KARACHI // Rahmanuddin stands on one of the steep dirt lanes that weave through Pahar Gunj, a Pashtun slum in north Karachi, and describes his brother's murder.
"Around midnight on October 4, he picked up a passenger in his taxi who told him to go to Liaqatabad," he said. "When he stopped to drop the man off, two men were waiting and they shot him. Twice in his arms and once in the chest. He was just a working man. He was with no political party. They killed him because he was Pashtun." Ethnic violence in the city of 18 million has left more people dead this year - more than 1,300, according to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan - than all terrorist attacks across the country combined.
The exact causes of the violence, and why it has risen so sharply, are difficult to identify: suspects are rarely prosecuted and the city's politics is filled by a volatile, murky brew of overlapping ethnic, criminal and militant sectarian groups.
"Crime and politics have gotten juxtaposed, and it's very difficult to disentangle where one ends and the other begins," said Talat Aslam, the editor of The News, Pakistan's largest English-language daily.
Close observers of the city's politics agree, however, that the central actors in the bloodshed are competing ethnic political parties and the criminal gangs linked to them. At the heart of the conflict, they say, is a fight for control of the hugely lucrative tracts of public land that are being illegally developed, both for profits and to cement control of turf and political power.
Underlying this bloody competition is a huge demographic shift.
The killings began after the 2008 elections, according to police records, when the ethnic Pasthun Awami National Party, or ANP, for the first time won seats in the Sindh assembly. Before this, the Pashtun vote was divided among a number of parties.
"The Pashtuns have woken up to their own strength and how they can influence policy," Mr Aslam said.
Their size has expanded rapidly in the past few years as military operations in the north have displaced millions. There are an estimated five million Pashtuns living in Karachi and they have become increasingly frustrated at their continuing marginalisation in government. Only two out of the 42 available seats for Karachi in the Sindh assembly are held by the ANP, despite Pashtuns constituting nearly a quarter of the city's population.
Mostly middle-class Muhajirs, the descendants of north Indians who fled to Pakistan during Partition after 1947, make up about half of Karachi's population. The Muttahaida Quami Movement party, or MQM, claims to represent their interests and has had an iron grip on the city's politics for the past decade.
It blames the surge in murders on a variety of gangs as well as Taliban militants it says are being given cover in Pashtun neighbourhoods by the ANP, which claims to be the political voice of the city's rapidly growing Pashtun population.
ANP leaders deny the accusations and say the MQM seeks to equate all Pashtuns with the Taliban in order to justify violence against them.
Whoever the culprits, the result has been tit-for-tat killings that sometimes target party activists, but much of the time average Karachiites such as Rahmanuddin's brother are murdered simply on the basis of their ethnicity.
The police can do little to stop the violence because of political pressure, complicity in the land grabbing and a basic lack of resources. A senior police official, who requested anonymity, said that even when suspects were arrested, a lack of forensic techniques and equipment meant that almost all were eventually released.
The historical absence of government planning had directly caused the city's politics to form around ethnicity and violence, said Haris Gazdar, a director with the Karachi-based Collective for Social Science Research.
"The provision of essential goods and services - housing, utilities, transport - occurred in the informal sector", by groups that coalesced around ethnic solidarity, and who used violence to enforce the functioning of these basic services, Mr Gazdar said.
"Once violent ethnic politics made a successful entry into the city, virtually all organisations and ethnic groups understood that this was one of the dominant ways of doing politics in the city."
Many families have been pushed out of once ethnically-mixed neighbourhoods as the parties have sought to consolidate their electoral power. Abutting Pashtun and Muhajir neighbourhoods areas have become flash-points of violence, and there is a growing perception of fear among average people.
"In areas where Pashtuns take over, like Qasba Colony, Muhajirs are pushed out or they have to pay a 'tax' to the ANP, and the reverse is true," said Mohammed Shamsuddin, a community activist in Orangi Town, a Muhajir-majority neighbourhood with a growing Pashtun population. "This has created a divide in peoples' mindsets and ethnicisation has become entrenched."
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
The biog
Name: Greg Heinricks
From: Alberta, western Canada
Record fish: 56kg sailfish
Member of: International Game Fish Association
Company: Arabian Divers and Sportfishing Charters
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Correspondents
By Tim Murphy
(Grove Press)
RESULTS
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More on Quran memorisation:
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
No more lice
Defining head lice
Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.
Identifying lice
Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.
Treating lice at home
Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.
Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital
Sun jukebox
Rufus Thomas, Bear Cat (The Answer to Hound Dog) (1953)
This rip-off of Leiber/Stoller’s early rock stomper brought a lawsuit against Phillips and necessitated Presley’s premature sale to RCA.
Elvis Presley, Mystery Train (1955)
The B-side of Presley’s final single for Sun bops with a drummer-less groove.
Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two, Folsom Prison Blues (1955)
Originally recorded for Sun, Cash’s signature tune was performed for inmates of the titular prison 13 years later.
Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes (1956)
Within a month of Sun’s February release Elvis had his version out on RCA.
Roy Orbison, Ooby Dooby (1956)
An essential piece of irreverent juvenilia from Orbison.
Jerry Lee Lewis, Great Balls of Fire (1957)
Lee’s trademark anthem is one of the era’s best-remembered – and best-selling – songs.
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The biog
Favourite pet: cats. She has two: Eva and Bito
Favourite city: Cape Town, South Africa
Hobby: Running. "I like to think I’m artsy but I’m not".
Favourite move: Romantic comedies, specifically Return to me. "I cry every time".
Favourite spot in Abu Dhabi: Saadiyat beach
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
more from Janine di Giovanni
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
