“SINDH is once again in turmoil. Lawlessness has increased. The crime graph has jumped up. Police are not able to protect the life and property of the people. No one feels safe. The army had to be called in to control the worsening situation.”

Does this sound familiar? It’s not a reproduction of a news report from last week’s brutal ‘ethnic’ violence, in which nearly 100 lives were lost in Karachi. Rather, it is the first paragraph from the crime diary published in this newspaper’s May 30, 1992 edition.

Yet nearly two decades down the line, it seems little has changed in Karachi with regard to the spasmodic bouts of violence this blighted city is made to suffer. And if the political posturing by the PPP-led government and the (now in opposition) MQM is anything to go by, Karachi may well see a return to the dangerous 1990s unless the law is enforced and political stakeholders in Sindh eschew confrontation in favour of dialogue and accommodation.

Despite being the nation’s industrial and commercial hub, Karachi has faced major law and order problems since at least the mid-1980s. Following the end of Gen Ziaul Haq’s military rule and the restoration of democracy in 1988, calm was often restored by calling in the army and imposing curfew (measures also used during the Zia era).

However, as the 1980s gave way to the 1990s, there was no let-up in the mainly Mohajir-Sindhi ethno-political violence in the city. In 1992, Sindh’s then inspector general of police said that the province witnessed over 2,000 murders in 1990, while the figure for 1991 was over 1,700. Perhaps the word ‘murder’ was used as a blanket term as ‘targeted killings’ had not yet entered our lexicon. While Sindh was in the grip of severe violence, the infamous Operation Clean-up, led by the army, was launched in 1992 during Nawaz Sharif’s rule.

During this exercise, the MQM was held responsible for much of the violence by the government. The party claimed it was being victimised by the state. However, after initially restoring calm, violence in Sindh resumed; many felt that the moment the army went back to the barracks the province would once more be engulfed by a full-blown wave of violence.

Indeed, the violence did not abate, despite the fact that the army operation was ongoing. Along with ethno-political violence the sectarian scourge was at its peak during this period. By 1994, with a PPP government in place, several fronts were open in Karachi. There was a brutal war of attrition under way between the MQM and the breakaway Haqiqi faction, while sectarian battles also raged between supporters of Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan and Tehrik Nifaz Fiqh-i-Jafria; the SSP also clashed with the Sunni Tehrik.

Commenting on the MQM-Haqiqi violence, this paper noted in an editorial on Aug 11, 1994: “The cycle of provocation and counter-provocation will continue with more and more militants on either side paying a forfeit of their lives and with more and more innocent non-combatants getting killed.”

Replace the antagonists of 1994 with the current political players and there is a distinct sense of déjà-vu. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s State of Human Rights 1994 report released in 1995, more than 800 people were killed in Karachi in acts of violence.

In 2011, we seem to be viewing a repeat performance. According to the HRCP, in the first six months of this year alone Karachi has witnessed nearly 500 targeted killings. Though the city saw relative peace for about a decade during Gen Pervez Musharraf’s rule (the events of May 12, 2007 notwithstanding), law and order started deteriorating around 2008. Today, we stand poised at the precipice of a new cycle of open-ended violence, unless better sense — and the rule of law — prevails.

After decades of unrest, people rightly want an end to the violence and a permanent solution to Karachi’s law and order problems. However the state — government after government — has been unable to deliver on this count. It doesn’t take a social scientist to point out that the root of Karachi’s problems lies in the fact that it is awash with arms. It is widely believed that all political parties with stakes in the city have well-armed militant wings. It is also known that the paths of political parties and criminal elements often cross.

But perhaps the biggest issue fuelling ethnic tensions is that of jobs and economic opportunities. Being the country’s economic capital, Karachi is a magnet for people from across Pakistan. However, with a stagnant economy and shrinking economic opportunities, the competition for jobs in the city has become cut-throat. The constant influx of economic migrants to Karachi has led to encroachments and land grabbing, while new turf wars have erupted.

There is a feeling that the MQM, which considers itself the representative of urban Sindh’s Urdu speakers, seeks to defend its power and territory in Karachi, which is the main reason for its tussle with the ANP that represents the interests of Pakhtun settlers.

Hence with plenty of weapons and the city divided into various ethnic ghettos, the Karachi of today has become a much more dangerous place than it was in the 1990s. And if the PPP-MQM tension is factored in, the situation becomes even more edgy through the lens of Mohajir-Sindhi ethnic rivalry.

If there is to be peace in the city political militants have to be disarmed and the practitioners of violence made to face the law. If TV camera crews can capture images of masked gunmen exchanging fire in trouble spots, why can’t the state’s security apparatus track down these individuals and arrest them? The security establishment can put a cap on the violence if it chooses to. The fact that Karachi was allowed to bleed for nearly three days before anything was done supports this observation. Deweaponisation and impartial action against terrorists and criminals is the only solution.

As for long-term solutions, political parties must sort out their differences as per democratic norms. A political culture is needed, one that is founded on tolerance and healthy competition based on ideological solutions. This circle of violence has done no good to life and business in the city.

The writer is a member of staff. qasim.moini@dawn.com