(13 Aug 1997) Urdu/Eng/Nat 50 years ago with the partition of the Indian sub-continent, millions of Muslims migrated to Pakistan - with the majority settling in the southern port of Karachi. The migrants, or mohajirs as they are known, were initially welcomed with open arms and helped to make Karachi into the financial and industrial capital of the country. But over the last two decades, the city has been wracked by violence that has pitted the migrants against other nationalities as well as the army and police. On the 50th anniversary of independence, APTV reports on the mohajir community. The tomb of Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah is being spruced up for the 50th anniversary celebrations. Jinnah died shortly after Independence in 1947. And his mausoleum in the heart of the city stands as a monument to his almost single-handed creation of a country for Muslims in the Indian sub-continent. But outside the grounds of this imposing structure there is chaos. Since 1947, when Urdu-speaking migrants from India - known as mohajirs - poured into Karachi, the city has expanded haphazardly with little planning control. Now teeming with 13 million (m) people - the majority living in slums - the city's civic services have all practically collapsed under the burden of ongoing migration from all over the country. In 1985 ethnic conflicts were ignited when a mohajir college girl was crushed by a speeding bus. It was the catalyst that lead to the setting up of a new political movement, the M-Q-M (Mohajir People's Movement), that sought to represent the mohajirs. The mohajirs had long complained of discrimination in education and jobs. The M-Q-M was seen as the first successful political grouping in Pakistan to draw its support from the middle class and poor. But the idea of an ethnically exclusive party was opposed in Pakistan's political circles which are dominated by the army and intelligence agencies. The M-Q-M became an outsider. Political, ethnic and sectarian violence became the norm in Karachi - as did funerals for those gunned down. Hundreds were killed in ethnic fighting in the late 1980s and hundreds more when the army launched a crackdown on the M-Q-M, accusing it of terrorism and militancy. Unable to be allied to any other party in the country, the M-Q-M also became divided into two bitterly opposed factions - the M-Q-M and the M-Q-M-Haqiqi. Killings between the factions has become a daily routine. But there are also accusations that the country's intelligence agencies are involved in whipping up violence for their own ends. SOUNDBITE: (English) "And we will not have any coordination with the public until the Prime Minister of Pakistan gives assurances that the country's intelligence agencies are involved in fermenting violence for their own ends." SUPERCAPTION: Shoaib Bokhari, MQM leader Compared to 1995, which was the bloodiest year in Karachi's history, the city today is much calmer and life in the mohajir community has returned to a degree of normality. Paramilitary groups are still employed here to patrol the congested streets, but for most people they have become a normal part of life. But while the M-Q-M once again won huge backing from Karachi's mohajir community in the 1997 elections and is an ally of the central government, its founder and supreme leader Altaf Hussain is still in exile in London. The previous government accused him and his party of trying to split Karachi from the rest of Pakistan. Numerous charges from murder to sedition are pending against him in court. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/19db6c07512f78f5469f998a68b91103

• published: 21 Jul 2015
• views: 14069