Amid simmering ethnic tensions in Karachi with continuous incidents of target killing of people belonging to a single ethnic group, the already fragile peace and ethnic harmony of the city is at stake. The incidents occurred during the past few months especially few weeks have the potential to spark ethnic and communal clashes, and could plunge the city back to era of late 1980s and 1990s, when ethnic fighting was the order of the day.
Although Karachi had been peaceful and ethnically harmonious till late 70s, when General Ziaul Haq took over the government in a coup.
General Zia’s coup that changed the dynamics of the country politics had also fallen as an axe on the communal and ethnic harmony of Karachi, for which the city was recognised till then. 
With the emergence of Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in the political horizon of the city in early eighties, the situation of communal and ethnic harmony in Karachi took a sharp U-turn. Then there had been clashes and fighting between MQM and other communities, such as Pakhtoon, Sindhi and later infighting between MQM and its break away faction, known as MQM-Haqqiqi.
It was in late nineties and early years of the current decade, when the ethnic tension and communal fighting and clashes eased to a greater extent.
But once again the ‘hidden hands’ has become active to destroy the ethic harmony and relatively peaceful atmosphere of Karachi for the sake of their vested interests.
The major blow for the city’s peace and communal harmony was the massacre of May 12, 2007, when more than 48 people were mercilessly killed on the streets of Karachi.
The attitude of the state apparatus especially the president and the then government regarding the mayhem was highly questionable. The president, and the then chief of the army staff, termed the killing as  ‘demonstration of public power’, which was synonymous to adding insult to injury. Most of the victims were from a single ethnic group. Following the blood bath, the government did not even bother to announce an inquiry into the massacre, instead the president during his fist ever visit to the city after the killings categorically declared that there was no need of any inquiry into the killings.
Following which sporadic incident of violence targeting the people belonging to minority ethic groups were reported in the city time and again.    
But these incidents have intensified during the last two months.
On February 6, 2008 Vice-President of the Awami National Party, Sindh, Fazalur Rehman Akakhail, was gunned down by armed motorcyclists in Sohrab Goth, that triggering violence in many areas of the city and caused two more deaths.
During the same day a leader of Punjabi Pakhtoom Ittehad (PPI), Zakir Khan, was shot to death in Baldia Town area. A week ago an activist of Pakhtoon Student federation (PSF) student wing of ANP, Samad Afridi was killed by unknown pillion riders near Board Office in North Nazimabad area.
During the period many other workers affiliated with ANP were killed in various part of the city.    
Target killing of people belonging to a certain ethnic group started after Jan 14, when 10 people, two of them children, were killed and 52 others wounded when an explosive device fitted to a motorcycle went off in Landhi. The target of the blats was labourers and low income people, who on their way back to home from nearby factories were buying fruit and vegetables. The victims were ethnically Pakhtoons.
The blast occurred at a time when President Pervez Musharraf was in the city.
The blast triggered intense gunfire and violence that shook Landhi and its vicinity after the explosion.
The tragic bomb blast at Gul Ahmed Chowk, Landhi, sparked off a new debate among various circles regarding the motives of this terrorist act. Although government circles were quick enough, as they usually so, to blame al-Qaeda and Taliban militants for the blasts, but the circumstances and the target of the blasts, did not support the claim.     
Sources said that a thorough probe, endorsed by many experts on terrorism, suggests that it was not a sectarian motivated act of terrorism. The experts believe that Karachi was a multi-ethnic society and a powder keg on account of bitter rivalries among various ethnic communities dating back to 80s and 90s, when the city was engulfed in bitter ethnic rivalries.
Besides, it precipitated deep friction among the main ethnic groups of the city. It shows that the blast was targeted at a particular community with the prime aim of igniting ethnic acrimony so as to once again bathe the city in violence reminiscent of May12.
After the Landhi blasts there have been a sharp rise in such incidents targeting people especially Pashto speaking.
The increased ethnic-coloured violence in the city indicates that some forces have planned to trigger and ignite ethic violence in the city and wanted to make the city hostage once again.    
The ANP, which claims to represent the Pakhtoons, has been at loggerheads with the city administration especially with the MQM. ANP and others parties, such as JUP and Sunni Tehrik say that the election in the city could not be free and fair as the provincial government led by Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul Ibad is backing MQM in its election campaign. Even the JUP withdrew itself from the electoral fray complaining that the party was not being allowed to run electioneering in the city by MQM.
A leader of JUP said that workers and leaders of JUP were being threatened. He said that the caretaker government is partisan and backing the group and in such a situation they were left with no other option but to quit the fray.
On the other side some leaders of ANP and Pakhtoon elders claimed that the elements targeting the Pakhtoons have the backing of government and the Sindh governor. They asserted that through a ‘well planned conspiracy’, the Pakhtoons were being targeted and their ‘genocide’ was being carried out from Wana to Karachi. 
They claimed that MQM was tilting toward ethnic inclination to reclaim its dwindling popularity among the Urdu speaking people. 
However, what are the cause of the recent target killing of people of a particular ethnicity be and irrespective of that who is behind these incidents, these ethnic-colored incidents have set alarm bells ringing in the concerned quarters, sparking fears of more violence in certain areas and ethnic tension in the city.
The concerned quarters must pay immediate attention towards the growing ethnic tension in the city and take immediate steps to counter it. Those elements who are engineering and igniting ethnic violence and tension in the city must be exposed and held accountable.