The liberal city: "Thus Stands Karachi"

[ravage]

@Iconoclast

By these parameters Peshawar would be considered more liberal than Lahore, and such a claim would only be laughed upon.

Opposition to extremism has not been an election issue upto now, the stance taken by political parties are their own and not reflective of the opinions of people voting for them. Just to remind you that the only political party that used the issue of fight with Taleban in election campagn was ANP, which at that point was saying that theu will make a truce with taleban and stop bloodshed of Pakhtoons.

You are correct in saying that ANP campaigned on a different agenda wrt Taleban in 2007, which is why on their basis alone it isnt possible to draw the conclusion that the people who voted them in have more liberal attitudes.

However (and I may be wrong about this) within ANP I havent seen more straightforward condemnation of taleban and religious extremism, and making the case for opposing them not because of wanting to end bloodshed but because of their ideology, than that made by Shahi Syed of Karachi here. It may be the case (and this is speculative) that politicians from less liberal areas may not want to condemn on the basis of ideology for fear of losing votes.

there is also the case of political parties moulding the electorate’s views, and that is the value of political parties hardening their stances after the elections. i know to the extent of the community MQM gets votes in, with its consistent rhetoric on the taleban and extremism, the typical mohajir is very likely to be (ideologically) anti-taleban.