Khawar Ghumman ISLAMABAD, Feb 20, 2013: Political violence, ethnic divide and militant organisations being patronised by political parties is turning Karachi into the new Beirut, according to a visiting French political scientist. Laurent Gayer, a French political scientist, who is writing a book "Karachi: Ordered Disorder and the Struggle for the City", that will be published by Hurst and Oxford University Press this year, made these observations during a lecture here on Wednesday. The Centre for Research and Security Studies (CRSS) hosted the scholar. He said though the metropolitan city was facing multiple menaces in the form of lawlessness, targeted killings, sectarian strife for quite some time, de-regularisation of Bhatta mafias within political parties and entry of new competitors in the arena had made the life of the city’s industrial community simply hellish. Quoting his interviews with some people belonging to the business community of Karachi, Mr Gayer said although they had been paying protection money for the last two decades, coercion for money from more than half a dozen entities had become simply unbearable. Many of them (businessmen) are planning to shift their business either to Middle Eastern countries or Bangladesh, the researcher quoted them as saying. In his findings, the researcher also likened Karachi with Mumbai in terms of social leadership, where local political parties had their fully armed militant wings. But the nature of violence increased with the influx of arms from the Afghan war, he said. Karachi city at the moment was awash with the most modern weaponry, which political parties across the board were using against each other, said the writer.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 17:12:51 +0000
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