Blood and Tears

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This is insane.

I’m sitting in front of the television, one eye on the screen, the other on my laptop, feeling like a hysterical drama-queen because despite everything that I’ve grown up with in Karachi across the years, I don’t know if I can handle this. karachiriots2.jpgAnd I feel a bit stupid for being so affected by it—I’ve seen and lived through worse, and I’m fortunate enough to live in a part of town that will (most likely) not be affected by what is happening, but I can’t help it.

Karachi seems to have gone completely mental. Dozens of cars on fire. Even more people dead and/or injured. And no one knows why.

There are about a hundred different conspiracy theories flying around about what has prompted this day-long blood-bath in Karachi, but from what I’ve managed to glean, the basic story goes something like this: the (fired) Chief Justice of Pakistan was supposed to come to Karachi this morning to address his supporters and the MQM, a political party that has historically controlled Karachi since inception decades ago, and is more of a cult than anything else, decided to hold “rallies” to counter his speeches. The current opposition parties, held rallies in the city to welcome the ousted CJP, and not to be outdone, the MQM decided to support the government.

How they’re managing to support the government by gunning down strangers on the streets, setting fire to vehicles, firing at apartment buildings in which defenceless mothers with six-month-old children cower, and threatening to storm private television channels—well, that’s beyond me. There are over fifty people dead—I have friends who work in the hospitals where people have been taken; the gunmen have fired on ambulances carrying injured people to the hospital and riddled them with bullets; there are snipers atop apartment buildings and lurking in junctions leading off of Shahrah-e-Faisal, which is effectively a transport artery for Karachi and a route that is almost impossible to avoid using if crossing any significant distance in the city, and all through it, the mother-fucking police are lying on benches taking naps, their shoes off, socks rolled down, moving their cars out of the area, and frog-marching unarmed men into the hands of these violent SOBs, standing there and watching as they beat the shit out of some poor guy with the butts of their rifles, and not doing a damn’ thing to stop it. I’m actually feeling physically nauseated. And never more so than when I see government spokespeople claiming that there’s absolutely no issue, nothing going on, no need for the Army or any other authority to step in and curb the violence. The head of the Aaj TV newsroom sounds slightly hysterical as he tells people that he has been asking for some sort of help from every major policing agency in the country for six hours, and hasn’t even received an acknowledgement. The spokesman for the MQM swears—as in the background, men wave his party’s flag and fire guns off at the same time—that if not for his party’s efforts, the city would be in ruins already, and that blood would be filling the streets.

There are dead bodies lying in the streets, and above them, in a display of jarring incongruity, is a sign stating that 2007 is the year of tourism for Pakistan, and I think that if I don’t laugh I’m going to cry, because how did this happen to us again? The scenes flashing past me look like images from Beirut or Baghdad, or Sarajevo. People crying, blood everywhere, fire licking at anything even remotely flammable, and no matter where you turn, moustachioed thugs with Kalashnikovs and carbines, firing at anything that moves. And I can’t understand why—that’s what freaks me out more than anything else; I’m used to the violence, I grew up with it in the 1980s, with the bomb drills in school and the mobs outside the gates and the whole nine yards, but I simply cannot understand what sort of twisted game is being played between the government and the political factions that support and/or oppose it. In this short-term move, do they have a fucking CLUE as to how much harm they’re doing? How quickly they’re devastating a city that has taken so long to actually start living again? People are scared, and rightfully so—because there’s no real method or logic to this behaviour—no one knows what to expect.

Sunday has been declared “a Black Day”, with all the inappropriate grammar, spelling, and illogic that could be mustered, by people who are most likely affiliated in some way with the people who have perpetrated this travesty of protest. The TV channels keep flashing back to this one particular instant of a man standing up, his hand clasped to his neck, chest dotted with scarlet; and his hand falls, he stumbles, a spray of blood arcing into the air, and he slides to the ground, trembling a few times before he falls completely still.

Musharraf is about to make a speech. If I haven’t thrown something at my TV screen and destroyed it in the meanwhile, I’ll come back with more later.

134 thoughts on “Blood and Tears”

  1. Stay safe, Sin. And thanks for this testimony.

    This is starting to get attention on the news here (CNN is saying 28 people killed, most of them supporters of CJ Choudhry), but they’re certainly not conveying the urgency and chaos of the situation you’re experiencing.

  3. Sin, that sounds absolutely awful. Thanks for the report. This line in particular made me think of Modi circa 2002:

    And never more so than when I see government spokespeople claiming that there’s absolutely no issue, nothing going on, no need for the Army or any other authority to step in and curb the violence.

    Fuckers, indeed.

  6. I hope you and your loved ones stay safe. I cannot begin to imagine how awful it must feel to see the city you love going to pieces, people rioting and killing each other. I spent a few terrible months in Bombay during the riots, but from what I can glean from the BBC this looks far, far worse. Stay safe, Sin! And let us know you’re safe.

  8. I spent the entire afternoon hearing gunfire today. The images on TV are horrifying and heartbreaking. And if that wasn’t bad enough, Musharraf’s speech actually induced nausea. Tomorrow are the funerals of the political activists, and I suppose Karachi should now gear up to expect more violence.

  9. Thanks for posting this, Sin. I hope that you and all of your family and friends are safe and stay that way.

    All the best,

    SemiDesiMasala

  10. I hope you and your family are safe in Karachi, Sin. I will be praying today.

  11. Like many others have said, keep safe, you, your family and friends. I pray for this to stops.

    Rudie chetan

  12. Oh Sin! Your post has moved me to the same incredulousness and disgust you’re feeling.

    I wish I had a blog so I could exercise the same power that Tasneem Khalil went to jail for. But I’m glad you’re doing it, especially on Sepia Mutiny. Thanks for testifying, and please stay safe.

    Peace to Karachi.

  13. Hi Sin,

    Thanks for the update! +ve that I see here (if one can call it that in this sordid episode) is the missing foreign hand in the media comments both in Pakistan and India. Stay safe

  14. Politicians always manage to demonstrate the universality of their stupidity. Hope no more lives are lost in this.

  15. CNN expanded the article. Death toll is rising–33 as of this point. It seems Chaudhry was there to address a group of lawyers on the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court. I sincerely hope he didn’t visit the city in hopes of inciting a confrontation like this. In case you guys hadn’t been following, Musharraf dismissed Chief Justice Chaudry due to ‘misconduct’ and there was a bit of unrest over whether the president actually had the power to do this.

    As of an hour ago, Musharraf called an emergency meeting to discuss this with his prime minister. The Sindh governor Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad is asking people to remain calm, but at the same time said earlier today that he believes the army needs to be deployed to curb the violence. (http://www.pakistanlink.com/Headlines/May07/12/08.htm)

    The thing that’s really hit me since this all started is that media outlets, who have recently clashed with Musharraf for freedom of the press, has been a major target of the ‘unidentified gunmen’. Aaj Television offices have been covering the clashes between pro-government and opposition forces, specifically with footage of Pakistani police officers accosting and beating supporters of the Chief Justice.

    The most comprehensive history I’ve found of the sequence of events is here: (http://www.ibnlive.com/news/history-behind-attack-on-pak-media/40447-2.html)

    To be frank, it seems that Musharraf’s supporters, with or without his consent, have a large part to do with the bloodshed. Of course, as with all events that are this acute, we should take its reliability with a splash of salt. Either way–whether it’s Shetty’s Shame Shame in a black dress, or a man being stabbed in the neck by a bayonet for supporting a rebel Chief Justice, I’m starting to finally realize how uncomfortably important the ‘golden age’ of media coverage really is.

    To all of you that have friends and family in the country, my prayers are with you.

  16. I haven’t been able to see anything about it on CNN yet, but I’ll keep an eye out. This is truly horrible news. We’ll all be praying for the safety of the innocent.

  17. This damn chief justice really has let himself get carried away and be used for a sick political game. This killings are terrible! But I remain firmly supportive of President Musharaff. He is the best leader Pakistan has to offer. Faraz (From Abbottabad, Pakistan)

  18. I put this article together on Wikipedia to kind of summarize the basic sequence of events so far. Not to let this turn into another one ‘of those’ discussions, but (at least at this stage) it seems fairly clear that no party here is without blood on their hands. There is a ridiculous amount of bias at this point because the event was so recent, but hey–the news does that sometimes. I don’t know who’s right, but seriously–this is ridiculous.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karachi_Riots

  19. The way you describe the scene seems so deja vu. I just don’t understand why we can ever allow police officers who are complicit in the violence to remain on the force. Why does this never seem to end?

    Take care of yourself Sin.

  20. Message to Paki brothers. Actually what you sow is what you reap.

    So there.

    My heartfelt condolences by the way.

  21. Vivek,

    Please see Anna’s comment on not flaming. Try to keep it civil. No one’s looking for the guy who says “I told you so” in this situation.

  22. Vivek says: >>Message to Paki brothers.Actually what you sow is what you reap.

    Vivek! You don’t say these things.

    M. Nam

  23. Avishkar,

    not trying to start a flame-war here, nor did i say anything uncivil. Nor am i trying to be the “I-told-u-so” guy. As an Indian one does feel so. but sincerely, i know i am not alone in harboring this feeling.

    Lets call a spade a spade. Pakistan is the most uncivil and violent society of our times.

    MoorNam,

    ure right. Some things are too obvious to say. how dumb of me.

  24. Pakistan is the most uncivil and violent society of our times.

    Vivek, last warning. This is an outright stupid statement. We live in a world where there is genocide in the Sudan, a despot ruling a kingdom of starving people who eat grass in North Korea, and where hundreds of people a day die in Iraq. You come across as complete bigot with the statement above and I am not interested in what you call a “spade.” Go elsewhere if you want to spew rubbish.

  25. Thanks for posting this from Karachi, Sin. SM is lucky indeed to have someone able to liveblog this, from right there. But please – stay safe above all.

    I know it all seems quite senseless. Here’s some analysis from the BBC, which may help us understand why: Link

    Excerpts:

    Mr Chaudhry flew from Islamabad to Karachi on Saturday morning, planning to address a rally in the city. But after landing, he was unable to leave the airport, because roads into the city were blocked. After several hours, Mr Chaudhry departed back to Islamabad.
    Mr Musharraf has ruled out a state of emergency, and appealed to the country to stand united and peaceful. “If you really feel sorry over what has happened in Karachi, then stop these protests,” he told supporters at a rally in Islamabad later in the day. In Islamabad, the ruling party organised its own show of street power, bussing in thousands of people from across the province to support Mr Musharraf. So in both Islamabad and Karachi, our correspondent says, there have been attempts to check the momentum of the chief justice’s campaign, but it is not clear what has been achieved.

    So it seems like the violence, whether encouraged or merely condoned by the state, has succeeded in frustrating Mr. Chaudhry’s attempt to address his rally, acknowledge his supporters, and get his message out. This is what has been ‘achieved’.

  26. Go elsewhere if you want to spew rubbish.

    Glad you said that Abhi.

    Mr Musharraf has ruled out a state of emergency, and appealed to the country to stand united and peaceful. “If you really feel sorry over what has happened in Karachi, then stop these protests,”

    Mushy saying that is just so much of BS when from everything it seems like the pro Mushy MQM is behind this. And the state of emergency seems like a very obvious attempt by him to take control back when support for JC was rising fast.

  28. I’ve added some images to my blog post regarding this, but couldn’t manage to get them onto SM. If any of you would like to link them or add them to the post, I’ve got bandwidth to spare, so please feel free. I’m talking to a couple of people I know who were in the hospital and newsrooms at the time, and will provide an update once I have a better handle on what’s going on.

  29. Actually what you sow is what you reap.
    Pakistan is the most uncivil and violent society of our times.

    I have experienced such things 3 different times in India around where I lived in the span of 10 years (from a small village to a town to a city). Small number of people terrorizing communities for mostly political reasons. Only it was not AK-47s but long knives and axes. Potential for violence exists in India also.

  30. Sin, the three pictures you updated your post with gave me goose flesh on this hot, humid day. I stay away from gore, shun “scary” movies and faint at the site of needles, but even weak-me couldn’t deny the importance of witnessing those images, each more damning than the last…your words, as always, are magnificent, but seeing what you are describing so articulately in vivid, nightmarish color (is blood really so red?)…it’s haunting. I’m so sorry.

    ::

    The picture I updated this post with is from Sin’s blog; if you click it, it will enlarge. I didn’t know if people would find it objectionable but at the same time, I thought it deserved to be seen, so this was my clumsy compromise.

  32. What mainsteam print publication best represents the voice of Pakistani progressives? I’m trying to better understand the situation and have gone to the “Dawn” online site but can’t seem to find anything illuminating about the current situation. Has the Chief Justice always been about the rule of law & civil society, or is this a recent turn of events based on sympathy for jihadis ? Is there a rural/urban or class schism at play here ? Not trying to flame, I would like to see the vision of Pakistani progressives prevail.

  33. Dear Sin and the rest of the Mutineer family in Pakistan,

    I dearly hope you and yours are all safe – please keep safe.

    x

  35. louiecypher, i tried to incorporate both sides of the issue when i wrote about this on my wiki–try taking a look there. ‘karachi riots’.

    and so what is it a crime to advertise yourself on a blog? oh it is? oh. okay.

  36. by the way, according to dawn.com the suspended chief justic iftikhar muhammad chaudhry packed up and left–he didn’t want to leave the airport without his lawyers, apparently, or risk flying above a rioting city in a helicopter. i’m not sure why it was such a priority for him to get to the supreme court building to give his speech.. anyone have a relatively non-biased explanation? a 50 year anniversary is a big deal for married people, but for a supreme court? bueller in the back? any comments?

  37. Hi, I haven’t heard anything from the news in chicago about this..

  39. As a bengali I hate to say it, but this is how it all started in 1971.

    The Punjabi/Urdu vs. Bengali cultural conflict in 1971 is easy enough for me to understand. But is there something similar at play here ? My understanding of the MQM is that they represent the interests of the Punjabi & Urdu speaking immigrants from northern India. Can the adversaries in this conflict be broken up along lingusitic lines ?

  40. Awfully sorry to hear what’s happening in Karachi, Sin. I hope you and all your family are safe. This kind of violence and carnage is just too much to bear, and especially when it happens in a city like Karachi. No matter what the problems are between India and Pakistan, I would like to reaffirm my solidarity with the denizens of Karachi. We all have enough problems as it is, without adding bloodshed like this to the mix. Peace.

  41. For Vivek, who seems to think that he’s perfectly justified in calling Pakistan the most uncivil and violent society of our times, as others have said, there are far worse things going on in the world. Darfur, Iraq, and North Korea come to mind, along with every other place in the world in which innocent people die. Saying “I told you so”, and using the excuse that as an Indian you feel that way, is utterly ridiculous and inappropriate. Do all Indians feel the way you do? Certainly not. What is needed now is not I-told-you-so’s, but the cessation of this violence. What is needed is help and understanding and sympathy. As for your “what you sow is what you reap” comment, how can you believe that an entire city is responsible for the actions of a few? Are you saying that all of those people who were killed or all of those people who were cowering in buildings, afraid for their very lives, were directly responsible for what happened to them?

    It is disappointing that there are those who remain petty even in the face of an atrocity like this.

  42. Saying “I told you so”, and using the excuse that as an Indian you feel that way, is utterly ridiculous and inappropriate. Do all Indians feel the way you do? Certainly not. What is needed now is not I-told-you-so’s, but the cessation of this violence. What is needed is help and understanding and sympathy. As for your “what you sow is what you reap” comment, how can you believe that an entire city is responsible for the actions of a few? Are you saying that all of those people who were killed or all of those people who were cowering in buildings, afraid for their very lives, were directly responsible for what happened to them?

    Well-said.

  43. What an awful thing to happen anywhere in the world! sigh

    Sin, I hope you and your family are safe. Keep us posted. Many thanks.

  44. My understanding of the MQM is that they represent the interests of the Punjabi & Urdu speaking immigrants from northern India.

    They represent the urdu speaking muhajirs (immigrants) from India who moved over to Pakistan in 1947. They have nothing to do with the Punjabis. Sindhis and Punjabis are their traditional nemesis.

  45. Some time ago, I had mentioned Karachi and Mumbai being cousins. This isn’t what I had in mind.

    Same sick script. Some goons flex muscles to say they own the city. Everyone has an angle. The whole thing descends into chaos. Old scores get settled and innocents get slaughtered. It’s all too familiar.

    Take care Sin. Hope you and yours are safe.

  46. This is indeed a sad thing.. I hope something good comes out of it,like the rise of moderate voices in Pakistan.

    Lets call a spade a spade. Pakistan is the most uncivil and violent society of our times.

    I presume you have never been to Pakistan or met a Pakistani. The ones I met have been really nice to me, Unfortunately the propaganda machinery on both sides paint different picture.

  47. Sin – Stay safe.

    Thanks to all Indian commentators here for support. It meant a lot to an expat Pakistani who got family in India and Pakistan.

    Avishkar,

    This morning a KMB author has created an article named 5/12 but now someone has cut the stuff from there to create another article named Karachi Riots ;). Did you do it?

  49. All readers and bloggers in Karachi, stay safe.

    This is just fucked up. I can’t fathom what kind of hatred one needs to fire into a crowd of people.