Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
Looks like PPP kiss goodbye this traditional seat since ZAB. Unless Zulfiqar Mirza come back into picture to do some damage control. Zardari should fire RM for this f-up and personally visit the affected areas, ask for forgiveness and pay heavy compensation to innocent people injured or killed in this f-up.
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
^ Where is Zulfiqar Mirza? PAC was his baby. He distributed thousands of weapons to them. And now he has just disappeared.
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
^ Where is Zulfiqar Mirza? PAC was his baby. He distributed thousands of weapons to them. And now he has just disappeared.
He did the right thing. There was perhaps no other way to stop mqm target killings.
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
^ He should have caught the MQM people doing the target killings. That was the right thing to do. Now Lyari has become another Waziristan.
But anyway, where is he now?
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
just read the news, BLA members were arrested, they had come to distribute weapons to PAC!
FC and police deployed again .... God Knows for how long this will continue!
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
everyone is asking the same question, where is ZM? I think he has vanished from the face of the planet :)
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
Qaim Ali Shah on Lyari. Thanks to Mirza:
Rangers to be deployed in Lyari: Qaim Ali Shah – The Express Tribune
He said that security forces were not just fighting gangs in Lyari, instead there was a mix of Taliban, Baloch Liberation Army members, and members of banned outfits.
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
my heart goes out to them, may their miseries end soon!
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
True. I think he is like Robin Hood for many poor people there.
A criminal is a criminal , not matter what ..... Robbing wealthy people to feed poor is a lame thing !
Two wrongs never make a right !
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
^ That is exactly what I meant. Uzair gains the support of people of Lyari by sharing the loot gained through robbing, kidnapping, killing, extorting from other innocent people. But I disagree with you that those innocent people are "wealthy". No, they are common middle class/ poor people. It is just that they don't belong to Uzair's ethnicity.
I didn't use the word Robin Hood in positive sense.
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
^^ that's how you climb the ladder of success in Pakistani Politics , all of sudden a convicted murder / robber / terrorist is a political entity !
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
The battle for the soul of Lyari – The Express Tribune
Lyari, the mother of Karachi and the birthplace of Baloch nationalism, is now a scene of hopelessness. Instead of resonating with the prophetic speeches of Baloch literary icon Syed Zahoor Shah Hashmi and the magical voice and lyrics of Ustad Abdul Sattar, today one hears guns, cannons, rockets, shells and snipers. Resembling the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, weapons have seized upon the mystique of the poorly-enriched Baloch society.
Politically ill-represented and exploited, around two million Baloch in Lyari and Malir at the mercy of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), have been treated as loyal, submissive subjects. Young, muscular Baloch youth have been hired as bodyguards for the PPP’s top leaders, including Benazir Bhutto. Elderly Baloch mothers serve as unpaid housekeepers at Bilawal House. The PPP wants to retain this status quo at all costs. Any sign of change in behaviour, positive social transformation, political organisation and awareness among the Baloch in Lyari is considered to be defiant and disloyal by the PPP.
It is not difficult to understand why Lyari transformed from being the Mecca of Baloch nationalism to a haven for gangs and the drug mafia. Once the PPP realised that educated Lyariites were prone to Baloch nationalism and rights-based politics, it began sowing the seeds of crime, drugs and gangs to systematically destroy the social fabric of one of Karachi’s most powerful, energetic and united communities. During the 1980s, some of these prominent gangs and mafias were reinvented by the powerful establishment to counter the Baloch Students Organisation, the only powerful political and social forum for the Baloch of Karachi during General Ziaul Haq’s military rule.
**After using drugs and gangs as weapons of mass destruction, the second phase of economic marginalisation of the Baloch started with the rise of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) by discharging thousands of Baloch labourers from the Karachi Port Trust and other Baloch-dominant departments.
**
Recent political developments and the growing empowerment of the MQM by the Pervez Musharraf regime further exacerbated life for the Baloch in Karachi. Sitting on Karachi’s strategically significant land strip, Baloch social and human rights activists had been long on the hitlist of criminals. Prominent human rights activist Nisar Baloch was shot dead on November 7, 2009 in Karachi for addressing members of the press and publicly saying that certain groups were after him. The Balochistan National Party Karachi president, Zahid Baloch, was also murdered on November 1, 2008, in Karachi and, this was mainly because of his role in mobilising Karachi’s Baloch for demanding their due rights.
**The ongoing operation is not aimed at liberating Lyari or at empowering its people. The entire drama is a part of the government’s policy of replacing the gangs with their own chosen ones. By doing this, the ruling clique seeks to ensure that its stranglehold on Lyari is strengthened — after all, precious resources such as land are at stake.
**
A truly liberated and empowered Lyari is considered very dangerous. Liberated Lyariites will question the ruling coalition’s policy of systematic enslavement and forceful political expansion. Impoverished, marginalised, politically enslaved by the PPP and disowned by the state due to its Baloch identity, Lyari has turned into a hunting ground for notorious police officials like Chaudhry Aslam. The ongoing operation will have long-term consequences. The feeling of alienation has already been elevated. Thousands of marginalised youths will be further radicalised leading to more instability.
**Since the state has subcontracted its responsibilities to political mafias in the country, particularly in Karachi, it is hard to envisage a sensible approach with regard to a resolution for the multilayered social, economic, ethnic and political conflicts. Social development and harmonisation of society need unbiased social reengineering. Addressing socioeconomic, political and other challenges faced by the people in Lyari, need more attention rather than costly operations for the replacement of unfavoured groups of people or gangs by another privileged mafia.
**
Published in The Express Tribune, May 9[SUP]th[/SUP], 2012.
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
Report: The story of Lyari by Ali K Chishti
Lyari is one of the oldest towns in Karachi, with a population of over one million. According to Yahya Baloch, a teacher of history, Lyari was first called Dirbo, but later renamed Kolachi-jo-Goth after a fisherwoman who settled in the town. “It was inhabited mainly by fishermen of Baloch descent.”
Eventually, the bed of the Lyari River was reclaimed for housing. On the other side of the Lyari River, “Khadda” had already been built to accommodate fisherman who were removed from Machi Meanee in 1870.
Gang wars
In 1964, Dad Muhammad, also known as Dadal, formed a gang with his brother Sheru, who worked at Rex Cinema, and began to illegally sell Hashish. Dad Muhammad was the father of Rehman Baloch, now known as Rehman Dakait. Together, Dadal and Sheru took on the biggest drug peddler in Karachi, known as Kala Nag. Nag was later killed in a police encounter.
Nag’s son Fazlu (or Kala Nag II) and Iqbal Dakait aka Babu competed with rival Haji Lal Mohammad aka Lalu, who was Rehman Dakait’s godfather. In the 1990s, Rehman consolidated his power in Karachi with the support of PPP-backed Khaled Shahanshah and others.
In the mid-1990s, Rehman Dakait abducted Saleem Memon, a trader from the Kharadar area, for ransom. Lalu asked Rehman to release the man for free, but secretly took the ransom himself. Ties between the two men broke down after that.
Later, Lalu’s son Arshad Pappu abducted businessman Faiz Muhammad - who was Rehman’s cousin - and killed him. Faiz’s son Uzair Baloch eventually became Rehman Baloch’s successor.
**Uzair now heads the controversial People’s Amn Committee (PAC) in Lyari, Lalu operates from Dubai, and his son Arshad Pappu was recently released by the police. Both the groups claim links with the Pakistan People’s Party.
“The People’s Amn Committee or Lyari Amn Committee had traditionally been backed by the PPP. The Sindhi elements in the party wanted to increase its influence in Karachi,” a source in the party said. “The idea backfired.”**
People’s Amn Committee
“We formed the PAC in 2008, when I came back from jail,” Uzair Baloch said. “There was a feeling in Lyari that there is no one to look after us and that we had been deprived of our rights. It is more or less a pressure group working for the betterment of Lyari.” Uzair said the group included health, legal aid and education committees that helped the people of Lyari. “It also promotes peace between various communities. Our members include people from all sects, religions and ethnicities.”
Uzair said his father and uncle Rehman Baloch were PPP supporters, and so was the rest of Lyari. “We were the foot soldiers of the Bhuttos and of President Asif Zardari,” he said. “But the PPP has betrayed us.”
He criticised the party for the recent law-enforcement operation in Lyari. “We did whatever the party asked us to do, including taking on the MQM. And now they have unleashed the police on us.”
Uzair’s rivals, Haji Lalu and his son Arshad Pappu, are said to have been backed by the MQM. He said Arshad had threatened in a phone call that he would arrive on a Sindh Police vehicle and occupy his house.
“We feel betrayed,” he said. “First they killed Rehman Baloch, and now they will kill me.”
Law-enforcement operation
The ongoing law-enforcement operation in Lyari has been sanctioned by the top authorities in the PPP and a close relative of President Zardari is monitoring it personally.
Nabeel Gabol, the People’s Party MNA from Lyari, recently survived an assassination attempt after he was banned by the PAC from entering the city.
Former Sindh home minister Manzoor Wasan was recently sacked for being too close to allied parties. He declined to comment on the operation, but added, “I tried my best for things to go back to normal.”
**More than 20 people have been killed in the operation so far, eight of them policemen. The operation is now in its final stages and Uzair Baloch, Zafar Baloch and Shahid Baloch are among primary targets. Arshad Papu has meanwhile set up offices in Lyari.
Karachi police chief Akhtar Husain Ghorchani denied that police were using or siding with rival gangsters in Lyari.
**
A source in the police said intelligence and law-enforcement agencies had already initiated another wider operation. “We have picked up criminals and target killers from the MQM, PPP, ANP and Sunni Tehrik.”
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
When people were talking about the need of operation in Karachi few months ago followers of Altaf Hussein were saying things like, operation doesn't solve any problem, operation shud be everywhere blah blah And now look at their arguments in favour of this operation.
Re: Lyari operation in Karachi
When people were talking about the need of operation in Karachi few months ago, followers of Altaf Hussein were saying things like, operation doesn't solve any problem, operation shud be everywhere blah blah And now look at their arguments in favour of this operations.
The operation was against some criminals and not against the people of Lyari. It failed and people suffered only because police had not anticipated the presence of enemies of Pakistan like BLA present there along with sophisticated weapons like rockets and grenades.
Anyone opposing action against criminal elements anywhere in the city, whether Lyari or Liaqatabad or Sohrab Goth, is an enemy of the city.