Karachi being the commerical hub of Pakistan and it’s port city appears to be relatively, compared to other large cities including Lahore, less affected by Taliban activities that have caused unrest in those other cities. A friend who is no fan of the MQM, claims that the only reason Karachi is less affected by Taliban forces is the overt and covert activities of the MQM.
Questions:
How much validity is there in this statement?
If this is true, is this a case of preferring to deal with the devil they know?
P.S. I am not in denial about the other recent violence erupting in Karachi
Because they're using it as a base to move their finances, their people and basically all the raw material they need for their activities. If they create trouble in Karachi, they'll be under scrutiny and the operational backbone of their infrastructure will suffer. They also need to have a place where their criminal networks can basically relax, and to that end it's relatively easy to hide in a city where millions of people from all across Pakistan live.
Keep in mind that Karachi is the financial hub of Pakistan as well as being the major deep sea port.
They are extracting funds from Karachi, secondly, their bases are in FATA and areas in immediate vicinity have been hit that is NWFP, southern punjab adjoining FATA like DI Khan etc and upper Punjab. Sindh and Balochistan have not been affected as well though there is no MQM there.
All the infrastructure upgrade that has been happening in Karachi........where do the funds come from?
Apparently nobody in the country pays any taxes......
Don't look at the speeches.
Taliban never attacked MQM, PML N and PMLQ.
I can not know whom you said 'Devil'.
If you said Altaf , He is towards his end.
Only our sold out media is hiding every thing.
If you pointed out Taliban.
They will continue till we provide justice to our people.
(Justice not the Chief Justice, justice for the chief )
All the infrastructure upgrade that has been happening in Karachi........where do the funds come from?
Apparently nobody in the country pays any taxes......
LOL, 1.25 trillion rupees of tax was collected last year.
Most of the taxes are indirect, customs, property tax, sales tax, import duties.
There is a lot of sympathy in Karachi for Talibans among deobandi circles. Darul Uloom Karachi, Ashraful Madaris, Tableeghi Jamat, Binnori Town Mosque, Jamia Farooqia, Yousuf Lodhinawai Mosque etc. One of my freinds who is from Tableeghi Jamat once told me that Moulana Yousuf Ludhianwai who visited Afghanistan some time in 1990s praised both Talebans and OBL. Moulana Sahib termed his mission as a Jihad as he was following the Hadith of expelling Kuffar from the holy lands.
The apparent reasons for talibans not attacking Karachi is that they do not want to open too many warfronts. It is also true that both Balouchies and Sindhies are not as religiously fanatics as are the other people in Pakistan.
All the infrastructure upgrade that has been happening in Karachi........where do the funds come from?
Apparently nobody in the country pays any taxes......
no body pays taxes .....????????
a very good amount of money is cut from my salary every month as TAX. They even charge tax on the bonuses we get ! sales tax is charged on each and every good and service we buy. There are so many other taxes imposed as well.
Only Salaried class is paying direct income taxes as it is deducted at source. The 2nd source of income tax is at the import stage and then the local suppliers one deducted at source. This governement abolished half percent turnover corporate tax for about a year but then restored it last year again.
Karachi being the commerical hub of Pakistan and it's port city appears to be relatively, compared to other large cities including Lahore, less affected by Taliban activities that have caused unrest in those other cities. A friend who is no fan of the MQM, claims that the only reason Karachi is less affected by Taliban forces is the overt and covert activities of the MQM.
Questions:
1) How much validity is there in this statement?
2) If this is true, is this a case of preferring to deal with the devil they know?
P.S. I am not in denial about the other recent violence erupting in Karachi
you friend is right. Taliban are not acting as severely in Karachi as in other parts because MQM is doing their job in Karachi.
Taleban = MQM = Taleban, same masters, same agendas, different names, different tactics, different language
All the infrastructure upgrade that has been happening in Karachi........where do the funds come from?
Apparently nobody in the country pays any taxes......
WRONG! most of the 2 trillion+ budget money comes from taxes. People do pay taxes.
Taxes is a whole other issue. Most of them are collected indirectly from those who have no other choice but to pay them. Voluntary payments are meager. Tax-to-GDP ratio is shameful. They are disbursed based on multiple criteria agreed by provincial and central governments.
Karachi not being attacked is simply because it is difficult logistically to go there. Most of the terrorism targets have been security related agencies busy 'fighting terrorism' and they are based in Punjab and KP. Dare I say that American security apparatus is also 'hot' in KP and Punjab.
God keep Karachi and our other cities safe from man-made disasters, now that we are facing a great natural one.