KARACHI: After Wednesday’s bomb attack in Chakiwara’s Jhatpat Market, the shops remained closed and streets deserted for most part of the day on Thursday. It was a day of mourning in most households.
In Lyari’s Rexer Lane, a family was mourning the death of 25-year-old Mohammad Faheem, who was killed in the market bomb attack.
Families who had been inside their homes for most part of the day came out in the afternoon. Pakistan Peoples Party MPA Saniya Naz was also in the area, condoling with the families of the victims. Frustrated with the persistent violence, many women came out of their homes to confront the MPA, but she sneaked out of the area just in time.
A former vice president of the PPP’s women wing, Hafiza Baloch, was sitting at the footsteps of her home in Rexer Lane. “I want to ask her (Saniya) a few questions. And I won’t go until she answers them,” she said.With tears welling up in her eyes, the former women wing member said the treatment meted out to the Lyariites was apathetic. “Just look at the number of media persons alongside her. It’s not a wedding. These MPAs got positions on a silver platter and yet they refuse to speak to us properly. Don’t give us jobs, but don’t send body bags to our homes either,” she said.
After witnessing months of violence, it was for the first time the residents lashed out at the leaders they had voted to power a year ago. Also, a number of residents were heading towards the Karachi Press Club to protest the recent killings in Lyari. But most of them chose to stay back.
“It’s their fight. They should deal with it,” said an aged woman, while children standing next to her said their exam had to be postponed twice in the same week.
Inside Faheem’s home, the conversation instantly moved from him to the constant firing in the area. “This is the only day in months that we haven’t heard gunshots as yet,” said a relative of his, requesting not to be named.
Everyone that Dawn spoke to requested not to be named, as in that case they would be harassed and asked to “change their statements the next time”.
The women spoke up the most. Caught in the middle of the crossfire, most of them are aware that their sons and brothers are involved with the gangsters in one way or another. “We can’t stop them. Money is at the base of this fight that we witness every other day,” said a woman while wails of Faheem’s mother could be heard from the next room.
During the general elections last year, MPAs and MNAs were handpicked by banned Peoples Aman Committee’s Uzair Baloch, PPP officials said. He waited for and earned himself this opportunity after an ill-timed operation by the authorities in April 2012 that helped him gain sympathies of the residents. At the time, many senior activists and party workers were given preference over “younger and less-experienced” candidates.
Now, the same MPAs hardly visit the area, Hafiza complained. “We canvassed for them for days despite the fact that they were not eligible to become MPAs. If we’ve put you in power, please use it for the good of the people.”
Senior activists said they believed there were “multiple dimensions” to the fight in Lyari at the moment. A senior activist told Dawn over telephone: “What used to be a fight between gangsters is now a fully-fledged war between political parties. These gangsters are being used as pawns in a fight that has no end.”