KARACHI: As the door creaked open our voices were downed out by the loud noise of four arm-swinging power looms. The small, dimly lit room smelled of grease, silk, cigarettes and tea. It was a pleasant change from the faint stench of burning tyres and gun powder outside, a remnant of the violence that erupted in Orangi in the first week of July.

Suddenly the power went out. As the machines came to a grinding halt their operators, who a moment ago seemed like extensions of the looms, moved outside.

Atique Ahmed, the owner of the 120-square-yard establishment that consists of a silk-making workshop, living quarters and a wholesale/retail shop, says it will take him at least six months to regain lost buyers and attain his pre-violence level of sales.At the same time, his locality is a classic case of how economic interdependence between different segments of the population, the availability of sufficient economic opportunity and the support system of extended families and communities can create a constituency for peace.

Mr Ahmed lives in Banaras Town, which spreads over sectors seven, eight and nine of Orangi. The congested locality is a 10-minute drive from Banaras Chowk and 15 minutes from Kati Pahari, two spots notorious for deadly clashes during the latest and prior waves of violence in Karachi.

Yet it is a comparatively prosperous locality by Orangi standards, and has a high employment rate. Thirty five years old, it is a hub of small silk producers who collectively cater to about 80 per cent of the demand for pure Banarsi silk in Pakistan.With a total population of about 200,000 (approximately 20 per cent of the population of Orangi, one of the biggest squatter settlements in the world), almost all households here have traditionally been involved in the silk industry. There are some 400 silk shops in the main commercial area in sector 9E, fed by over 1,500 small silk units. The expanding family businesses generate enough job opportunities for the youth of the area.

Elders of the locality tell Dawn that for the past three decades Banaras has tried to keep out of the politics of violence, and continued to do so during the clashes earlier this month.

“Ours is a close-knit locality of artisans well-integrated into the mainstream market,” says Jhagru, a senior member of the community, explaining the absence in his area of animosity on the basis of ethnicity. “We enjoy close trading relations with Pakhtun silk traders who pick up no less than 40 per cent of our total sales.”

The views of most people in this area are markedly different from the deep divisions that are generally thought to exist among the residents of many Karachi localities.

But despite its interests in maintaining peace, Banaras cannot remain unaffected by the violence that surrounds it.

“We do not produce for self consumption,” Mr Ahmed explains. “The violence has driven away our customers and depressed the demand for the fine pure silk that we produce. Silk demand is highly elastic. It takes a dip the moment disturbance starts and takes considerable time to recover.”

“You can count out Pakhtun customers from this market for the coming weeks,” adds Younus, a young man who manages a family shop in the 9E area. “Why do we paint Pathans as outsiders bent on hurting us?

“Gone are the days when they used to live off some para or dhaba [temporary places used for community living by single men]. Now they have families and homes in Karachi along with serious businesses. They cannot afford to act irresponsibly.”

Over the past three decades Pashto-speaking traders with strong business links in Dubai and Guangzhou have stepped out of bara markets on the periphery of cities and entered mainstream city malls and shopping plazas all over the country.

“There was a time when women preferred Mehboob Cloth market in Saddar for buying formal wear,” says Shafique, another local shop owner.

“Today all key upscale silk markets in the city, from Rabi Centre on Tariq Road to Ashiana and Gulf in Clifton, are dominated by Pakhtuns in Karachi. It will be to our detriment if they decide to sever ties with Banaras Town.”

According to Dr Arif Hasan of the Orangi Pilot Project, “the violence in Karachi is essentially political. The communities are not fighting. The sad part is that in all the sabre-rattling that follows, the saner voices become inaudible.”