The morning of April 15, 1985, seemed like any other... only that by the end of the day, Karachi had ground to a halt.

Two sisters, Najma and Bushra Zaidi, were travelling in a mini-bus that morning in Karachi. When the mini-bus reached Nazimabad Chowrangi, both decided to get off near the Sir Syed Girls College bus stop. Despite the bus being still in motion, the bus conductor asked the girls to hop off as the bus won’t come to a complete halt.

But as the women skipped off, they were hit by another bus that was travelling in the same lane. Najma fell and fainted but Bushra was overrun by the bus. The sisters were rushed to the nearby Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, where Najma was admitted to the hospital for medical treatment. But her 20-year-old sister, Bushra, was pronounced dead.

A single spark can start a fire — in Karachi, identity politics and squeezed resources take centre stage as the city grinds to a standstill

Meanwhile, their college mates rushed to the scene a few paces away from their college’s main gate. Students from the Nazimabad Boys College also reached there and began protesting. Soon, things turned ugly as students pelted stones at passing vehicular transport. Many mini-buses were torched too. By the time the police reached the spot, traffic had thinned while many buses had already been damaged. A number of students were injured and arrested.

As news of the rioting broke, the protest spread to the rest of the city, particularly in main city centres. The thrust of protests was on Golimar Chowrangi, Nazimabad, North Nazimabad and Liaquatabad, but protests were also being staged in Orangi and Banaras Colony. Many people from these vicinities had moved temporarily to their relatives in other areas of the town.

The army was soon summoned to restore order, with many areas of the city put under curfew. The next morning, as curfew restrictions relaxed, the protests resumed and spread to new areas of the city. Since reports said that the driver of the mini-bus which overran Bushra Zaidi was a Pashto-speaking driver, there were great apprehensions that rioting might take an ethnic turn.

Reports later confirmed that rioting had taken place in almost all localities inhabited by various ethnicities, including Pashto-speaking and Urdu-speaking people. Arson also claimed its toll on property. This trend was dangerous and the provincial administration faced a great dilemma in trying to protect the life and property of the citizens. The city had come to a standstill; business activity was left completely paralysed too.

In fact, the whole country had been left shaken by the effects of the riots. Long curfew hours had created shortage of foodstuff and medicines in affected areas. All educational institutions stayed shut for many days but rioting did not stop. The provincial government led by Syed Ghaus Ali Shah, a nominee of General Ziaul Haq, tried restoring peace but to no avail.

Protests in Karachi were not a new phenomenon, but this time, ethnic difference became a point of very sharp conflict. This sentiment was exploited by leaders of all communities. This meant that the government struggled to bring peace since it was difficult to bring all stakeholders to the table.

Protests in Karachi were not a new phenomenon, but this time, ethnic difference became a point of very sharp conflict. This sentiment was exploited by leaders of all communities. This meant that the government struggled to bring peace since it was difficult to bring all stakeholders to the table. The city had seen language rioting in 1972 but this time it had shown deeper ill-will.

With the number of casualties mounted, political leaders spoke their minds about bringing peace to the embattled city. Some saw the violence philosophically, but others wanted to identify fault lines in the city. A political party termed the incident a traffic accident like any other.

But very seldom was the issue seen in its true context. In fact, the phenomenon was rooted deep in the socio-economic milieu accumulated during the past three decades. The city had grown a serious kind of economic imbalance. The sentiment of diminishing economic resources had made things simmer.

The political leadership of the time knew that some day, these fault lines were going to blow up out of proportion. There was the need of evolving of a mechanism by which no such tragedy occurred in futire. Altaf Hussain, who had transformed All Pakistan Mohajir Students Organisation (APMSO) into Mohajir Qaumi Movement (MQM), wanted a permanent solution to the issue.

The Federal government led by Prime Minister Mohammad Khan Junejo could not fathom the gravity of the situation. Junejo was struggling to establish himself as a prime minister with powers, and could not guide the Sindh Chief Minister Syed Ghaus Ali Shah in resolving the grim situation.

With the chief minister overseeing efforts to broker peace, contact was finally established with various stakeholders. After agreeing on broad outlines of restoring peace, some trivial points were also heard. For example, the government had announced to pay remuneration for the dead and the injured, but some transporters wanted compensation for the damaged vehicles made earlier.

When the city finally ambled to normalcy, the official death toll stood at 50 while more than 300 had been injured.

Unofficial figures put the number of dead at 200. But Bushra’s death and the violence that ensued had brought many realities out in the open.

There were apprehensions though that below the surface, things were simmering again and could flare up again. A collective mistrust and fear for the unknown gripped the city. Some fears proved true, and a few ugly violent tragedies broke out again.

The temporary truce that had been brokered was exactly that: temporary. But for a long-term solution of Karachi, a group of socio-economists, sociologists and economic planners should have been formed to study the social fissures of Karachi and evolve a viable mechanism to create amity between Karachi’s ethnic communities again.

shaikhaziz38@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, September 20th, 2015

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