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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 6-Feb-2010
6-Feb-10 News - Dual terrorist bombings in Karachi, Pakistan

Web Log - February, 2010

6-Feb-10 News - Dual terrorist bombings in Karachi, Pakistan

Government is paralyzed by vitriolic arguments

Bombings target a Shia religious procession

On Friday, Shia worshippers in a religious procession in Karachi, Pakistan, were attacked by a motorcycle rigged with explosive, killing 12 people. The injured were taken to a nearby hospital. An hour later, a second explosion occurred, this time at the hospital where the injured were being treated. Dozens more were killed or injured. A third bomb was disarmed at the hospital before it could explode.

The perpetrators of the bombings have not yet been identified, but according to Dawn, the violence most likely comes from bitter relationships between two ethnic groups, represented by two political parties, the Awami National Party (ANP) and Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).

Official map of Pakistan, with the addition of the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), highlighting Swat Valley <font face=Arial size=-2>(Source: pakistan.gov.pk)</font>

Official map of Pakistan, with the addition of the FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas), highlighting Swat Valley (Source: pakistan.gov.pk)

The bitterness stems from the one of the bloodiest genocidal wars of the 20th century, the war between Hindus and Muslims that followed Partition, the 1947 partitioning of the Indian subcontinent into Pakistan and India.

That war was fought between mainly between Sunni Muslim versus Hindu Punjabis, but the MQM represents large numbers of Muslims, known as Mohajirs, who migrated from India after the war, and settled mainly in the Karachi area.

On the other hand, the ANP represents Pashtuns who have fled from the FATA and Swat Valley regions of Pakistan. Islamist Pashtuns, known as the Taliban, have conducted a great deal of terrorist violence in northern Pakistan, but many have been forced to flee as the Pakistan army has driven them from their caves.

It's now been 62 years since that war, and younger generations have replaced the survivors. The survivors vowed that they would never let anything like that happen again, but now the younger generations are repeating the same kinds of mistakes that led to the 1947 war.

This is all part of a larger ethnic battle that's enveloped the entire region for centuries, pitting Sunni Muslims on one side versus Shia Muslims and Hindus on the other side. From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, this historic war will be fought again.

Vitriolic paralysis

An interesting editorial appeared in Dawn on Tuesday, after several days of violence, though before the most recent bombings. The editorial refers to two political parties. One is MQM, described above. The other is the PPP, the Pakistan Peoples Party, that runs the government of Sindh province in which Karachi is located. Here's an excerpt:

"So far the political parties — particularly those that are currently part of the Sindh government — have hardly played a role in controlling the situation. While matters are bad enough on the streets, the atmosphere in the Sindh Assembly has been nothing short of vitriolic. The Sindh home minister launched a thinly veiled critique of the MQM during Tuesday’s session, while the local government minister criticised the MQM-backed city nazim. When the Muttahida lawmakers felt that they were not being allowed to air their views in the house, the party struck back with an equally scathing press conference at its headquarters criticising the PPP ministers. As before, the president and prime minister had to step in to prevent the Sindh coalition from falling apart, taking the MQM chief on board. The respective heads of the PPP and MQM have asked party leaders to refrain from issuing provocative statements. But this is not enough. Words need to be backed by actions."

This opinion piece really struck me, because this vitriolic paralysis is so similar to what's been happening in Washington. Both Pakistan and the United States are well into generational Crisis eras, and this kind of political bickering is common to Crisis eras in general.

The bickering ends only with a "regeneracy event," an event so shocking that that civic unity is regenerated again for the first time in decades. (For information about the term "regeneracy" and about generational eras, see "Basics of Generational Dynamics.")

Additional Links

"Fears of 'Lehman-style' tsunami as crisis hits Spain and Portugal" says Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in The Telegraph.

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 6-Feb-10 News - Dual terrorist bombings in Karachi, Pakistan thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (6-Feb-2010) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 6-Feb-2010 6-Feb-10 News - Dual terrorist bombings in Karachi, Pakistan

Bombings target a Shia religious procession

Vitriolic paralysis

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 6-Feb-2010
6-Feb-10 News - Dual terrorist bombings in Karachi, Pakistan