Ethnic tensions, political violence, and state neglect plunged Sindh into turmoil between 1988 and 1999, leaving lasting scars on Karachi and Hyderabad
The prevalence of ethnic diversity is a global reality and for a huge country like Pakistan, ethnic fault lines had to exist. With approximately 50% Punjabis, 18% Pashtuns, 15% Sindhis, 8% Muhajirs, 4% Baloch and the rest of other ethnicities, it was not possible to have a homogeneous milieu.
The creation of Bangladesh in 1971 had challenged the notion that Islam was the glue which held Pakistan together. Besides other reasons, ethnicity had played a major role. The Bengali Language Movement commencing from the language riots of 1948, led to the spilling of blood on 21st February 1952 and demonstrated the power of language as a unifying force for national identity, playing a crucial role in the eventual separation of East Pakistan and the formation of Bangladesh.
Pakistan should have learnt its lesson from this colossal bloody divorce. However, on the contrary, no meaningful steps were taken either by PPP or Gen Zia’s governments to create a platform of national cohesion, in which ethnicity would be subservient to the national identity of being a Pakistani. Instead, different ethnic-based movements started in the 1980s and gained traction because of a host of factors, the biggest of which was the absence of democracy. Very soon, blood of Pakistanis started to flow.
During the British Raj, Sindh was under the traditional influence of Sardars, Pirs and Syeds. These feudal elites dominated Sindhi politics until the creation of Pakistan. Karachi was officially made the capital of Pakistan on 22nd May 1948, when the Constituent Assembly decided that it would be separated from Sindh to become a federally administered area. Being a port city and becoming the capital of Pakistan, Karachi became the most attractive destination for migrants. Resultantly, the influx of non-Sindhis completely outnumbered the native Sindhi community in Sindh. By 1951, the year of Pakistan’s first census, refugees accounted for 57 percent of Karachi’s population, 65 percent of Hyderabad’s and 55 percent of Sukkur’s. And with time, this imbalance continued to grow.
MQM, which started as a political platform to give voice to the demands of the Urdu-speaking population primarily based in urban centres of Sindh, slowly morphed from a peaceful party to adoption of the barrel of the gun as the final solution to achieve its political and economic aims. Starting from roughly 1985, violence was adopted as a primary tool. As a reaction, other ethnicities especially Pashtuns, Punjabis and Sindhis also crystallised their ethnic identities and reacted to violence with more violence. As a hapless state looked on, ethnic terrorism transformed the landscape of Pakistan, rupturing its fabric.
As a result, during 1988–1999, urban Sindh witnessed spiralling violence, which evolved into ethnic terrorism. Organised crime played a major facilitating role and Karachi saw a phenomenal increase in kidnapping for ransom, bank robberies, weapons and drug inflow, thus blurring the line between crime and terrorism initially and then becoming synergetic twins, each feeding on the other in the dance of death.
On 25th May 1990, the Pucca Qila Operation was the first operation launched by Sindh Police on the orders of the PPP-led Sindh government against MQM party workers and ordinary protesters in the Pucca Qila area of Hyderabad city. The operation reportedly resulted in the deaths of more than 70 people, including men, women and children. Instead of quelling the militancy, it provided fuel to the fire and Sindh saw a volcanic eruption of terrorism, in which all players, including the law enforcement agencies, had blood on their hands. Its aftereffects also contributed to the dismissal of the PPP Government by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan on 6th August 1990.
Operation Clean-up, or Operation Blue Fox, was launched on 19 June 1992 by police, Rangers, and the army, ostensibly to rid Karachi of criminals—but in reality, it aimed to neutralise MQM militants who had begun openly defying the state. It went slow and only gained impetus when the PPP Government came back into power on 19th October 1993. The responsibility was entrusted to the Interior Minister, Naseerullah Babar, who took on the terrorists.
Police took the lead and suffered immense losses, by some estimates running into thousands from 1992 to 1999. It was supported by Rangers and intelligence agencies. Very senior officers were targeted. Gunny bag bodies became the norm. Although difficult to give an exact number, various reports suggest thousands of civilians, including terrorists, were also killed. The situation was further poisoned by the infighting between MQM Altaf and MQM Haqiqi. It morphed into a free-for-all situation, and the distinction between policing as per law and vigilantism became blurred.
As an example, to make the readers, especially our younger generations, understand the situation, the Sea View Boulevard would become empty around 6 pm. It was an eerily ghostly experience, which is still fresh in my memory, even after 30 years. The Karachi and Hyderabad we know today were near-dead cities, especially on the days when there would be a strike call. Reports emerged regularly about the involvement of RAW and other agencies inimical to Pakistan, playing an active role in the furtherance of violence. Propaganda and rumours gained ascendancy. A day when fewer than 30–40 people died would be considered a normal one. Businesses suffered. Daily wagers were famished. Crime flourished. Thus, Sindh was in the midst of hell, for which no one else but we were responsible.
The period from 1988 to 1999 witnessed some of the worst sectarian and ethnic terrorism. Questions about Pakistan’s survival arose. Blood became cheap. The state eventually fought back, albeit late, and managed to control the menace, but only after paying a colossal price.
While all this drama was playing out, Pakistan was slowly but surely becoming a home ground for international terrorism syndicates, which also played a major role in the above story. This conundrum will be dilated upon in the next column.