Amid the hustle and bustle of the Chakiwara market along Rexer Lines on the evening of 27th Ramazan, there appeared to be a welcome lull in the deadly gang warfare that many feared would leave Lyari dwellers with little to celebrate this Eid. Men, women and children were busy shopping. Temporary roadside stalls were set up for Eid sales just an hour before sunset.

It was pleasant to watch the scene in a part of town that has been wracked by violence over the years — the majority of Lyari’s inhabitants are still not sure how long the current phase of uneasy peace will last, despite the resolve shown mainly by the Sindh Rangers to root out all criminal gangs in the area.

But I was there to explore another kind of celebration, albeit low-key, by a segment of Lyari’s people. The Iranian-Baloch dwellers here have reason enough to celebrate given that Tehran has just hammered out a deal with world powers on its nuclear programme in order to bring to an end 13 years of crippling sanctions.

On the ground floor of Usman Plaza close to the Jhatpat market, I met Barkat Malik Raeesi of the Anjuman Falah-i-Irani Balochan.

“I don’t know exactly what lies ahead but I am very hopeful that it’s going to benefit us,” he said, giving his thoughts on the deal’s impact on the Iranian-Baloch. “The people [Iranian-Baloch] are not currently aware of this development, but I think they will soon be once the implementation stage begins.”

Settled mostly in Karachi’s locality of Lyari for over a century, the Iranian-Baloch are mostly associated with trade linked to Iran. Most of them export clothes, bed sheets, mangoes, rice and goat meat to Iran while importing wax, oil and fruit and other edible items from the latter country.

It was in 1997 when Tehran gave the Iranian-Baloch in Pakistan voting rights and allowed the Anjuman Falah-i-Irani Balochan to oversee the process. Since then, Mr Raeesi has been a patron-in-chief figure for the Iranian-Baloch.

Keeping an eye on changes around the globe that pertain to Iran from his small office in Lyari, Mr Raeesi is aware of every happening — even minute-to-minute developments — in that context.

“With only the announcement of the deal, the Iranian currency has started to gain strength. Till Tuesday, we got one million Iranian toman against Rs31,000. Today, it’s tagged at Rs33,000,” he said. “Definitely the Iranian currency will go up further. If that happens, it will bring stability to Iran’s economy that would in turn benefit those who are associated with it in one way or the other.”

After a brief chat, he took me to the neighbouring Chakiwara market. Iranian products dominate in the stores owned by Iranian-Baloch with surnames such as Sheerani, Askani, Hussainzai, Barakzai, Sarbazi, Mubaraki, Baranzai and Lashari.

We stopped at the Rehmani General Store where food items ranged from Iranian chocolates and marshmallows to cooking oil and canned fish. Salesmen were busy catering to a queue of buyers.

“We visit Iran almost every other month for purchases. Most of the goods are first exported to Mund in Balochistan and from there brought to Quetta before they finally make their way to Karachi,” said the storekeeper who was not aware of any Iran deal. “Look, we are trading with Iran for the past several decades. During this period, for most of the years, Iran’s economy was suffering. If you are telling me that Iran is going to join mainstream world trade, I hope it will be good for us as well.”

A block away running his store, Naseer Sarbazi was aware of the development to some extent but was thinking along totally different lines.

“One needs to understand that it’s not Iranian-Baloch or Pakistani traders who are benefiting from this border trade,” he said. “Iran was facing sanctions so we were, in fact, helping them out by buying their products when other countries were not doing so. I fear if the demand of their products rises after this deal, it may prove costly for us.”

After listening to his community’s traders, Mr Raeesi came up with an instant and logical conclusion. While making our way back to Usman Plaza through the congested lanes of the Chakiwara market, he put forward some interesting arguments.

“Any deal between Iran and America or the world powers doesn’t matter to us to a large extent,” he said. “We depend on our [Pakistan’s] relations with Iran. Unfortunately, the situation doesn’t appear promising if we look back at the past few years. So I think Pakistan must utilise and revive its relations with Iran after this deal as it can benefit in terms of trade and business. I bet it can earn revenue more than anyone’s expectations.”

Published in Dawn, July 17th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play