Second Opinion / OTHER MEDIA : PAKISTAN LINK : The Crisis in Karachi

By indulging in sectarianism, the religious leaders and some self-styled politicians in Pakistan have created a Frankenstein monster, which is getting beyond their control.

The deepening crisis in Karachi has already assumed alarming proportions. The common man is getting tired and even feels bored when fed constantly with repeated theories of a “foreign hand” behind the so-called conspiracies that are gradually turning the only port city of Pakistan into another Beirut. They cannot escape from taking note of the savagery going on in Karachi. In any other civilized country of the world, the failure of administration to ensure law and order and provide security would normally be regarded as collapse of the government.

The tragedy of Karachi is compounded by the fact that the barbarities have taken place in a country whose constitution describes it as an “Islamic Republic.” Yet those who are playing with fire in the country’s largest city are killing in the name of Islam. The scourge of sectarianism is fueled by one sect of Islam against the other. All this could have been avoided had the evil of sectarianism been nipped in the bud at the very outset.