An Interview with Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch

by Raza Rumi of the Friday Times

AUGUST 13, 2010

Following the August 2 murder of the MQM leader Raza Haider, ethnically opposed factions have killed 86 people in Karachi and the violence continues. Three ‘secular’ parties are in the driving seat – the PPP, MQM and ANP – but all with past records of mutual hostility. The Friday Times speaks to Ali Dayan Hasan of Human Rights Watch on the implications of recent events…

Where does responsibility for the current spate of targeted killings in Karachi lie?

The assassination of MQM provincial assembly member Raza Haider is condemnable and his killers should be apprehended. But the fact is that the subsequent and preceding killings in Karachi are equally unpardonable. Well over 80 people are dead and hundreds have been injured. While the MQM’s anger is to be expected, as a coalition partner in the Sindh government, it is incumbent upon the MQM to uphold the rule of law and not become party to its disruption. There are very many actors seeking to destabilize Karachi, such as radical Islamists and those seeking to damage the transition to democracy in general. The violence in Karachi is a collective political failure of the MQM, the PPP and the ANP and unless it is arrested, all three parties will suffer. In such a situation, only militants and extra-constitutional forces will be the beneficiaries. (more…)