Peace and Justice

18

Karachi: The Anatomy of Ethnic Militancy

Kaiser Bengali and Mahpara Sadaqat

Introduction

This chapter attempts to identify the roots of ethnic militancy in Karachi. It hypothesizes that militancy in Karachi is not rooted in economic deprivation, as in the case of erstwhile East Pakistan, but in a sense of political deprivation. It presents secondary data on economic disparities between East and West Pakistan to show that economic factors predominated in the rise of insurgency in East Pakistan. It presents an array of socio-economic and housing data from primary sources to show that Mohajirs are better placed than other communities. Data is also presented to show the decline of Mohajir representation in the political, financial, and business ...