Ethnic Tensions in Pakistan

The city of Karachi is the epicenter of Pakistan’s latest surge in political violence. This is because the port city is home to large scale ethnic and sectarian divisions that are always primed to explode on the streets. The largest ethnic group in the city are the Mohajirs, descendants of those who fled from India in the 1947 partition. They make up half of the population with the Punjabis and Pathans making up the other respective quarters. The Mohajirs of Pakistan have organized into a radical pro-government group called the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and are at the head of political tension in the city.

The violence has claimed several dozen lives in the past few years and left the city paralyzed in a general strike. The pro-government Mohajirs stage rallies to protest opposition movements, and these rallies often end in violence. The Mohajirs round up opposition members hold public trials and often publicly execute the ethnic minorities. At times the Mohjairs grab people who are not even in an opposition movement and execute them simply because of their status as Punjabis or Pathans.

 

Situation:

There is little action from law enforcement against Mohajir rallies which has given undue legitimacy to their actions on the streets of Karachi. However, recent foreign intervention has placed a temporary hold on the Mohajir’s ability to organize. The founder of MQM Altaf Hussain was recently arrested in London under investigation for inciting political violence in Pakistan and Europe. With Hussain imprisoned the MQM are at the moment unorganized and not able to mobilize more violence. It is unlikely that Hussain will be incarcerated for his acts and might soon be back into the fold of his organization. However, with the MQM increasingly be looked at on the global stage the Pakistani government may be more inclined to control the actions of this groups before they have more incidents on their hands that could lead to greater repercussions that they rather avoid (I.E. sanctions).