The PML-N and MQM have finally come together in opposition to the PPP. Not so long ago, the leaders of these parties were spitting venom at each other, rooted in the rivalry of the 1990s when the PML-N government led by Nawaz Sharif carried out a military operation in Karachi, the prime target of which was the MQM. Interestingly, opposition to the government has brought these erstwhile adversaries together in the political struggle even when they have significant differences on important national issues. For instance, MQM has been advocating elections for the local bodies, an idea with which the PML-N government in Punjab is quite uncomfortable. It seems therefore that beyond opposition to the government, there is no positive convergence of agendas. At the time when these two parties’ senior leaders were busy in their rendezvous in Islamabad, Karachi was in the grip of another fit of violence. Reports say 24 people lost their lives in one day on Wednesday. At the time of writing these lines, some areas of the metropolis resemble a battlefield. The MQM has always used its control over Karachi to gain political mileage against its rivals. The culture of violence has grown so uncontrollably in Karachi over the last three decades that all kinds of mafias now claim turf in various parts of the commercial hub of Pakistan, which overlaps with political interests. It would be interesting to know what is PML-N’s take on this unfettered use of violence for political purpose?