Pakistan: 1. Information on the Mohajir Quomi Movement
| Publisher | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada |
| Author | Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada |
| Publication Date | 1 December 1989 |
| Citation / Document Symbol | PAK3450 |
| Cite as | Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Pakistan: 1. Information on the Mohajir Quomi Movement, 1 December 1989, PAK3450, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6acf98.html [accessed 17 September 2023] |
| Disclaimer | This is not a UNHCR publication. UNHCR is not responsible for, nor does it necessarily endorse, its content. Any views expressed are solely those of the author or publisher and do not necessarily reflect those of UNHCR, the United Nations or its Member States. |
An article in the most recent issue of The Middle East states that "Far from diminishing, the dangerous tensions between the country's rival ethnic groups have actually grown through 1989. In Karachi and the interior of Sindh province, the situation is very tense between the mohajirs and Sindhis." [Anthony Hyman, "The Shine Wears Off", The Middle East, December 1989, p.20]
Please refer to the following attachments for more information on intercommunal rioting and the MQM:
Salamat Ali, "The Great Ethnic Divide", Far Eastern Economic Review, 14 January 1988.
"The Ethnic Melting Pot: Minorities Resent the Dominance of Populous Punjab", Far Eastern Economic Review, 10 November 1988.
Hamish McDonald, "A New Ethnic Force Flexes its Muscles", Far Eastern Economic Review, 1 December 1988.
"Pakistan Death Toll Hits 222 as Gun-Toting Youths Clash", The Ottawa Citizen, 2 October 1988.
"Ethnic Rioting in Karachi Kills 46 and Injures 50", The New York Times, 2 October 1988.
Mark Fineman, "Pakistanis Mystified by Wave of Ethnic Violence Sweeping Country", The Ottawa Citizen, 4 October 1988.
Salamat Ali, "Hitting at Punjabi Hegemony", Far Eastern Economic Review, 14 January 1988;
Henry Kamm, "By the Sea, a City Bursts With Squalor and Rage", The New York Times, 19 April 1988.
Salamat Ali, "Polarised Politics: The Sindh Government is Paralysed by Ethnic Disorder", Far Eastern Economic Review, 21 September 1989.
For information on the Mohajir Quomi Movement, please refer to the attached previous responses to this question:
# PAK2894 Information sur le Mohajir Quomi Movement
# PAK2696 Information on bombings or student uprisings in Karachi during the last two years.
#2696: Pakistan: 1) Information on bombings or student uprisings in Karachi during the last two years;
1. No information on student uprisings in Karachi during the last two years could be found among the sources currently available to the IRBDC. There have, however, been many intercommunal riots and demonstrations in the city in the past few years. Many of the gunmen have reportedly been youths. ["Pakistan Death Toll Hits 222 as Gun-Toting Youths Clash", The Ottawa Citizen, 2 October 1988.] One source indicates that unemployed youths in Karachi "play a predominant role in bank and highway robberies and abductions under the guise of political activism". [Salamat Ali, "Polarised Politics: The Sindh Government is Paralysed by Ethnic Disorder", Far Eastern Economic Review, 21 September 1989, p. 20.]
During 1985 and 1986, intercommunal riots broke out between the Mohajirs (the people who fled India after the partition in 1947) and the Pathans (Pushtuns) who had grown in influence since 1979 with the influx of Afghan Pathans fleeing the conflict in their own country. [Keesing's Record of World Events, Volume XXXIII, March 1987, p. 34995.] The Mohajirs believe themselves to be deprived of employment opportunities and economic privileges on the basis of their ethnic identity. [Henry Kamm, "By the Sea, a City Bursts With Squalor and Rage", The New York Times, 19 April 1988.] Other ethnic groups, such as the Sindhis and the Pathans, believe that they face the same deprivations in Karachi, a city with a growth rate of seven percent and an inadequate infrastructure to meet the needs of its eight to ten million residents. [Ibid.; Salamat Ali, "Polarised Politics" p. 20]
A political organization, the Mohajir Quami Mahaz, leads the fight to secure rights for the Urdu-speaking Mohajir community of Karachi, and, though characterized by at least one source as a "militant youth organisation", won 96 of the 204 seats in local government elections in January 1988. [Ahmed Rashid, "Life Among the Ruins of a Karachi Slum", Far Eastern Economic Review, 14 April 1988, p. 49.]
Some of the worst intercommunal rioting occurred in December 1986, when 195 people died in Karachi. [Hussain Haqqani, "Karachi Ethnic Riots Leave 25 Dead", Far Eastern Economic Review, 19 May 1988, p. 12.] Sporadic incidents of ethnic clashes have continued. For example, ethnic riots in the western district of Karachi between Mohajirs and Pathan settlers from North-West Frontier Province led to the death of 25 people and the injury of 120 others on 8 May 1988. [Ibid.] Massacres of hundreds of people in Hyderabad and Karachi in October 1988 were carried out by "thousands of gun-toting youths". ["Pakistan Death Toll Hits 222 as Gun-Toting Youths Clash", The Ottawa Citizen, 2 October 1988.] And, after ethnic rioting in Karachi led to scores of deaths in November and December 1988, the Government put an indefinite curfew on the city on 16 December (which lasted until 26 December). ["The Week: Pakistan", Far Eastern Economic Review, 29 December 1988, p. 9.] This followed a curfew which had been lifted two weeks earlier, on 4 December 1988. ["Curfew Lifted in Karachi Areas 4 December" FBIS-NES-88-233, 5 December 1988, p. 72.] Ethnic violence in Karachi has continued into 1989.