Qasba Aligarh massacre

The Qasba–Aligarh massacre was an ethnic massacre that took place when recently settled armed tribals attacked densely populated locals in Qasba Colony, Aligarh Colony and Sector 1-D of Orangi in Karachi in the early hours of the morning on 14 December 1986. According to official reports, around 49 people (400+ according to unofficial reports) were killed and several hundred were injured in what was perceived as a "revenge killing" following an unsuccessful raid on an Afghan heroin processing and distribution center in Sohrab Goth by the security forces who were met with violent retaliation. As part of the operation, the security forces surrounded the area with bulldozers destroying illegally encroached houses and removing the residents. Most of the residents of the two colonies who were attacked as a result happened to be Muhajirs like Biharis who had been freshly repatriated from Bangladesh.

Qasba Aligarh Massacre
Part of Violence against Muhajirs
Location	Qasba Colony
Date	14 December 1986 2:30 PM – 4:30 AM
Attack type	Mass shooting
Deaths	49+
Perpetrators	Afghans in Pakistan

Background

Afghan Refugees influx and the Kalashnikov culture

During the Soviet–Afghan War in the late 1970s and early 1980s, millions of Afghan refugees had made their way into Pakistan. An estimated population of about 6 million refugees were welcomed with open arms into Pakistan as part of General Zia-ul-Haq's Islamization programme. These refugees gradually settled in populated urban centers throughout the country, including southern cities of Hyderabad and Karachi. Many of the Afghan refugees that made their way into Karachi settled in bastis at the outskirts of the city, which included areas like Sohrab Goth.

The magnitude of refugees migrating into Pakistan had a huge socio-economic impact on the country's society, promoting wide availability of illegal narcotic drugs like heroin, and automatic firearms like the AK-47 rifles. Where Pakistan had previously been drug-free and largely deweaponised, the country soon became flooded with automatic weapons along with the population of drug users shooting up to over a million in the early 1980s which came into sharp conflict with the general populace of Karachi. The sudden proliferation of firearms has since been dubbed as the "Kalashnikov culture".

Police crackdown in Sohrab Goth

As complaints came flooding in about the increase in crime rates throughout Karachi, particularly those fueled by ethnic conflicts, newspapers began highlighting the issue in their headlines and the government of Sindh found the need for a crackdown on the various criminal elements within the afghan refugees settlements in the city. On 12 December 1986, the Sindh governor Lt Gen Jahan Dad Khan ordered a police operation in the vicinity of Sohrab Goth in Karachi. Guised as an anti-encroachment operation, a team was assembled under DC Sardar Ahmed, DIG Karachi, IGP Sindh and Corps Commander Karachi Lt Gen Ahmad Shamim Khan to root out and arrest criminal elements. They were also asked to relocate the illegal encroachers from Al-Asif Square in Sohrab Goth to a new site near the National Highway.

The police had wanted to raid a Pashtun heroin processing and distribution centre in Sohrab Goth. However, when they approached the neighborhood, they were met with violent retaliation. As part of the operation, the security forces surrounded the area with bulldozers destroying illegally encroached houses and removing the residents. Some reports also suggest that just before the operation, the police had entered adjacent Orangi townships that were predominantly Muhajir and seized caches of arms which were stored for self-defense.

The massacre at Qasba and Aligarh colonies

A group of several armed men with Kalashnikov rifles charged down the hill overlooking the Qasba and Aligarh colonies, and Sector 1-D of Orangi Town at around 2:30pm. The invaders are said to have set people's houses on fire using kerosene tanks "under [the] cover of a hail of gunfire".

In less than two hours an estimated 400 people were murdered. Hundreds more were injured and many more escaped from the roof to save their lives. However, according to official figures, there were only 49 deaths. By 4:30 pm, hundreds of homes were burnt to the ground.

Formal judicial inquiry

The former chief justice of the Supreme Court Sajjad Ali Shah conducted an inquiry into the incident and wrote in his findings or that "it [was] the worst kind of massacre [he] had ever witnessed, where women, children and men from Muhajir community were slaughtered by illegal immigrants [and] the Corps Commander Karachi should have questioned as to why the army was asked to retreat approximately two hours before the incident took place". He suggested the existence of "foul-play". The report was sent to Islamabad where he criticized the army, Sindh administration and the governor’s role in the event. The report of fact-finding mission was ignored by the establishment

In an interview with Mazhar Abbas, former Sindh chief minister Syed Ghous Ali Shah said that the judicial commission led by the chief justice was able to shed some light on the issues giving rise to the Qasba–Aligarh massacre and disclosed revealing details of negligence in the security forces. However, he confessed that the report was not brought to light because the government at the time had feared it would create more chaos.

Survivors' accounts

As per one of the survivors, "they came inside out houses and asked for men", "they killed indiscriminately with knives and guns chanting Allah’o’Akber as if we were infidels" said one of the survivors who lost her father and elder brother sobbing and she was correct. Mosques were used to mobilize people to kill and there were speeches and sermons given against the people living in Qasba Aligarh by the clerics stating that "killing them would take one to heaven".

See also

• List of massacres in Pakistan

References

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