Philosofi

The fact is that the term and concept, ‘elite’, is misrepresented and misunderstood in this country. Intriguingly, those who are part of the elite themselves carry out most of the anti-elite commentary. In fact, castigating the elite at popular forums is a way to gain legitimacy that could lead to acquisition of greater power. For instance, the MQMcondemns its opponents as elite, while being a part of the power circle itself. Similarly, the PTI leadership, which comes from an elite background, sells a middle class narrative to gain access to greater power and control of government. Even the judges challenge the elite when they are historically part of the power establishment of the country.

The politics of violence

Much of the violence is for changing the demography of those constituencies where there is an unequal mixed ethnic population into a homogeneous one so as to guarantee an election victory. This changing is carried out through terrorising the population by indiscriminate firing, forcing them to leave and target killing a few of them. It is also done by purchasing properties (offering above market rates or coercing families to sell) on the main corridors of movement and then “suffocating” the population at the back.

The transfer of 2 to 3 thousand votes from one area to another in many cases can change the election results in a number of constituencies. Various examples where this has already happened are well-known.

The battle over the local bodies system for Karachi is less over the ideology of the system or its need and more about who benefits in an election process through which system. If the city is divided into districts (as it was before Musharraf’s system), then the PPP and ANP will be the beneficiaries. If two more districts are carved then, depending on the new demarcations, they may benefit even more.

One party supports the completion of building of the Lyari Expressway while another party opposes it but not for technical reasons but for the fact that if the surviving trans-Lyari settlements are removed one party loses a large number of votes in two constituencies.

Bhatta

Bhatta has always been taken as zakat/fitra. Before it was as a religious obligation but now it is extorted.

Voluntary chanda was given to the MQM in a big way in its early days. Some of the collectors became extortionists and are now part of a larger bhatta mafia. People became fed-up of giving chanda so perhaps extortion became necessary.

Before the extortionists went personally and asked for bhatta. Now they send a parchi. Sometimes one receives more than one parchi from different sources. If you ignore the parchi, you are threatened with death or kidnapping of your near one. If you still ignore it, the kidnapping takes place or you are killed. More recently, failure to comply results in a hand grenade being thrown at your shop. As a result of this, small businesses belonging to those communities that were in a minority in certain neighbourhoods have moved to areas where their ethnic population lives. This is a process of ethnic cleansing and helps in determining election results.

Lyari gangs also took and take bhatta. They had conflicts over it. Rahman brought the gangs together. As a result, there was comparative peace in Lyari. After he was killed, the gangs resurfaced. The Aman Committee has tried to bring them under its wing but Lyari has now become politically divided.

Earlier in Lyari intercity transporters (passengers) used to come. Their adda was here. The local gangs used to charge them bhatta in exchange for protection and use of space. The police had a share in it and so protected this activity.

The adda was shifted to Yousef Goth in 2006 after which the local gangs lost this lucrative access to bhatta. So they started to collect bhatta from the markets of the old town. Here, they clashed with MQM supported bhatta extractors.

Cargo in the form of fruits, vegetables, Afghan transit trade items, Iranian petrol still come to the old city areas. Bhatta is charged from them and is a source of conflict between different groups.

Market adjoining Lyari are a big bhatta market most of it controlled by MQM which is not happy that others should encroach on their presence in this area.

Gangs also tax drugs, gambling dens and property transactions. They give no bhatta to the police as they are stronger than them but used to give it 6 to 7 years ago.

Economic independence typically relies on a nation’s ability to pay its bills with its own internal resources – something that Pakistan has singularly lacked throughout its ‘independence’

Dr Farrukh Saleem

According to a survey conducted by Gallup Pakistan more than 55 percent of Pakistanis consider inflation the major problem faced by Pakistan. Public Enemy Number Two is terrorism. According to the same survey, more than 21 percent of men and women in rural and urban areas of all four provinces of the country consider terrorism a major problem. And Public Enemy Number Three is unemployment. Gallup Pakistan found that more than 16 percent of Pakistanis consider unemployment a major problem.

What is the source – the only source – of Public Enemy Number One? Consider this: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani assumed office on March 25, 2008. On that fateful day, onions were being sold at Rs16.25 per kilo. Over the past 37 months the price of onions has shot up by 85 percent, sugar is up 130 percent and petrol is up 40 percent.

So, what is the source – the only source – of Public Enemy Number One? Now consider this: The day our current prime minister assumed office, the total money supply in Pakistan stood at around Rs5.5 trillion. In the following year the PPP government printed an additional Rs1,000,000,000,000. By June 2010, the money supply had shot up to Rs7.2 trillion. The PPP, during its second year in power, printed an additional Rs1,000,000,000,000. Over the seven-month period beginning in June 2010 (the latest figures available), the PPP has printed an additional Rs600 billion and by the time the current fiscal is over, the PPP would have printed an additional Rs1,000,000,000,000.