Study Guides
Of
Model Pakistan National Assembly Topics
Dear Delegates,
It is much of an honour and pleasure to welcome you all to the Pakistan National Assemblyat FUMUN ‘15
I am a politics hippie, studying Business Administration at Bahria University. I’m really
looking forward to the heated debate and your extent of knowledge about Pakistani politics,
along with the dedication to work for society.
“I am really looking forward to see all of you, using your negotiating skills, knowledge and
devotion to come up with best possible solutions, not for world, but for Pakistan. Because
change starts within.”
I am excited to hail you all FUMUN. I will be serving as Chair Pakistan National Assembly,
a real life time aspiration. This year Qoum, Mulk, Saltanat would be a hallmark in your lives,
as we haven’t left any stone unturned to make it best.
Regards,
Taimur Sharif – Chair Model Pakistan National Assembly
For queries: (+92)334-9292222
Dear Delegates,
It’s a pleasure to welcome you to the first edition of Foundation University
Model United Nations. I will be chairing Model Pakistan National Assembly this year.
Well, everyone who has debated in the past knows about the rules and regulations of the
debates but first timers, are requested to take good time in research and to understand the
essence of rules regulations and the needs of the debates.
The topics are very easy as well as they might get controversial.at some time. Depends upon
the justice you do with the topic.
One thing here I’d like to mention is that this study guide does not provide all the prospects
of the given topic. It only gives you a little bit of information and an idea about the subject.
You have to research all the way yourself. That is where you learn.
The chairs might intrude as leaders for the house, and that can take the heat of debate to a
further level. Do not move ahead of your stance, and remain within your attire! No
fanaticism.
As winning in my committee is concerned you can win only if you do justice to the debate!
Do a lot of research and make sure your stance and debate doesn’t go the inappropriate way.
‘A change starts from a dot.’
Regards,
Rafay Swati – Chair, Model Pakistan National Assembly
For queries: rafayswati@gmail.com
Topic-A
REFORMS OF
EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM IN
PAKISTAN
Introduction:
Our current or future generation is whether prepared or not to inherit and preserve the
blessings of our freedom and civilization, it depends on their education. Schools are one of
the main channels through which we pass the principles that sustain our self-government.
They are the keys that open doors of opportunity so that children can achieve their full
potential in an ever-changing world. Schools support and respect parents’ right to raise their
children according to their family heritage, moral values, and religious convictions. At least
that’s what schools ought to do. But, for many families, this isn’t the reality. Each year,
millions of children pass through schools without gaining even the most basic skills they’ll
need to succeed as adults. In many school districts, academic mediocrity and even failure
have become the norm. Some of our public schools are cultivating citizens more prone to
cynicism than to civic spirit. Parents all over America regularly express their frustration
because public schools are teaching values that are openly hostile to their beliefs. And all the
while, taxes rise to keep pace with the rising costs of this sub-par government-run education
system. Pakistan has never known the importance of good education, bitter but true.
Benjamin Franklin once said, “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest.”
In the perspective of Pakistan;
In April 2010, the eighteenth constitutional amendment committed Pakistan to free and
compulsory education for all children between the ages of five and sixteen. Yet, millions are
still out of school, and the education system remains alarmingly impoverished. The madrasa
(religious school) sector flourishes, with no meaningful efforts made to regulate the
seminaries, many of which propagate religious and sectarian hatred. Militant violence and
natural disasters have exacerbated the dismal state of education. Earthquakes and floods have
destroyed school buildings in Baluchistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) and Punjab,
disrupting the education of hundreds of thousands of children. Militant jihadi groups have
destroyed buildings, closed girls’ schools and terrorised parents into keeping daughters at
home; their attacks made global headlines with the shooting of schoolgirl and education
activist Malala Yousafzai in October 2012. The public education system needs to foster a
tolerant citizenry, capable of competing in the labour market and supportive of democratic
norms within the country and peace with the outside world.
More than nine million children do not receive primary or secondary education, and literacy
rates are stagnant. Pakistan is far from meeting its Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of
providing universal primary education by 2015. The net primary school enrolment rate in
2012-2013 is a mere 1 per cent increase from 2010-2011. There are significant gender
disparities and differences between rural and urban areas. The combined federal/provincial
budgetary allocation to education is the lowest in South Asia, at 2 per cent of Gross Domestic
Product (GDP).
If Pakistan is to provide all children between five and sixteen free and compulsory education,
as its law requires, it must reform a system marred by teacher absenteeism, poorly maintained
or “ghost schools” that exist only on paper and a curriculum that encourages intolerance and
fails to produce citizens who are competitive in the job market. Private schools, increasing
largely in response to these shortcomings, account for 26 per cent of enrolment in rural areas
and 59 per cent in urban centres but vary greatly in methodology, tuition and teacher
qualifications.
The eighteenth constitutional amendment devolved legislative and executive authority over
education to the provinces to make it more responsive to local needs. Given the scale of those
needs, donors and the private sector must be key partners, but provincial governments need to
become the principal drivers of reform. They should reverse decades of neglect by giving
government-run schools adequate materials and basic facilities such as boundary walls and
toilets. They should also tackle teacher absenteeism and curb nepotism and corruption in
appointments, postings and transfers.
In early 2013, Sindh and Balochistan enacted legislation borrowed largely from the National
Assembly’s Right to Free and Compulsory Education Act (2012) for the federal capital. That
law stipulates that “every child, regardless of sex, nationality or race, shall have a
fundamental right to free and compulsory education in a neighbourhood school”
The federal, Sindh and Balochistan laws call for the establishment of Education Advisory
Councils, with members, according to the federal act, chosen from “persons having
knowledge and practical experience in the field of education, child rights and child
development”. The councils are to advise the government and take all necessary steps to
ensure the act’s implementation. The terms and conditions of appointment of members have
yet to be issued. In November 2012, Punjab’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N)
government formed a committee to devise legislation on the right to education. The education
minister said, “We want to make sure we have all the right implementation mechanisms in
place before passing the act”. Adopted as an ordinance on 13 May 2014, it was presented in
the provincial parliament three days later and sent to the standing committee on education for
consideration. Although similar to the federation’s and other provinces’ legislation, this
Punjab Free and Compulsory Education bill does not provide for advisory councils and
places responsibility for implementation on “government and local authority”. By defining
the latter as “a local government or an autonomous or statutory body of the government”, it
potentially minimises the role of civil society experts envisioned under the federal, Sindh and
Balochistan laws. KPK is now the only province where legislation on free, compulsory
education, though reportedly drafted by the provincial government, has yet to be presented to
the legislature.
Organizational Structure of Education Analysis requires, at the first step, an understanding of the
organizational structure of the education system, its governing mechanisms, and its genesis. In this
essay, these can only be touched upon. The Pakistani education system is seven-layered. The Federal
Ministry of Education controls all matters related to education up to the intermediate level as well as
colleges, and the Higher Education Commission (HEC) is responsible for universities.
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Kachi (or nursery)
Primary school (grades 1-5)
Middle school (grades 6-8)
High school (grades 9-10)
Intermediate (grades 11-12), located in between school and college
College (grades 13-14 in most cases, except for 4-year programs)
Universities (15-upwards)
There is little coordination between the Ministry and HEC; strong institutional rivalries have made it
difficult to create new college programmes that would make the college-university transition easier.
Education Statistics: Some idea of the size of education in Pakistan can be obtained from Table II,
which draws from a variety of sources. Although the statistical data may be questioned for accuracy,
nevertheless it does enable a comparison with available global data.
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Average years of schooling of adults:
Education spending:
Female enrolment share - Primary level:
Female enrolment share - Secondary level:
Literacy - Female:
Literacy - Male:
Literacy - Total population:
Primary school girls out of school:
Private school enrolment – Primary level:
Private school enrolment - Secondary level:
Progression to secondary level:
Pupils-teacher ratio - primary level:
Pupils -teacher ratio – secondary level:
School enrolment - Primary - Net:
3.9 75th of 105
2.3% 102nd of 130
35.9% 176th of 185
39.5% 153rd of 179
30.6% 171st of 184
59.8% 160th of 184
45.7% 185th of 202
55% 16th of 109
34.8% 18th of 155
22.4% 49th of 137
94.6% 39th of 101
44.1% 24th of 184
28.3% 18th of 125
66.2% 127th of 168
Language Barrier:
In 2013, the KPK government swapped hands as the ANP were voted out in favour of
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). In early 2014, the new administration announced the
introduction of English for instruction from class one. The change is meant to be incremental,
starting with only two subjects in 2014 and continuing as children move to higher classes.
The government says it has prepared new textbooks and plans to train 350 teachers, who will
in turn train 23,000. There are, however, lessons to be learned from a similar initiative by
Punjab. In 2009, it decided to introduce English for instruction in mathematics and science in
state-run primary and middle schools. In 2013, acknowledging implementation challenges,
notably teachers’ poor English proficiency, the policy was partially reversed; English was
introduced from class four onwards from the start of the school year in 2014. Teaching during
the first three years has now reverted to Urdu. The British Council is assisting Punjab in
rolling out its “English as a Medium of Instruction” policy by providing language training to
public primary and middle school teachers. It aims to reach all 300,000 public sector teachers
by 2018. In March 2014, it had just started training 950 district-level educators, senior
teachers who will in turn train other primary school teachers.
A student usually know roughly 3000 words by the time he/she goes to school, so for
instance, in Punjab if you’re teaching in a language that’s different than Punjabi, they are not
learning to think in any language. Given Pakistan’s educational apartheid, it is not surprising
that most parents want their children to study in English-medium schools that are seen as
providing access to higher education and meaningful employment. Any language policy
must, however, be driven by the child’s best interest. Moreover, while the language in which
students are taught matters, what is taught in school is even more important
Teaching methodology:
In the current system of education, the shortage of opportunities for creativity for lecturers as
well as students is consistent. Excessive use of textbooks and external examinations, to the
exclusion of the method of education, is partially liable for this. Entire generations of teachers
haven’t noted any other system and changes within the present system will meet with
resistance.
Training of teachers to target areas of learning that can be worked on, computer-aided
teaching and technology led learning has to be there in major reforms.
Poorly qualified and trained teachers and rote pedagogy discourage learning. Improvements
in methodology have yet to make it to the classroom, and what is taught is as problematic. An
unreformed curriculum continues to promote religious intolerance and xenophobia, as do the
madrasas and religious schools that flourish in the absence of a credible public education
sector. Private schools are also flourishing, but few, except those that cater to the elite,
provide quality education. Attempts are being made, with donor support, to more
constructively harness private sector support, including through partnerships and
philanthropy, but the scale of the challenge requires a state-led approach and political
ownership of reform. An estimated 1.55 million teachers (around 1.27 million for classes one
to ten in 2012- 2013) constitute the education budgets’ largest expenditure and, ultimately it
is their professionalism and quality which will be key to ensuring that reforms are reflected in
the classroom.
A plan estimates a requirement of additional roughly 40,000 teachers but Increasing the
number of teachers will not improve education quality unless their academic and professional
qualifications improve, along with more stringent oversight of performance. Teacher
absenteeism is rampant in public schools as are corrupt practices, including bribing education
department employees to obtain jobs and then sharing salaries with them.121 Political links
are also often a factor in appointments, postings and transfers.
Keys for education reforms:
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Accessibility- roads, decentralization of institutes, number of institutes per area
unit.
It’s no secret the out educational institutes, health institutes in fact our industries are kept
centralized. This causes a lot of issues for the people living in remote areas miles away from
the centre and also for the people living in those central hubs as over population. People in
remote areas don’t have access to schools and especially for higher education.
•
Affordability- (stationary, tuition fee, scholarships by private and by the institute
and by ministry of education or education commissions)
Our nation is not a poor nation. But the economic gap between the poor and the rich is way
too big. Millions of parents cannot afford their children education.
^how to counter this issue?
•
Quality- This area includes infrastructure, facilities, grooming, curriculum content
and research.
To counter the challenge from the private schools, and madrasas and religious schools of
Islamic parties and foundations that fill the gaps of a dilapidated public education sector but
contribute to religious extremism and sectarian violence, the state will have to do far more
than just increase the numbers of schools and teachers. Curriculum reform is essential and
overdue. Provincial governments must ensure that textbooks and teachers no longer convey
an intolerant religious discourse and a distorted narrative, based on hatred of imagined
enemies, local and foreign.
To prepare students to succeed in the 21st century we need to keep a few objectives in mind:
1. All children should have the opportunity to receive a quality education.
2. Families should have the opportunity to maximize their children’s potential.
3. Teachers and school leaders should have the flexibility and authority to create
successful learning environments and services.
4. Our children should have the academic approach which levels or exceeds the
international standards in every field of life from science & technology to history.
5. Character of our generation should be groomed in such a way so we move towards the
better, united and civilized state
^How can we accomplish these objectives?
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Enrollment-:
In some districts, even if you have schools, colleges, and technical institutes the rate
of enrolment is not satisfactory. Why? Poverty, unawareness, religious constraints, extremist
traditions, and “no education for women” these are all the reasons in Pakistan. The net
primary school enrolment rate in 2012-2013 is a mere 1 per cent increase from 2010-2011.
There are significant gender disparities and differences between rural and urban areas.
How to increase enrolment rates? Strategy to overcome these issues?
 Standard test as quality indicators:
The law requires that all children be given state assessments in reading and math in grades 3
through 8. If a child fails the test, she is judged not to have received a good education from
the school. If the school does not make Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) on student test
scores, the school is considered not providing a good education to its students and is labelled
"in need of improvement." The school then faces serious sanctions—from allowing its
students to move to other schools to being restructured. Schools that produce good scores are
considered good education providers. Those that see significant increases in test scores, such
as Greeley, are rewarded and honoured.
^funding for this programme
 Closing the Achievement Gap:
The first is the gap inside the country among the different subgroups/provinces of the
population, the second is the gap between the Pakistan and other countries.
Achievement gaps is referred for the performance gaps among students from different areas,
e.g. Sindh, Punjab, KPK, Baluchistan, FATA, Gilgit. And also between low-income and
well-off families.
^how?
The first and most obvious consequence of our failing schools is the impact on individual
lives: Children who don’t receive a good education are the least likely to achieve their Godgiven potential to lead happy, productive lives. But when that failure spreads across millions
of children, as it certainly does, our entire nation is placed at risk.
 Value systems
To build a society with sensible character and citizenship, it’s vital that value education is
introduced in pre-school and strengthened in primary, secondary and higher education.
Education also brings other values. It gives us a richer awareness of the world we live in, a
better understanding of different cultures, a higher tolerance for work that brings rewards
later rather than sooner, and even the simple ability to read to our children. These values can’t
be measured, and yet they are priceless.
 Research in education
Research in Pakistan is basically an elitist idea. Analysis in the least levels ranging from the
undergraduate level within the science and technology fields ought to be inspired. Even the
infrastructure offered for analysis and development is poor and archaic.
 Physical Education:
There is no stress on physical development in our school curriculum. There’s a desire to
encourage sports activities by providing the required infrastructure. The prevailing resources
of Sports Authority and different sports bodies within the country ought to be utilized for this
critical space.
Developed countries have small stadiums, grounds, courts and other facilities for sports and
they are exceeding life in the perspective while Pakistan is yet striving for toilets and proper
class rooms. Can this dilemma be overcome?
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Challenges:
The biggest challenge of education reform in Pakistan will be implementation. The problem
is not just deciding what needs to be done, but in resolving the Gordian knot of who will do
it. Most observers will probably agree that the problem in past education reforms was
implementation. Even with sincere government intent, the lack of implementation capacity
will be a major challenge.
Evidence from other countries has shown that decentralization to local levels and involving
communities through civil society can help push systematic reform and mitigate the
implementation challenge education outcomes can improve when parents participate actively
in their children's education.
Poverty is also a challenge, even if the reforms are made, the outreached por people
do not bother their kids to go to school instead get them to work so they can earn some
money. This issue is extremely common here in Pakistan. There are areas where the local
influential people of the governments themselves are providing free education yet the
enrolment rates are low. Why do you need education when your kid is working (child labour)
and earning you enough money for the meal.
AREAS TO BE COVERED:
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Structure of our education system
History of education reforms in Pakistan
Why the reforms have failed
Do we have sufficient educational institutes? If no, what’s the plan. If yes, where do
we lack
Budget allocated for education and health
Literacy rates and drop-out ratios
Does Pakistan’s universities compete with international universities?
Religious constraints and indoctrination
Difference and issue; from madrassas to elite schools
Reforms in curriculum of federal and provincial authorities; textbooks and
examination etc
Nationalizing education
Use of technologies, IITs, language centres, regular workshops, career counselling
Teachers training
Infrastructure, sky-touching tuition fee, facilities
Actions that provinces haves yet taken, who’s leading
Political interference, corruption, and governments’ will
Some Question:
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We are all aware of the importance of the problems that our education system has both
current and inherited needs extensive reforms, so where would you start from?
In your view what would be the most important and key driver if we are to achieve any
positive results?
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In your opinion, would the decentralisation of education have any impact on reforming
education in general as you are aware now the provinces are autonomous in making their own
provincial education policies?
What are the key issues that you feel need to be addressed at the higher education level to
improve the quality of education, both administratively and academically?
There is no quick fix in reforming education, but what are the key areas that need immediate
attention?
Some useful links:
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http://www.crisisgroup.org/~/media/Files/asia/south-asia/pakistan/257-educationreform-in-pakistan.pdf
http://birf.weebly.com/educational-reforms-in-pakistan.html
http://www.pc.gov.pk/vision2030/approach%20paper/t3/theme%203Pervaiz%20Hudbouy-1.pdf
TOPIC B
The growing Problems of Karachi
Karachi is the largest city and economic hub of Pakistan, which is also called the revenue engine of
the country owing to its contribution of about 70 percent of the total revenue. The city, which has
two of the three seas ports of the country, has a stunning ethnic diversity, with representation of each
and every ethnicity and community living in Pakistan. Karachi produces about 42 percent of value
added in large scale manufacturing and 25 percent of the GDP of Pakistan. Since 1960s, Karachi has
been an economic role model for many countries in the world. Many countries sought to emulate
Pakistan's economic planning strategy and one of them, South Korea, copied the country's second
"Five-Year Plan". In February 2007, the World Bank identified Karachi as the most businessfriendly
city in Pakistan. According to economists, Karachi's contribution to GDP amounted to around 16
billion rupees a day. The city has a population of around 200 Million, with people from all kinds of
religions, sects and cultural backgrounds which adds to the ethnic diversity of the city.
Karachi has been in the past and still remains an important route for the US into Afghanistan, one of
the world’s fiercest battlegrounds. This violence, involving armed gangs linked to rival ethnic and
political groups, threatens to destabilize the country’s fragile economy, interrupt Afghanistan supply
lines, and add to the cauldron of security troubles Pakistan already faces. Citizens blame that
ineffective police force and judicial system is the root of the violence, leading ethnic, sectarian,
political, militant, and criminal groups to use violence with impunity.
What are the causes of violence in Karachi?
Karachi is a poorly policed city. It is a poorly governed, poorly administered, and a poorly resourced
city. All the underlying ethnic, sectarian, socioeconomic issues that help ignite violence exist in
many other cities across the world. But there are very few, if any, cities that are so easily ignited like
Karachi. The state’s ability to enforce the rule of law is significantly compromised. This is a slightly
different take on the roots of violence in Karachi because the first thing people tend to go into is a
breakdown of the ethnic tensions in Karachi, the political parties that are largely consistent with
different ethnic identities, and their desire to sustain power in their traditional constituencies. All
these factors are vital to understanding Karachi. But without an effective police force that is properly
trained and resourced, the right kind of judicial system supporting it, the right kind of prison system
supporting it, a city like Karachi will constantly be on the edge of falling into the kind of violence
that we’ve seen over the last few years or so.
The government’s response has been the same that it has been for the last generation. The
emergence of the MQM [Muttahida Quami movement] as a major political force in Karachi has
been accompanied by a sense that political compromise would be the best way to go. In theory,
that’s exactly how politics should work; the public space is an open market and different political
groups will compete for control over resources.
But Karachi’s situation is quite different from any normal ‘Playing ground’. Karachi’s situation is
such that it requires the use of violent measures; arms, thugs, murder, extortion etc. Over the past
generation, the power struggle in Karachi has mainly been between two major political parties, the
PPP (Pakistan Peoples Party) and the MQM. PPP has always enjoyed a stronghold over ethnic
Sindhis while over the last generation MQM has always been an ethnic Muhajirs favorite. Despite
the fact that democracy means that the state exists to ensure that rule of law is followed and that
there’s an even playing field for all parties, these two and several other minor parties do not restrict
to words and fancy speeches only, they do not refrain from using weaponry to display their firm hold
and presence in the general public. THIS is exactly what makes the situation quite worse and rather
unique in Karachi.
Some government officials, including the ex-interior minister, have called for a deweaponization of
Karachi. Is this a good idea, and how should the government go about implementing it?
Deweaponizing Karachi is a great idea. The problem is that Karachi is an open space, a place where
weapons can be brought to. There aren’t any weapons manufacturing in Karachi; those weapons are
Coming from other places, including the northwest of Pakistan and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
province. So, the question is less of deweaponization, even though that’s a fine idea if
implemented. The issue really is that not only do you need to [take away] the weapons that exist in
Karachi, but you also need to find the mechanism to stop weapons from entering Karachi. Given
the size and expanse of the city, a deweaponization program [would] have massive fiscal and
administrative implications. Pakistan’s record over the last decade or so in transforming rhetoric
into actual policy, policies that are implemented successively, is pretty poor. So there is a degree of
resistance to embracing deweaponization. The effort in
Karachi in terms of deweaponization or in terms of any kind of law enforcement requires a very large
investment in human resources and in equipment for the police. And that equipment isn’t restricted
to the physical implements of policing, but also to the legal and policy instruments that would enable
the police to do its job.
Killings or target killings
Cases of murders or killings are reported from everywhere in the country and Karachi is not alone
in this case. What makes Karachi killings more alarming and concerning is the magnitude of these
cases and a very selective pattern of them. Most of the killings taking Place elsewhere don’t carry
the kind of pattern that we observe in Karachi. The particular pattern of Karachi killings brings it
the name of target killing to differentiate it from other cases of killings. For over two decades,
Karachi has been an epicentre of target killings for reasons ranging from ethno-political to sectarian
disputes and from land mafia rivalries to personal vendetta.
Since 1994, Karachi has lost 9,696 human lives and majority of them are victims of these conflicts
and there appears to be no end to this human killing madness in the near future either. A good
number of the victims are the activists belonging to different political or religious parties
functioning in the city. The report issued by the
Pakistan Institute for Peace
Studies for 2010 indicates that the political activists who became the victims of target killings during
2010 belonged to the political parties like PPP, MQM, and ANP but it doesn’t identify as to how
many activists from each party were affected.
On 6 January 2011, the Dawn published the following data from HRCP report for 2009 which
identified the names of the political and religious parties whose activists were targeted in Karachi:
“A total of 748 people lost their lives to targeted killings in the city last year, up from the 272 victims
in 2009: The report says that of the 215 victims who were killed reportedly due to their association
with political, religious and nationalist parties, 64 belonged to the MQM, 44 to the ANP, 43 to the
MQM(H), 32 to the PPP, four to the PPP(S), one each to the PML(N), PML(Q), PML(F) and Punjabi
Front, eight to the ST, three to the JI, two to the JUI, 15 to the JAS [Jamat Ahl-eSunnat], seven to the
PPI and two to the JSQM.”
The continuous problem of target killings in Karachi calls for soul searching for all those who want
to pursue their agenda through this method. Loss of a large number of party members and followers
by MQM prove that despite being highly organized and disciplined political party, it appears to
have been failing to ensure safety of their followers and guarantee peaceful environment to the city
dwellers. The same is true for the extremist jihadi organizations and other political parties as well.
Although most of the perpetrators of these crimes are still at large, the indicators discussed in
previous chapters point to some of the possibilities that could have led to these crimes.
Political rivalries among the different political parties are not the only drivers of target killings in
Karachi, sectarianism and gang wars have significant contribution in it as well. Sectarian feud
between religious parties like Sipah-eSahaba (also known as Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jamat – ASWJ) and
Tehrik-e-Jafaria or Sipah-e-Mohammadi, have caused several deaths in the city. North Karachi has
been the center of this rivalry last year. Jihadi organizations also have their presence in the city and
the most daring attack on PNS, Mehran last year and the latest targeting cell phone company
(Telenor) franchises in Karachi are examples. All cellular companies operating in the country have
recently approached the government to seek necessary protection from the threats they received
from TTP.
Further Issues and Problems:
Jihadi/sectarian militant organizations
Karachi, the thriving urban center is also home to number of lethal jihadi/sectarian militant
organizations. According to a report, following militant organizations are operating in Karachi:
-Lashkar-e-Jhangvi: The banned sectarian outfit is headquartered in Nagan
Chowrangi
(New Karachi)
-Harkatul-Mujahideen (HuM) (also known as Harkatul Ansar): It is headquartered and has
recruiting office in Karachi in Haroonabad, (SITE area) Mustafa Masjid near the factory of Altaf
Shakoor of Pasban.
-Jaish-e-Muhammad’s (JeM): It is a religious militant organization and has its office is in Hyderi,
(Noth Nazimabad) Batha Masjid. It was founded by firebrand cleric Maulana Masood Azhar in late
1990s to fight against Indian forces in Kashmir, but in recent years, it has turned its guns on
Pakistani security forces.
-Lashkar-e-Taiba’s (LeT): It is also a religious militant organization banned by the United Nations
Security Council for its alleged role in terrorism in India and the region. It has its main office in
Gulshan Chowrangi, Yaqoobia Masjid.
POSSIBLE SOLUTION?
With recent developments, the government and several individuals have proposed the possibility of a
military operation in Karachi, similar to one that was held in 1993. The largest party of the province
Sindh, MQM have openly opposed the idea and placed there reservations on the operation. With such
political tension boiling up between the parties in one of the world’s biggest terror zone, a quick
solution seems impossible.
Delegates must make sure that the following points do come under discussion:
1. Role of Political parties and their association with crime in Karachi.
2. Why suddenly there has been an increase in target killing since MQM decided to back out from
government?
3. Deweaponization? How, when and why?
4. Is military operation by Pakistan Armed forces is possible at the current situation?
5. How to reform Sindh Police?
6. Accountability of those who are found doing this violence directly or indirectly?
7. Presence of Talibans and terrorists in the city.
8. Role of Foreign agencies, like CIA, Raw and other anti Pakistani elements.
9. Solution to Sectarian Violence, if any.
10. What to do regarding Jihadi Organizations present deep within the roots of Karachi.
11. Is a military operation possible and the only possible solution in this region?
12. Does Karachi really need Governor Raj? Or is the military a better option?