Ironically speaking, once known as the ‘city of lights,’ Karachi is that mega city of Pakistan where now the level of political strife can only be measured by the body count at the morgue. According to a nerve-chilling estimate, this year almost 1,400 people succumbed to the dreaded “targeted killing” phenomenon – more than the number of people killed in terrorist attacks across the country.

Now that tally solidifies its grim distinction as the country’s most dangerous city, other than its actual war zones in the lawless up North.

Who are these killing machines, who when unleashed, go on a killing spree that reminds one of Cambodia’s regime during the Khmer Rogue and their dreaded killing fields (from 1975 to 1979)?

Lawlessness in the tribal belt of Pakistan is always blamed on Taliban/al Qaeda, but in Karachi, as analysts put it, it is the organised criminal gangs. They perceive Karachi as a jungle, which is full of these predators – organised criminal gangs, weapon dealers, land mafia, drug lords, extortion rackets (bhatta mafia) –who staunchly guard their turf and in almost all cases, allegedly have links with political parties.

According to law enforcement agencies, the political affiliations of these criminal gangs make this armed conflict, intractable. What also confirms this belief is that in most cases, the dead also had political affiliations either with the PPP, MQM, ANP, MQM (Haqqiqi), Jamaat-i-Islami or Sunni Tehrik etc.

But that doesn’t mean that the common man is lucky enough to be spared. Some of them were targeted for their ethnicity, some because of their sect while some died only because that is the price they had to pay for being the residents of Karachi.  The brewing ethno-political strife gives targeted killings a perfect cover, even if it isn't politically motivated.

When I hear people blame lawlessness in northern Pakistan due to the absence of the writ of the government, I wonder what then can the situation in Karachi be referred to? People in Karachi are victims of administrative failure. Clearly, the law-enforcement institutions and the government on the whole, have lost its hold on the city. In most cases, even the police admit that armed wings of political parties are engaged in a bloody turf war and are engaged in settling scores to establish their hegemony.

Each time the law and order situation in Karachi gets out of control, the city which is the largest revenue generator of the country, shuts down. Who benefits from destablising this city?

One allegation that is making rounds is the nexus of the so-called religious extremist outfits and the criminal gangs. But is it for real? I reckon the administrative failure offers space to criminal mafias to penetrate into system and hold ground which results in bloody mess of targeted killings. People of Karachi are forced to live in swamp of chaos and mayhem, while public representatives, encircled by armed protocol of safety blame the rival political parties for the mess.

The police perceive Karachi as a massive battle ring where the proxy gang wars periodically flare up and have the potential to even rock the government. While the army, to some extent, has been capable of battling down the militancy in tribal north, Karachi it seems, has been left at the mercy of equally dangerous elements. There is battle for dominance, for drugs, for weapons, for commandeering land, for extortion, for fattening electoral rolls when ultimately, it is a battle to gain ‘ownership’ of Pakistan’s commercial hub, Karachi.

Sabin Agha is a Pakistan-based journalist and a broadcaster. She can be reached at sabin.journalist@gmail.com

The views expressed by this blogger and in the following reader comments do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Dawn Media Group.