Arsons, firing, violent attacks, anarchy and chaos were again order of the day as Karachiites, perhaps the most miserable and unfortunate lot in the entire country, were once again hurled into a reign of terror and lawlessness following assassination of Benazir Bhutto at Liaqatbagh, Rawalpindi.
As the news of Benazir's tragic death spread on the evening of December 27, Karachi descended into chaos and anarchy for four to five days along with other areas of Sindh amidst a wave of violence, looting and plunder. Armed men roamed in the city, shooting at innocent people, looting shops and banks and setting ablaze the public and private properties with impunity.
More than one thousands vehicles as well as containers loaded with goods were torched; shops and stores looted and set on fire; and factories attacked and gutted. More than 30 innocent people were killed and hundreds other injured in the four-day long anarchy that ruled the city. Seven labourers of an Italian garment factory unit in Kornagi Area were burnt alive when rioters set the factory on fire.    
The Edhi Foundation, the country's largest charity organisation, also could not escape the terror as 20 ambulances of the service were damaged or torched in the city. More than 15 armed persons entered the Edhi Village, a shelter for some 1,600 mentally retarded and homeless children on the Super Highway, and ransacked its offices before beating the staff and special children.
The estimates of the damages caused by the violence run into billions. "The total loss in the province is above Rs80 billion," Shamim Ahmed Shamsi, President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), told Weekly Pulse.
The killing of Benazir Bhutto deserves strongest condemnation and the elements behind the heinous crime must not be let to go scot-free as their act has not only deprived the country of a national leader but also tried to undermine the integrity and unity of the country. But what happened following the assassination of Ms. Benazir could not be justified at any cost. It is true that the whole nation was in a state of shock, but grief demands dignity; destruction is an unnatural reaction to mourning. After the unfortunate happenings, the government, the former ruling party and PPP are playing the blame game, shifting responsibility for the riots and violence.
In his televised address to the nation last week, President Musharraf briefed the nation on the loss of property and lives in perhaps the worst ever countrywide violence in Pakistan’s history. He estimated that the losses ran into billions. But neither the president nor any other government representative bothered to address the question as to where the civil administration and law-enforcing agencies were when the whole country, especially Sindh and Karachi, was being brunt and arsonist and rioters having a field day.
In Karachi during the three days, there were no police or Rangers personnel in sight to contain the violence and rein in the rioters and arsonists. It was also a fact that majority of the rioters and arsonists were criminals not political workers, who were allowed a free hand by the police and law-enforcement agencies to burn, loots and plunder the public and private property.
Eleven thousand strong Rangers force stationed in Karachi to maintain law and order was nowhere to be seen despite the fact that expenses incurred on them are being borne out of the provincial government’s kitty. Criminals appeared on the streets and used the protests as an excuse for looting and robbery. Eyewitnesses told of rioters stealing car radios before setting the vehicles afire. There are countless incidents where commuters were robbed at gunpoint while being stuck in traffic jams, and commercial buildings ransacked before being set ablaze. These acts speak of naked, violent greed rather than spontaneous, grief-stricken protest.
The handpicked caretaker government and President General (Retd) Pervez Musharraf himself are tight lipped over the disappearance of government's machinery during the riots and arsons. What happened was unfortunate and must be condemned by every one and the perpetrators should be taken to task. Those at the helms of affairs were bound to provide security to the lives and property of citizens, but they failed miserably to do so, and hence, they must also be accounted for.
The government has announced that a commission is to be set up to probe the arson and riots after Benazir’s killing. But the move is being viewed as a politically motivated one and just an eyewash.
Now some elements have launched a vicious campaign to give the riots and violence an ethnic shade just for their vested political interests, without realising the impact of such campaign on federation and its integrity.         
The people of Sindh have suffered a double trauma, as on one hands they lost their leader and on the other, they are being dubbed villains rather than victims of the violence that broke out in Sindh in the aftermath of the tragedy.
The former ruling party, PML-Q, has launched an extensive campaign saying that during the riots, Punjabi settlers in Sindh were targeted and their properties destroyed. It seems that the party bigwigs are only interested in securing their vested political interests, be it at the cost of the federation’s integrity.    
It is a fact that after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, innocent people were targeted and shops, banks and vehicle were burnt, but all the unfortunate happenings were indiscriminate and occurred across ethnic lines. Contrary to the propaganda, Sindhis were also as much the victims of the violence as members of other communities. The government apparatus and police left the field open to criminal elements across the province, who took advantage of the tragedy and looted citizens indiscriminately. Some of them even used the disturbances to settle old scores. In Ghotki, for example, notorious dacoit Qadroo Chachar looted banks in broad daylight and that, too, near a police station. Dacoits also entered Jacobabad and other cities in the aftermath of the tragedy.
Benazir Bhutto's home district Larkana was where the largest number of people, mostly Sindhi-speaking, fell victim to the violence. Property in the area was either burnt or looted. More than 50 shops were looted in the city and only one of them was owned by a non-Sindhi. Nazir Shaikh, the owner of the City Bakery, died of a heart attack as a result. His two storeyed building worth around Rs100 million was burnt down by a mob. The PML-Q did not mention his death anywhere in its expensive advertisement campaign, perhaps because he was a local.
In Hyderabad and Hala, property of PPP supporters was also damaged and looted. A majority of the victims were Sindhi-speaking. Despite the concerted efforts of certain elements in spreading ethnic hatred in Sindh, non-Sindhi speaking people by and large also termed these tactics as being against the solidarity of the country.
Dilber Khan, an ethnic Pukhtoon and vice-president of the damaged Light House market in Karachi, said Sindhis were generally peace-loving people. Talking to weekly Pulse at Light House bazaar, where more than 10 shops were burnt during the violence, he rejected the stories of ethnic hatred being a motive for the strife, saying he had lived in the interior Sindh and found the Sindhi people as patriotic as anyone else in this country.
The accusations that large numbers of Punjabis have been forced to flee Sindh and become refugees in their province may help the PML-Q leaders rebuild their shattered election campaign, but it is certainly not helping national unity and the cause of the federation of Pakistan.
Those who are setting up so called refugees camp in Punjab for violence victims, are tight lipped about the failure of the caretaker government in protecting lives and properties of people, nor they mention the aspect in their advertising campaign.
The vicious campaign launched by some power hungry people in Punjab is not only hitting the federation below the belt, but also not serving the interest of Punjabi settlers.
A friend of mine, Atiq Advocate, who is by origin a Punjabi and settled in Gotkhi, was highly critical of Chaudhrys’ move. He opined that Q-leaguers were making Punjabi settlers scapegoats for their vested political interests.