Targeting Lyari

Targeting Lyari

The police operation against criminal elements in Lyari entered its fourth day on Monday, as the number of dead over the weekend rose to 20.

Locals have protested against the operation, saying the residents of Lyari are being targeted on the pretext of a worsening state of lawlessness.

While the current operation underway in Lyari is the second of this year, Lyari’s residents question why similar action is not taken in other areas of Karachi. The state of lawlessness is prevalent in most areas of the city, they insist.

Why, then, does the government not launch such large-scale no-holds-barred operations in areas other than Lyari?

How many operations will it take to bring lasting piece to one of Karachi’s oldest neighbourhoods?

Are the residents of Lyari fair in asking for a cross-city operation of a similar extent?

Dawn.com invites its readers to give their suggestions and feedback on the Lyari operation…

 

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21 Responses to “Targeting Lyari”

  1. Asif says:

    A Poll is being conducted at Dawn Web page about the Similar Operation for the other areas of Karachi which gives the answer in Negative by majority.
    Where is the Media anchors who did not see the Rocket, hand gernade and other sophisticated weapons used by the Lyari gansters.

  2. Advocate Ajmal says:

    i think the best way is to get rid of social crimes is to implement islamic justice system, which will ensure that the criminal must be dealt with hard hands and no one will favour or nepotise any criminal in whole of pakistan.

  3. Ammar says:

    This operation makes me wonder how much arms and ammunition is there in Layari, that police have not been able to gain any substantial inroads. It is like a mini state within the city.

  4. waqas says:

    I cannot expect a party based on fuedal lords to end oppression. Its not just karachi, rather all the villages of Interior sindh need an operation, where the fuedals must be dealt with the same way they treat their villagers!

    • Advocate Ajmal says:

      we must required a clean up operation(fair & justified) to be monitored by the superior judiciary on daily basis so that we may get material results

  5. Shehzad - Lyari 20 years ago! says:

    Dear all,
    Its interesting to see every one’s comment. We 4 brothers and two sisters lived in Kalakot Lyari till our 20’s before we moved to USA one by one as foreign students. The was ONLY drug problem at that time though “Kala Nang”(Black Cobra a bandit was known for his bravery (BUT One man show) . Lyari’s problem is education. We studied under street lights and got our high education from USA, we still speak fluent Balouchi and recently called someone in Lyari, honestly police have not made it far from (Cheel Chowk- Lyari boundry) at this point. We know how Lyari is complicated structure wise, it would be very difficult for law enforcement agencis to fix Lyari unless people step back and become open to see life differently, again education is missing. I agree with of of commentater that people need to stop supporting their people but all people in Lyari must have more frustrated than 20 yeras ago!

    S- USA

  6. Sureman says:

    For the last 65 years we have been living in mirage. We have been following the ideology of Islam and Pakistan, which unfortunately does not exist. By hanging the only elected Prime Minister and supporting the Facist organizations and religeous zealots we have created war foronts within the country.
    It is high time to reverse our thinking and let us be first Sindhi, Baloachs, Pashtuns and Punjabis and we automatically be true Pakistani. Clean the country of all weapons and hatred on the basis of religion and the country will become PURE, the way founder wanted it to be. Otherwise, it is a failed STATE and will remain so. May Allah help us.

  7. Azhar Hussain says:

    Karachi will never have peace, till the cancer of ethnicity is squashed forever. Everyone living in Karachi commits themselves to be Muslim and Pakistani first. Weapons free zone is created and enforced.

  8. Naved says:

    I feel sorry for the innocent & poor people of Layari, May Allah give them relief.

    But at the same time history tell us that Criminals and terrorists survive and nurtured only in an environment, where they have support of local people. These local supporter are apparently not involved in any kind of bad activities, but without their internal assistance & cover criminals can not survive & fight. Most probably a thin minority of Layari natives are supporting these criminal either due to their own petty interest or on the basis of ethnicity. If Layari people want peace & prosperity in their area then they should help law enforcement agencies to eridicate these criminals.

    Unfortunately, when we let criminals and terrorist prvail in our area withuot giving any resistance, then one fine day , although we are not involved in their crimes, we have to a pay price for our indifference, timidity and helplessness. So the message is try to nip in the bud in your area or be ready to suffer sooner or later.

  9. Nasir Shah says:

    At present Pakistan is suffering through two cancers diseases. Taliban and Gangs.

  10. Kamal Nasir says:

    Totally unorganized operation. it clearly reflects incompetency of our police force. They are shooting in the air and wasting time and bullets without realizing the fact that these bullet can land at any innocent person.
    It also reflect the operation is a clear set-up to show the nation that the gov. is serious. I am surprise to see that in five day the Police have not been able to capture a single person from the area. It seems like all our systems are run by jokers.

  11. Al-Maghrib says:

    Absolutely!

    An operation of similar magnitude and scale is needed in Liaqatabad, New Karachi, Orangi Town, Azizabad and other areas.

    • Naved says:

      Would you mind to give detail of criminal activities in these areas? On what basis you are demanding to conduct operation in urdu speaking majority areas? Please don’t be biased. May be some criminals on their own would be operating in the areas you mentioned, but the heavily armed hard core criminals gangs like in Lyari are not working in these areas. In my opinion, the 2nd target could be Al Asif Square, where the situation is quite bad & difficult for police to operate.

    • Syed Imran Ali says:

      Why Liaqatabad,New Karachi,OrangiTown,Azizabad…these areas have already operated in 1992 who make voice for the people who lives in these areas,better think and dont be prejudice…….

  12. Pakistani says:

    I dont understand the thinking of some of the posters. The Police is taking out gangs and criminals here and some of you have an argument ‘but they should take gangs and criminals out somewhere else too’. What kind of logic is this? You should be greatfull that at-least criminals are being taken over at some place rather than none at all.

  13. Gilani says:

    very true. Rather whole Pakistan including Balouchistan, Interior SIndh, Punjab and trible areas.

  14. Asim says:

    Its true that other area of Karachi have problems but a high level observation tells that the situation in Liyari is far worse than other areas of Karachi. Nowhere else in Karachi is such a concentration of armed gangs and shootout incidents. And this is obvious from the resistance the security forces are facing from inside Liyari and all the police and innocent civilian casualities. We have to understand than an operation is painful either it is in an operation theatre with surgical instruments or on the streets with bullets. But in both the cases it is required.

    Regarding how many operations, I think it just needs a couple of operations but these should to be ‘Decisive’. Meaning that the Government should not leave it in the middle or the mess will start to grow again. Furthermore, the operation should immediately followed by relief efforts to cool down the public reaction and thus prevent a respawn.

    Yes, such an opertion can be a viable option in other areas also.

  15. imran ali says:

    operation sh’d b held across the Karachi but only in layari is not fair…

  16. Raja Islam says:

    It is all about land grab by the city government. Major law and order issues exist in other areas, but nothing is being done about it. This is all about breaking the PPP’s hold in Lyari and forcing the indigenous people out of Lyari.

    • Asim says:

      Raja,

      This operation is not from City Government. It is from the main governing body which ‘is actually PPP’. We have to come out of this very small sphere of thinking!!

      Think of all the Gangs and drugs and gambling that this area is infested with! Also note that during the operation, no PPP activist is arrested or killed. Simply meaning that it is not against PPP. And nobody from PPP is opposing it (as far as I know).

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