Lyari’s prominent rights activist Parveen Naz believes that women’s sacrifices were instrumental in bringing peace to the oldest town of Karachi.
“It was a gangs’ shootout incident of Jhatpat Market on March 12, 2014 in which women shoppers and children were killed in a merciless way that shook all of us. The residents did not see such horrific and merciless and stood up against gang violence.”
Naz was speaking at a discussion titled ‘Understanding conflict in Lyari: Causes, consequences and way forward’, at Benazir Bhutto Shaheed University, Lyari. The Pakistan Instituted of Labour Education and Research (Piler) and the varsity’s debate society jointly organised the discussion and a number of varsity students attended the event. Piler’s Aabida Ali moderated the session.
Naz said that Lyari’s women suffered the most from the gang violence – be they mothers, daughters, sisters or wives. “But now they are playing their role in peace- building and post-conflict reconstructions,” she said.
In his talk, Ramazan Baloch, author of books on Lyari and social activist, expressed optimism because of youths’ participation in the peace-building process in the neighbourhoods. “I cannot describe what happened with Lyrai in the past three decades, but in the past three years, Lyari’s youths have been actively playing their pivotal role in maintaining peace and harmony and restoring glory and legacy of the locality,” he said.
He also briefly mentioned the role of local organisations and educational institutions, popular literary figures, sportsmen and social activists in the development of Lyari. Journalist Abu Bakkar Baloch said the lack of jobs had pushed many youngsters into the arms of criminal gangs and political mafia and hundreds of youths whose ages were between 16 and 30 were killed in armed infighting.
He said Lyari was the birthplace of so many talented young footballers, boxers and cyclists, who lost much of their talent to the ongoing violence. “We lost a large number of young athletes and sportsmen in the violence,” he said.
“It was a conspiracy to keep Lyari away from mainstream politics and social development, but today with peace limping back to the neighborhood, youths are again involved in constructive activities.”