City at war混战之城卡拉奇

Violence in Karachi 卡拉奇的暴力 City at war 混战之城 In the commercial capital, politicians and gangsters are bound together 在商业之都卡拉奇，政客与匪帮沆瀣一气 May 26th 2012 | KARACHI | from the print edition Just another day in the commercial capital 商业之都的又一天 CIVILIANS armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47s firing at police in armoured personnel carriers are not images associated with the urban hearts of commercial capitals. But Karachi is no ordinary city. Earlier this month its crime-infested quarter of Lyari, a sprawling network of alleyways housing 1m people, saw battles that pitted police against a powerful local gang. In one scene locals flattened a carrier’s tyres with gunfire. Then they kept firing at the stationary vehicle, killing an officer inside. 无法想像在商业之都的核心区域，手持着火箭推进式榴弹和AK-47冲锋枪的平民向装甲车里的警察开火会是怎样一幅画面。然而卡拉奇并不是普通的城市。本月早些时候，在卡拉奇市犯罪猖獗的勒亚力区，这里错综复杂的背街窄道居住着一百多万人，人们可以看到进驻的警察与强大的本地匪帮展开交火。有这么一幕，当地匪帮用枪击爆了一辆卡车的轮胎，之后继续向停下的车辆射击，将车内的一名警官打死。 The 31 people who were killed, in addition to five policemen, were mainly innocents caught in the crossfire and included a seven-year-old. For a week residents were besieged. They had little access to food, water or power, as shops shut down and the battle had damaged infrastructure. Then a defeated government called the operation off. The police promised to return after 48 hours, but never showed up again. A senior police official was close to tears when he explained that the gangsters wielded weapons that law-enforcers did not know they possessed. 共有31人被打死，除5名警察之外死者绝大多数都是无辜百姓，其中还包括一名7岁的儿童。当地居民长达一周的时间里被困在家中。由于商店关门，公共设施在交火中损毁，居民无法得到食物、水，也没有电。处于劣势的政府宣布停止行动。警方承诺将在48小时之后返回，随后再也没有出现。一名高级警官在解释时几近垂泪，称匪徒挥舞着警方无法识别的武器。 The Lyari violence highlights the complicated relationship between crime and politics in Karachi. Political parties are organised along ethnic or sectarian lines, and represent the city’s Urdu-speakers, Sindhis, Baloch, Pashtuns and Barelvi Sunnis. In turf wars over neighbourhoods, they attack each other’s activists and ordinary folk alike. (This week indiscriminate firing on a Sindhi rally killed 11 people.) When deaths exceed a handful a day, the commercial capital grinds to a halt. It is this violence, rather than Islamist extremism, that holds Karachi hostage. 勒亚力区的暴行突显了在卡拉奇，犯罪与政治错综复杂的关系。政党是按照族群和宗教派别组织起来的，分别代表着城市中的乌尔都族、信德人、俾路支人、普什图人和Barelvi派逊尼等。在与争抢地盘的混战之中，对敌对方的攻击都是不分亲疏的。（本周向信德人集会场所不分分青红皂白地射击造成11人丧生）。而一旦死难者过多，则每天的商业活动必然会停止。绑架卡拉奇的是暴力活动而非伊斯兰极端主义分子。 Political parties coexist with criminal gangs, tacitly supporting some and actually controlling others. Lyari’s dominant gangsters, the People’s Aman Committee (PAC), have traditionally lent their support to the country’s ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Yet police appear to have launched the Lyari operation because some members of the ruling party had developed a rivalry with elements of the PAC. The rundown district has long been a bastion of the PPP, which had put up with or worked with Lyari gangsters for decades. But its neglect of the area has strengthened the PAC, especially once the gang started providing social services. “This operation was political victimisation,” claims Zafar Baloch, the racket’s second-in-command. “The people of Lyari have supported the PPP for 40 years, but when we spoke out against the lack of development here we were targeted.” 政党与犯罪组织共存，默默地支持一帮并控制另一帮。勒亚力区最大的匪帮是人民的阿曼委员会（PAC），该组织历来支持巴国执政的人民党（PPP）。警察对勒亚力区采取的行动说明了执政党内部有人对PAC不满。破败的勒亚力区长期以来一直是PPP的票仓，匪帮已在此盘踞了几十年。然而这块被遗忘的角落却壮大了PAC，尤其是当匪帮开始提供社会服务的时候。该组织的二号人物扎法尔俾路支说：“这就是政治迫害，勒亚力区的人民支持PPP已有40年的历史了，而当我们反对社区发展停滞时我们就成了众矢之的。” Karachi politics plays out at the expense of civilian lives. It did not hurt that the police operation would have pleased the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), a coalition partner, at a time when opposition parties are campaigning for the resignation of the prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani. The MQM (also involved in extortion in Karachi) complained that the government was targeting its people while letting the PAC get away with crime. 卡拉奇的政治运作是以平民百姓的生命为代价。而平民百姓的生命不会影响统一国家运动（MQM）乐于看到警察的行动，该组织是一度与反对党联手，要求总理吉拉尼辞职。MQM（也卷入到卡拉奇的混战当中）还抱怨政府向平民百姓开枪却放过了犯罪的PAC。 But perhaps what makes the Lyari operation typical of Karachi was how, just as it was escalating into a policing and humanitarian disaster, it suddenly came to a halt. Since then the PAC has not retaliated. Perhaps some unpublicised bargain has been struck. If so, that would be in line with the usual pattern of violence in the city. Karachi manages to hold together because bouts of brutal, though contained, violence are interspersed with deal making and calm. Imran Ayub, a journalist on the Karachi beat, thinks the PAC and the government will strike a bargain that preserves the PPP’s Lyari constituency despite this disastrous operation. “This was no final showdown”, he says. In the context of Karachi’s violence, it is sobering to think what a final showdown would look like. 但或许就像卡拉奇逐步升级的治安与人道主义灾难嘎然而止那样，促成勒亚力区行动的是典型的卡拉奇式风格。从那之后PAC没有再报复过。或许政府与PAC已达成了秘密协议。如果真是这样，则此事符合这座暴力都市的一贯风格。因为较量的残酷，卡拉奇总是盘算着保持一团和气，虽然包容和暴力会贯穿交易的过程与日常生活。报道卡拉奇行动的记者伊姆兰•阿尤布认为PAC与政府已达成协议，尽管有此次灾难性的行动，还是会保留PPP的勒亚力选区。“这不是最终摊牌，”他说。考虑到卡拉奇的暴力背景，想像一下最终摊牌会造成什么样的局面就会清醒了。