A good effort from such bolo to start a healthy debate. This kind of debate is a sign that there is hope on this forum and we as Pakistanis are maturing in our politics and can call spade a spade.
I agree with what most of you have written but if we keep stuck to our position that what Mqm was, what Mqm did then we won't be able to move forward. We should move forward and look at the ground realities that who is responsible NOW for the crimes and kill those baztards regardless of which party or family they come from.Else, we will keep discussing whether egg or chicken question. I.e was there Lyari problem or Mqm problem first.
Political will is difficult when PPP knows that whatever happens in the centre, they will rule Sindh with or without MQM excluding martial law rule.. And without their approval Army can't be called in. If Army was called by the federal government then alienation among Sindhis against Punjab and Army will increase. Therefore calling army is not such a straight forward matter as failure of that would mean total chaos and one or two injustice could create bad blood among Karachiites. Surgical operation after agreement from every party is the best way forward.
And, I agree with almost everything you said. I don't have a problem with MQM as long as it gives up violence and intimidation as a tactic then it will be similar to almost all other rudderless political parties in Pakistan - no agenda and no goals except for means to accumulate wealth for its leaders and massaging their overblown egos.
The problem is that we don't have the will and not smart enough to start a sincere effort toward truth and reconciliation. We have a special aversion to that word "truth" in Pakistan. No party or person is ready to accept the truth if it somehow points a finger at their mistakes or shortcomings.
My only question is why is this situation any different than any other in the recent past. I think I know the answer. Its purely politics and nothing else. No one cares about people dying or the flight of the capital or the worsening economic conditions. No, they don't have the least bit interest in any of that stuff. All they care about is how to protect their turf - both political and criminal one that rakes in wads of cash for them and sometime some very lucrative pieces of land.
Most people living in other parts of the country probably think that urdu speakers hate balochs or sindhis or pushtuns or if any of these other ethnic groups hate urdu speakers. People who belong to karachi know that other than groups closely associated with criminal mafias and political parties there is not much hatred.
There is no ethnic strife per se in Karachi. Its all a fabrication on the part of PAC or MQM or ANP or PPI or whoever. The only problem karachi faces is criminal mafias and military is no solution that problem. Its a law enforcement issue worsened by the undue influence, patronage and sponsorship of political parties. It can only be solved by making the police effective, impartial and professional and eliminating any politicization of the department. Get help from the military when absolutely necessary.
The problem is that even the most sensible among us are swayed by our ethnic affiliations and we stop being truly impartial. In my eyes PAC or MQM or ANP or LeJ or TTP or ST or SSP or any other group that indulges in ANY criminal activity is equally bad. You are right that we should not get too bogged down about who started what but as soon as we start to say that PAC is worse at this moment compared to MQM then we basically lose the plot and stop being objective. The problem is that these criminal mafias don't have morals, principles or rules that they stick to. They will change their stance or renege on a deal in a heartbeat. You can't trust a word MQM is saying until they prove with their actions that they have mend themselves or I would be hard pressed to take the word of PAC that it has reformed itself unless I see a significant change in their actions on the ground.
What is making this situation a lot more complicated at this time is the political dynamic in the country. I had mentioned in some pre-poll discussions that it will be interesting how MQM handles it when we will have a different government in the center than the one in Sindh. Well, this is the time we are finding it out. Couple of things are making things complicated - one is the cases in UK against AH and second is the emergence of PTI on the national stage. The fact is that no matter how many proclamations by all the parties that they should put politics aside to solve the problems faced by Karachi the bitter truth is that all of them will be playing a political game to gain the most out of this situation. Who do you think that PMLn would prefer in Karachi - PTI or MQM? Why do you think that with all the love that AH has for Zardari - that forced him to gather hundreds of thousands of his supporters in support of Zardari - has just disappeared and all of a sudden PPP is the face of exploitative and feudal forces?
What I am trying to say is that by all indications it will be more of the same. Based on past experience the main character in this play have not changed at all. Their roles and lines are the same. You can't expect these people to change in their 60s. As I mentioned that people only change if they are able to confront the truth about themselves and with these breed of leaders we have it won't happen until hell freeze over.
