by Dr. Arif Alvi
Monday, May 20, 2013, 10:30 AM
I'm Urdu speaking, my grandparents made a lot of sacrifice and migrated to Karachi, Pakistan from India.
Karachi was a city of lights until nearly 30 years back when MQM started showing its true face. I will tell you how MQM works and I have experienced all of this myself. This is a very well managed organization which works under a tight command and control mechanism. They have divided Karachi into a number of sectors; each sector is divided into units. The first tier is called the unit. There are MQM units in every nook and corner of Karachi. Every apartment complex has one unit, and nearly on every 500 houses there is a unit.
The units report to a particular sector under which they come. Each unit has a unit in-charge and other proper posts. As these guys live among us hence they know each and every house and shop that come under their supervision. The unit in-charge literally controls whatever goes within the jurisdiction of his unit. From cable persons reporting to him to the SHO of that area every one obeys that unit in-charge.
They snatch mobiles, get bhata from shops, get their students cheating in exams, confiscate Skins at Eid Ul Azha and collect fitra on Eidu ul Fitar etc etc. The collections from units goes into millions and collection from Karachi goes into billions. The units report and submit their loot to the sectors, each unit in-charge has to sit in his sector on frequent basis from where they get instructions. The sectors report to Nine Zero (90 is the address of the house of Altaf Hussain in Azizabad Karachi) this is the headquarter of MQM. This is the reason why within minutes they can jam Karachi as they just need to make one call from 90, the instructions go to sectors where they call unit in-charge who have complete arms and ammunition. No Karachite can stand in front of them as they easily and without mercy kill. If they want to threaten someone, they write on their house wall "Jo Qaid ka ghaddaar hai woh mout ka haqdaar hai".
Following in their footsteps other parties such as ANP, Aman committee of PPP and Sunni Tehreek now is doing the same. Sometime fighting starts over who's units will control the area. Karachi is a gold mine and everyone wants it.
The people of Karachi, who are very patriotic, have to live in constant fear. They cannot even carry a decent cell phone in this city. They get looted at ATM machines and believe me that people do not even decorate their houses now a days during Weddings as they are afraid to come in the eyes of these bandits. Even now and then there are strikes; children cry during night due to gunfire, if a call is not for a strike, the call is for "Yoom e Sog" which in fact is another name for strike.
One cannot imagine what Karachites have to go through daily. One even gets afraid driving a car when a motorcycle passes nearby. The real disappointment is that everyone knows this, as this is so clear. The police, the rangers, the Army, all are aware of this but they do not take action, hence are equally part in it. May be they don't want to make MQM angry as they have seats in the National Assembly. How they get these seats is, they hijack complete polling stations, they ask their boys to either stamp on the kite themselves or someone stands beside voters when the person is about to stamp on his choice.
This time when people wanted to vote for PTI they did not let them, at some places they put the thapa themselves, at other they did not let the polling start, at others there were boys standing inside the booth monitoring and they even closed the gates of apartments when fearing that the residents will vote against them. The people of Karachi wanted to exercise their right to vote but alas they were not allowed. MQM again claims that they have the mandate ( False Mandate) of Karachi. And alas, all Urdu speaking are called MQM people by people of other provinces. Is every Pathan an ANP supporter? No. Similarly every Urdu speaking is Not an MQM supporter.
The most depressing situation is that for Karachi this means the situation will remain the same for another 5 years and may be even after. The ECP, the police, the Army are all part in it. They close their eyes to what goes on. Moreover, this again means more seats for MQM and hence the vicious circle starts again.
I equally blame ANP, Aman committee, Sunni Tehreek in this, as they are similar vultures like MQM trying to rip the flesh out of each and every citizen of Karachi. More over MQM threatens the Urdu speaking people that if we do not support them, the other ghundas will hurt us, our women and children. Hence it is better to come under protection of a bigger Ghunda to save oneself from many small ghundas. In the absence of police and law enforcement agencies, the people of Karachi are helpless.
Sorry, my dear Karachi, you have been thrown into another 5 years of turmoil, bhata khori, strikes and worst of all fear, extreme fear. You had a choice to go for PTI this time and you tried your level best to vote, even people came from abroad to cast a single vote, but how can they compete against thappa mafia which works under the supervision of administration, police, Army and ECP.
Everybody heard what Altaf said but not a word of condemnation from Army, administration and ECP. Army was most vigilant in standing for few of its corrupt generals, but will never say anything against Altaf. The only solution to all this was clean up across the board, with any criminal belonging to any caste, creed and race, belonging to any political party, big or small, sent to the gallows. This is what Imran Khan was saying, this is why we as Karachites supported Imran but were not allowed to exercise our right to vote. This is why we under great threat and death threats are still protesting. But we know there will be no help. But remember everyone there is a power above all, 'Uss Kay Haan Dair Hai, Andhair Nahi. Uss ki Laathi Bay-awaaz Hai.' (Before making a judgment about what was written here, please think for one minute and ask your heart if any of this is a lie)
Please share, and spread the plight of a Karachites.