Read this article which was published in a local news paper…the author’s eye witnessed accounts of “power hungry” fights among the children of Karachi’s elite.
April 17, 1999, 06:09 p.m.
Pakistani feudal elite lets sons swagger, kill without penalties
By MARION LLOYDCopyright 1999 Special to the Chronicle
KARACHI, Pakistan – American “gangsta” rap music reverberates through
the beachfront mansion, where teen-age girls, clad in vinyl miniskirts
and platform shoes, dance hip-hop under psychedelic lights.Their dates mouth the songs’ profane lyrics and toss back slugs of
whiskey from metal flasks. Cellular phones bulge in their oversized
designer jeans.It might be Los Angeles. Only it’s suburban Karachi, where traditional
Muslim values are fast losing ground to American gang culture.The teeming port city is the crime and extortion capital of Pakistan, a
country ranked among the world’s most corrupt.The effects of easy wealth are most glaring among the younger
generation, combining a disregard for the law with an increasing taste
for fast living.“We live like kings and do what we want,” boasts the 16-year-old son of
a prominent defense attorney, dressed in a Tommy Hilfiger T-shirt and
chain-smoking Marlboro reds. “People murder people and get away with
it.”He should know. Three years ago, he and several friends were charged
with shooting a classmate to death in a fight over a girl, in what they
claimed was a case of suicide but which was almost certainly murder.
They were released after their families intervened.In another case, a gang of wealthy teen-agers opened fire outside a
popular fast-food restaurant, injuring several people. No arrests were
made.To prevent such an attack, security is high outside the gated mansion
where 200 of the city’s wealthiest teen-agers are gathered. Dozens of
guards armedwith Kalashnikov rifles patrol the neighborhood in exclusive, seaside
Defense Colony.At midnight, a Mitsubishi sports utility vehicle carrying the teen-age
sons of one of Pakistan’s most powerful political families, the
Pagaros, squeals to a halt in front of the house.A fight breaks out when the boys, flanked by armed guards, try to force
their way in. The guests spill out onto the lawn, egging the Pagaro
gang on with jeers of “Mafiosi” and “feudal thugs.” The security forces
fire warning shots and then open fire on the retreating car.“They’re like the Italian Mafia; they want to be kings of this city,”
says a tough-looking 16-year-old, with greased-back long hair and the
traditional black tunic worn by feudal chiefs. Like the Pagaros, his
father is a high-ranking politician in the local government. His family
also owns a large chunk of Western Baluchistan province.“I’m not afraid,” he boasts later, at a pool-side wedding reception at
a swank, five-star hotel. The guest list is a Who’s Who of Karachi
elite, including several government ministers, a television star and a
former chief justice of the Supreme Court. It is here where key
friendships are forged in the ruthless world of Pakistani politics and
business.Animosities run deep, particularly among the younger generation.
“If they mess with me, I’ll mess with them,” the gang leader boasts.
He gestures to a scowling member of a rival landlord family, called
“feudals” for the ancient social system that operates in Pakistan’s
rural outback. “If this weren’t a wedding, we would have some words.”The centuries-old rivalries are unique to Central Asia. But the
teen-agers’ language, like their clothes, is unmistakably urban
America.“People think Pakistan is a village. But we are more Western than the
West,” brags the son of a Karachi construction magnate, who, like most
of his friends, has spent years living abroad.“American gangsta rappers are nothing,” he says. “There, if you shoot
someone, you’re in big trouble. Here, you can do what you want.”That attitude spells trouble for the elite prep schools where the
teen-agers regularly stage fights.At the prestigious City School, clashes between rival gangs became so
common last year that the principal deployed 50 army rangers to restore
peace. Until last month, three rangers were stationed at each of
several gates leading to the sprawling, art deco complex, whose outside
walls are plastered with gang graffiti. And at least seven students
have been expelled over the past two years for attacking classmates in
school.“They throw their weight around and try to manipulate you,” says Seema
Kazmi, who teaches English and history at the school. She gestures to a
group of 14-year-olds, flouting the school dress code in their
low-rider jeans and American baseball caps emblazoned with the logos of
popular rap singers.Others are more blunt in their criticism.
“They get away with murder,” says Uzma Rauf, the school’s vice
principal.She says the situation has worsened dramatically over the past five
years due to an increase in the availability of heavy weapons and
drugs, particularly hashish and cocaine. Karachi’s port is a major
smuggling outlet for illegal arms and drugs coming from Central Asia
and war-torn Afghanistan.“This is a Kalashnikov culture,” she says, referring to the
Russian-made semi-automatic rifles available for $1,000 in the city’s
booming black market. The guns are favored by militants from rival
political factions, who are fighting a bloody feud for control of
Pakistan’s commercial capital.The culture of violence filters down to the teen-agers. Brandishing
Kalashnikovs is not an uncommon way of settling rivalries, particularly
among the sons of politicians and feudal landlords.“It’s about arrogance, showing people who you are,” says the son of a
high-level bureaucrat, who claims not to belong to any gang. He
estimates only 10 percent of his classmates are involved in fighting,
“but we all eventually get dragged in.”Rauf said the school was under severe pressure to accept problem kids,
whom she estimates at 25 percent of the 2,700 students.“But if they’re ministers’ sons, what can you do?”
She blames the teen-agers’ behavioral problems on lax parents, many of
whom are involved in criminal activities themselves.“We know they’re not going to help us out in any way,” she says.
Police say they are helpless to intervene, even when they have proof
that the teen-agers have committed felonies.“They are above the law, and they know it,” says an officer at the
Clifton Police Station, which oversees Defense Colony. “If a rich kid
is accused of murder, you can’t even think of investigating.”Nor can they stop them for drinking and or doing drugs, without risking
retaliation from angry parents.“We can’t even touch their body guards,” who are widely involved in
carjackings and arms smuggling, says the officer, who requested
anonymity. After police arrested one guard on carjacking charges, the
man’s employer threatened to burn down the police station, he says. The
charges were dropped.Such incidents have caught the attention of the head of Karachi’s
citizen’s crime cell, Jameel Yousuf, a retired businessman with
connections to the Karachi elite. He says in the case of a fight, or
even a murder, the teen-agers’ families usually refuse to press
charges.Typical police tactics are of little use.
“You can’t beat the hell out of a rich kid to extract confessions,” he
says, with only a trace of irony. “You just have to let him go.”