). Leveling Crowds: Ethnonationalist Conflicts and Collective Violence in South Asia. University of California Press. p. 175. ISBN 978-0-520-91819-1. It is significant that on May 27, the police were deployed and ready to deal with the procession in the Fort area and other demonstrations else- where. For example, three jeeps carrying policemen drove at great speed into the Fort procession, making the people give way. And, apparently the women, when challenged to stop, dared the police to open fire, "because we are carrying the Holy Quran on our heads." The police--one policeman is reported to have shouted, "They are prostitutes" did open fire, causing a stampede, the shrieking women and children rushing into the Abdul Wahab Shah Jilani Shrine for shelter and the men running toward Station Road. 24 Ambulances arrived and carried off the dead and the wounded to nearby hospitals, first to Bhitai Hospital-which had only "one small operation theatre," so that the surgeons were obliged to operate in the corridors and then to the St. Elizabeth and Mohammadi hospitals. All these frenzied events were taking place to the deafening noise of voices over the loudspeakers installed in various mosques, screaming, "Come out of your homes, Muhajirs are being killed"; "Please arrange cots and bedding for the injured"; "Rush to the hospitals and donate blood." In response, "volunteers put up shamianas [tents] in the hospital compound, while women queued to donate blood."
  28. Siddiqi, Farhan Hanif (2012). The Politics of Ethnicity in Pakistan: The Baloch, Sindhi and Mohajir Ethnic Movements. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-68614-3.
  29. Ishtiaq Ahmed · (1998). State, Nation and Ethnicity in Contemporary South Asia. Pinter. p. 204. ISBN 9781855675780.
  30. Yamini Narayanan (19 November 2015). Religion and Urbanism: Reconceptualising sustainable cities for South. Routledge. ISBN 9781317755418. MQM's armed wings got involved in this clash, and did so when it flared again in 1990, in which 130 Sindhis were killed.
  31. Christophe Jaffrelot (2016). The Pakistan Paradox:Instability And Resilience. Fifty-eight Pashtuns died and accordign to Zia-ur-Rehman that was a "watershed moment" because "on that day the Pashtuns of Karachi realized they were not welcome in the city."
  32. "MQM-P Apologises For Deadly May 12 Riots In Karachi". March 4, 2022.
  33. Huma Yusuf (2012). Conflict Dynamics in Karachi (PDF). MQM party workers were accused of launching highly coordinated attacks against ANP and PPP supporters, killing forty-three people, primarily Pashtuns. Four- teen MQM workers were also killed in retaliatory actions
  34. Lieven, Anatol (2012). Pakistan: a hard country. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-14-103824-7.
  35. Tania Ahmad (2009). Jagged Trajectories: Mobility and Distinction in Karachi, Pakistan. Stanford University. p. 96.
  36. Karachi:Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City. Oxford University Press. July 2014. p. 119. ISBN 978-0-19-023806-3. tali- banisation' to mobilise its supporters and armed cadres against the ANP and the Pashtuns at large, leading to a resumption of 'target killings' of party activists but also to coordinated attacks against Pashtun street vendors
  37. Huma Imtiaz (3 Aug 2010). Karachi riots leave 45 dead after MP assassinated. {{cite book}}: |newspaper= ignored (help)
  38. Karachi death toll tops 90. 2010. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help)
  39. Syed Shoaib Hasan (24 March 2011). Karachi political attacks kill 50, say rights groups. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  40. Shoaib Hasan (14 April 2011). "Pakistani city is hit by new round of targeted killings". BBC News.
  41. Ambreen Agha (3 February 2022). "Battleground Karachi". At least 114 persons were killed in just five days of violence, commencing July 5, 2011, in Karachi. Unidentified assailants on a shooting spree in several neighbourhoods in Pakistan's commercial hub, killed 14 persons on July 5; another 25 on July 6; 36 on July 7; 35 on July 8; and 4 on July 9.
  42. Imtiaz Shah (June 27, 2011). Pakistan's MQM quits governing coalition. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  43. Pakistan: Criminal activity and violence in Karachi perpetrated or directed by political, ethnic or religious groups, including the state's response. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Ottawa. 7 December 2011. According to the HRCP, businesses usually run by Pashtuns [also called Pashtos (RFE/RL 8 August 2011), Pukhtoons (IRIN 11 July 2011), Pushtuns (The Economist 16 December 2010, and Pakhtuns (HRCP 8 October 2011)], such as pushcarts, trucks, roadside restaurants, and rickshaws, are often targeted, regardless of whether they are affiliated with a political party (8 October 2011). The HRCP told Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) that the Pashtun population in the Kali Pahari district of Karachi has been particularly impacted by the violence (8 August 2011). Dawn reports that some Pashtuns are leaving Karachi because of the violence (29 August 2011).
  44. Khattak, Daud; Recknagel, Charles (22 July 2011). "What's Really Behind The Violence In Karachi?". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The real problem is that a particular organization [MQM] claims the ownership of Karachi and denies other communities the right to live here," he says. "That organization has forced 3,000 to 4,000 Pashtuns from their neighborhoods so far.
  45. Faisal Aziz (July 14, 2011). "Fourteen killed in Karachi violence after minister's comments". Reuters.
  46. Faisal Aziz (August 2, 2011). "No end to violence in Pakistan's Karachi; 26 killed in 24 hours". Reuters. Local media put the number even higher, and the Dawn newspaper reported that 318 people were killed in July.
  47. August 01, 2011 (August 1, 2011). "Violence continues in Karachi; 200 killed in July".
  48. "PPP And ANP Has Not That Type Of Militant Wing Which MQM Has Since Last 10 Years - Fawad Chaudhry". July 2015.
  49. Gunaratna, Rohan; Iqbal, Khuram (2019). Pakistan:Terrorism Ground Zero. Reaktion Books. ISBN 9781780230092.
  50. Gholam Mujtaba (2018). The Political Ecology of Pakistan. FriesenPress. p. 40. ISBN 9781525534614.
  51. Wennmann, Achim; Jütersonke, Oliver (7 December 2018). Urban Safety and Peacebuilding New Perspectives on Sustaining Peace in the City. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781351371346.
  52. Husain, Irfan (2018-03-10). "MQM: decline & fall". dawn.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  53. "MQM pioneered 'bhatta' culture in Karachi: Asma". The Nation. 2011-09-06. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  54. Jamal, Umair. "Why the Pakistani State Can't Seem to Figure Out the MQM in Karachi". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  55. "2012 Karachi factory fire an act of terrorism, with MQM involvement, report says". gulfnews.com. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-14.
  56. Nichola Khan (2010). Mohajir Militancy in Pakistan:Violence and Transformation in the Karachi Conflict. Routledge. ISBN 9781135161927.
  57. Nichola Khan (2010). Mohajir Militancy in Pakistan:Violence and Transformation in the Karachi Conflict. Routledge. p. 44. ISBN 9781135161934.
  58. Niloufer A. Siddiqui (2022). Under the Gun:Political Parties and Violence in Pakistan. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781009242493.
  59. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Report Submitted to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives and Committee on Foreign Relations, U.S. Senate by the Department of State in Accordance with Sections 116(d) and 502B(b) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as Amended · Volume 1991. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1992. ISBN 9780160373930.
  60. Mushahid Hussain (1990). Pakistan's Politics: The Zia Years. Progressive Publishers. ISBN 9788122002171.
  61. Anas Malik (2010). Political Survival in Pakistan. Routledge. p. 77. ISBN 9781136904196.
  62. Marco Mezzera (10 October 2011). Dante in Karachi: circles of crime in a mega city.
  63. Laurent Gayer (2014). Karachi: Laurent Gayer Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-935444-3.
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