By Wendy Chamberlin Wednesday, August 18, 2010 - 1:26 PM Share
The
desperate plight of over 20 million Pakistani citizens displaced and
dispossessed by the most ferocious
flooding in the history of the young state is
heartbreaking. Nature is extracting a
cruel price on a population already racked by debilitating poverty and a brutal
insurgency.
But
at the same time, too little attention is being paid to the violent drama being
played out in Pakistan's
largest city, Karachi. The crippling violence of political party
gangsterism between Karachi's
two dominant parties - the Awami National Party (ANP) and the Muttahida Qaumi
Movement (MQM) - is alarming, especially as the parties align with organized
criminal groups and become increasingly indistinguishable from them. Unlike the
flooding, this crisis was avoidable and man-made.
One
of the three largest cities in the world, Karachi
has a multi-ethnic population of 17 million people. From an American perspective, it also happens
to be the hub for importing life-saving relief supplies as well as material for
the U.S. and NATO war effort
in Afghanistan.
So
it is mindboggling that at this juncture of extreme humanitarian tragedy throughout
Pakistan and grave strategic
consequence in Afghanistan, rival
political parties in Pakistan
are engaged in blood-curdling street warfare that has virtually shut down a
city. Targeted political and sectarian assassinations
in Karachi have
already taken the lives of over 100 citizens in recent weeks, and the terror
continues.
Strong
democratic institutions that include representative political parties
accountable to their constituents are essential for Pakistan's development as a stable,
prosperous democracy. Instead of working in the interests of its people,
political parties are acting more like criminal gangs that engage in violent
power-grabbing tactics and ethnocentric violence reminiscent of our own 1863 draft
riots in New
York City.
Similar
to New York City in the 1800s, Karachi is an overcrowded magnet for
impoverished immigrants who reside in make-shift slums controlled by organized
"land mafias." The "land mafias" of Karachi are notorious for
seizing large parcels of abandoned land and renting it out to the city's poor
for both profit and power. Many believe
the widespread rioting and violence that is currently paralyzing Karachi is a product of a
turf war between warring politically affiliated factions. To the victor goes the right to exploit the
poor.
Karachi is dominated by two ethnically based political
parties who are also currently part of Pakistan's
governing coalition -- the Awami National Party (ANP), a secular Pashtun based
party; and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), consisting of Urdu-speaking
descendents of the émigrés from India
at the time of partition in 1947.
Intensified Taliban violence in Pashtun areas of the north has
accelerated the movement of Pashtuns into Karachi,
placing Karachi's
longer-term resident MQM Urdu speakers in pitched competition with the wave of
Pashtun newcomers.
The
relationship between these two dominant groups is bound to turn even more toxic
with the next round of local elections, postponed by Pakistan's flood crisis. Political
party rivalry defined by ethnically based gang warfare is no basis for a stable
cohesive national identity.
We
applaud Prime Minister Gilani's (Pakistan People's Party) efforts to engage the
ANP and the MQM in talks, and the stakes are high; ethnic violence in Karachi
could spread and weaken the state; paralysis of the Karachi transportation hub
could cost lives as humanitarian goods and U.S.-NATO materials get hung up in
the port; and political criminality undercuts the rule of law, national unity,
and the development of a truly representational democracy.
The
security requirements in Pakistan
are like those in Afghanistan:
success in both nations will be achieved when people feel secure at home and in
their villages, have access to jobs and education, and can avail themselves of
a fair and timely justice system. U.S.
and NATO forces are battling a brutal insurgency that terrorizes the population
in Afghanistan. In Pakistan, one would hope that
democratic parties focus on meeting the needs of the people rather than violent
rivalry.
Wendy Chamberlin is President of the Middle
East Institute in Washington, DC and a former US Ambassador to Pakistan
(2001-2002).
Assertions
and opinions in this editorial are solely those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the Middle East Institute, which expressly
does not take positions on Middle East policy.
Firstly, these strong monsoon rains are a direct result of Climate Change / Global Warming. These strong monsoons are affecting a very large area from Pakistan through India, China and all the way to Korea with torrential rains, mud slides and Noah's Floods.
Because Climate Change is a constant partner now, so will these torrential rains, mud slides and Noah's Floods.
This strong weather system has affected Pakistan this year but it is bound to affect India and Bangladesh in the next years and will wash away all the investments of Americans in India. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.
Secondly, no half measures or pittance in aid will control the problem. We need real civil and environmental engineers to and suggest large scale ways to construct anew and manage this new menace in over-populated and very poor Pakistan, India and Bangladesh etc. And these may include re-building villages on higher ground, dredging of rivers and canals, building more dams and water catches and innovative ideas like building a space shield over the Tibetan plateau from heating up too much and thus drawing too much moisture laden air from the Indian Ocean.
Third, none of these poor Asian countries can manage disasters of such large scale brought about by Climate Change which is a direct result of West’s over industrialization and is the primary cause of Climate Change. The UN or some other body has to be built with adequate number helicopters, airboats, blimps, cargo planes that can be brought into action on short notice.
20 million people are affected in Pakistan alone in an area the size of Italy or England. Next year 200 million people will be affected in India and these disasters are going to continue to unfold again and again for the foreseeable future.
Fourth, the 20 million have lost their houses, their crops and their entire livelihoods. They are hungry, they are thirsty and they are angry. A French revolution is brewing in Pakistan. The miniscule 1% middleclass of Pakistan may have to migrate en masse if the great unwashed reach the cities of the rich.
Are there any statesmen with clarity of thought in the world?
If we help you Pakis, will you help us kill the Taliban who are killing our troops?
That's right, you'll find some kind of excuse
- we're busy helping the flood victims
- we're consolidating our gains in South Waziristan
- we're short on resources
- we don't know where the bad guys are BUT we can help negotiate on their behalf with Karzai
- we don't support terrorists, just freedom fighters and the people support these guys
- they're not terrorists, they're an aid organization..
What a freakin' waste of money, space and time to be discussing giving you more money than you've already begged ...
Khan, you have shown your real face when you are now wishing 200 Million Indians to be affected! Only a poisoned, sick and gutteral mind like your could do that! "I am drowing today, may 10 of you drwon tomorrow" is your mindset! Shame on you!
Also shame on you that you are caught as Khan so now trying a western name! Double shame that you have to hide behind a western name!
As for Helping Pakistan, let us start with the "friends" that Pakistanis like you talk about. Turkey - where is its Aid floatilla for Pakistan? Saudis, where is there Petro Millions that they send through even Hawala to help Taliban shoot our soldiers? China could loan almost half a billion USD to build a Nuclear facility to Pakistan Army, where is its support? OIC, that starts "Emergency meeting" on every time there is a bullet fired in Gaza or Kashmir, has still not met? WHY should UN or US and western world help you Pakis when you are hell bent to kill every "infidel" with help of your "friends"? WHY?
I have all the sympathies for poor people trapped in water. I have no sympathy for their sick version of Islam that makes me a target to kill because I am an infidel.
As for space shield over Tibetan platue etc, ask your Chinese friends - the illegal occupiers of Tibet! Rest of the demands are usual blackmail and sleaze sales tactics that Pakis always employ, like in last earthquake tragedy and then steal those sympathetic aid to fund your Terror export machine.
So very sorry Mr Khan but we are no more willing to give milk to a snake!
As I followed a link to this staggering The End Of Nations page it occurred to me that AfPak Channel's web visitors totally must be able to pass judgment on this link! http://hubpages.com/hub/Global-Union-The-End-Of-Nations
Pakistan is suffering from so many self-inflicted wounds that it is hard where to begin. Let us just look at last 15 years or so:
Nobody forced it but Pakistan’s democratic government of Benazir Bhutto chose of its own free will, to facilitate relocation of Osama bin Laden from Sudan to Afghanistan in 1996.
Nobody forced it but Pakistani Army and ISI created what ex-CIA official Bruce Reidel called 'this jihadist Frankenstein monster' on their own with full financing provided by Pakistan’s democratic governments during 1990s.
Al Qaeda, Taliban, LeT, JeM, JuD, HuJi and countless other terror outfits have been spawned in Pakistan, the official ’terror center’ of the world as per CIA with the help, support and sanctuary provided by the Pakistani State that is owned by Pakistani Army that uses ’terrorism’ as an official tool of state policy to further its own objectives.
Osama bin Laden had publicly congratulated Pakistan in 1998 for exploding world’s first Islamic nuclear bomb.
Pakistani Army used to provide military protection to Osama bin Laden during his umpteen visits to Pakistan. Osama bin Laden has received many dialysis treatments at Pakistan’s military hospitals.
Osama bin Laden had made huge campaign contributions to Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s election campaigns in 1990 and 1996. Let us NOT forget that Nawaz Sharif has personally met Osama bin Laden at least three times in Saudi Arabia at Nawaz Sharif’s own request. Nobody can call Nawaz Sharif’s PML(N) a fundamentalist Islamic religious party.
‘Quetta Shura Taliban (QST) based in Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, is the No. 1 threat to US/NATO mission in Afghanistan. At the operational level, the Quetta Shura conducts a formal campaign review each winter, after which Mullah Mohammed Omar (Afghan Taliban Chief) announces his guidance and intent for the coming year‘ as General McChrystal narrated in his August, 2009 report to President Obama. But US can not even use its drones to destroy QST that is causing daily deaths of US/NATO soldiers in Afghanistan since 2002!
Pakistani ISI and Army are fueling and sustaining Afghan insurgency as reported by Matt Waldman in ‘The sun in the sky‘ on 6/13/10, corroborated by WikiLeaks leaks on 7/25/10 and then further corroborated by Chris Alexander, Canadian ambassador to Afghanistan from 2003 to 2005 and Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan from 2005 until 2009 in his article on 7/30/10 titled ‘The huge scale of Pakistan‘s complicity‘.
The ISI is said to compensate families of suicide bombers to the tune of 200,000 Pakistani rupees, claims the Waldman report. Thus US aid to bankrupt Pakistan finances the death of US/NATO soldiers in Afghanistan.
The problems emanating from Pakistan were difficult to start with and now only seem going downhill with the massive flood disaster.
Is Karachi a harbinger for what is soon to engulf the whole of Pakistan? That would pose a special danger to the neighbors who would be wise to be on guard.
Only Pakistanis can save Pakistan from themselves - or so it seems.
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