tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/karachi-30656/articlesKarachi – The Conversation2017-02-13T07:55:03Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/705442017-02-13T07:55:03Z2017-02-13T07:55:03Z‘At once silent and eloquent’: a glimpse of Pakistani visual poetry<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153671/original/image-20170120-5257-hgnfmh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Rickshaw poetry in Pakistan.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">D.Kazi</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>Whose mischief created a world of beseechers?
Each petitioner is seen wearing a garment of paper</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This line from the famous Mughul poet <a href="https://www.waterstones.com/book/ghalib-1797-1869/mirza-asadullah-khan-ghalib/ralph-russell/9780195635065">Ghalib</a> refers to what he claimed to be ancient Persian tradition of petitioners wearing paper before entering the courts to get justice.</p>
<p>Indeed, for a country that has a <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/897995/education-woes-pakistan-misses-un-target-with-58-literacy-rate/">low literacy rate</a>, the written word is a central part of Pakistani society. All over Karachi, “wall chalking”, <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/861951">as it is called</a>, lines the streets with announcements of political meetings, informal advertising and messages in support of or against political leaders. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153675/original/image-20170120-5214-dr50hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153675/original/image-20170120-5214-dr50hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153675/original/image-20170120-5214-dr50hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1171&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153675/original/image-20170120-5214-dr50hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1171&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153675/original/image-20170120-5214-dr50hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1171&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153675/original/image-20170120-5214-dr50hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1472&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153675/original/image-20170120-5214-dr50hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1472&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153675/original/image-20170120-5214-dr50hx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1472&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Wall chalking in Karachi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">D.Kazi</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Intelligence agencies and the press pick up writings that appear overnight as a show of political strength or indicators of political party infighting. Sometimes walls carry threats against specific people, such as “<em>ainda na dehkoon</em>” (this should not happen again) written by “bosses” to keep the local heavies in check. These are usually written in Urdu calligraphic style. </p>
<p>An unusual message stands out for its untidy spray painted phrase “Perfume Chowk” (perfume crossroads). Curious viewers discovered it was a message written by the <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1134081">heroic owner</a> of a small stall selling attar (scented oil) in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, a suburb of Karachi, whose stall was regularly destroyed by people to whom he refused to give protection money.</p>
<h2>A people’s narrative</h2>
<p>Countries have many narratives: the official state narrative, the narratives of friends and allies, that of enemies, of moral custodians; and then there is the complex, layered narrative of a country’s people. These occupy sociologists, historians, literary critics, artists, film-makers, musicians, novelists and poets. Beneath the surface waves, one has to dive deeper to understand the true nature of the soul of a people, but occasionally the hidden becomes visible and lends itself to decoding. </p>
<p>This is most true of the place occupied by poetry in Pakistan. Classic forms can be <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1949-3606.1992.tb00367.x/abstract">of religious songs</a> such as <em>naats</em> (a poem usually sung without music in praise of the Prophet Muhammad), <em>qawalis</em> (Sufi devotional songs performed by a large group of musicians accompanied by harmonium, drums and rhythmic clapping) and <em><a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/185595/marsia-and-noha-artists-songs-of-sorrow/">marsias</a></em> (a poem of mourning and lament recounting the martyrdom of the Prophet’s grandson and <a href="https://rekhta.org/Marsiya">his family at Kerbela</a>). </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/41mVB-WAh_c?wmode=transparent&start=211" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A song of joyous love and surrender, from the poet Amir Khusro to his spiritual guide, Nizamuddin Auliya by qawwals Farid Ayaz and Abu Mohammed.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But often poems are also more worldly love songs of film; colourful metaphors that take place during <em>mushairas</em> (<a href="http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2013/11/01/the-culture-of-mushaira">public recitation of Urdu poetry</a>) or poetry events. The preferred form of Urdu poetry is the <em>ghazal</em>, or couplet, which has its origins in Arabic literature via Persian poetry. <em>Ghazals</em> are composed as sophisticated conceits, ostensibly about love, longing, separation and loss, but imply commentaries that range from Sufi love of the divine, to local politics.</p>
<h2>Hearing the voice of the individual</h2>
<p>The decorated transport of Pakistan is much celebrated for its excessive colourful adornment and painted images. Less noticed are the embedded verses that are an essential part of all trucks, buses and rickshaws. </p>
<p>These are attempted conversations with “someone out there”, an amplification of one’s presence in a society that renders the common man invisible. “<a href="https://www.academia.edu/2646295/A_Brief_Enchantment_The_Role_Of_Conversation_And_Poetry_In_Human_Life">Whispering in our ears</a>”, these writings express personal feelings, outrage or simply indignation, loss, desire, or a moment of reflection.</p>
<p>Hungarian philosopher Ferenc Hörcher <a href="https://www.academia.edu/2646295/A_Brief_Enchantment_The_Role_Of_Conversation_And_Poetry_In_Human_Life">has suggested</a> that conversation “liberates the human self from the bondages of practical life and brings about a sense of equilibrium”. Intimate expressions are externalised in the public sphere addressing an assumed community. These writings symbolise an attempt to wrest authorship by marginalised citizens.</p>
<p>As Pakistani poet <a href="https://urduwallahs.wordpress.com/2013/05/25/noon-meem-rashid-father-of-modernism-in-urdu-literature/">Noon Meem Rashid</a> (1910-1975) wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>From amidst the crowd of men<br>
The voice of the individual is heard</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are 600,000 commercial vehicles, which include buses, trucks and three wheelers (among them rickshaws), that circulate on 260,760 km of roads according to 2010 data <a href="http://www.pbs.gov.pk/sites/default/files/other/yearbook2011/Transport%20&%20Comm/20-18.pdf">published</a> by the government. Most of these vehicles carry writings.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153674/original/image-20170120-5221-ednr29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153674/original/image-20170120-5221-ednr29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153674/original/image-20170120-5221-ednr29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153674/original/image-20170120-5221-ednr29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153674/original/image-20170120-5221-ednr29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153674/original/image-20170120-5221-ednr29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153674/original/image-20170120-5221-ednr29.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From left to right: A Pakistan Youth Alliance rickshaw carries peace messages; Discreet writing on a police vehicle reads: ‘All your splendour will lie useless, when the nomad packs up and leaves’; a Melbourne tram decorated like a Karachi bus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pakistan is portrayed as a belligerent, angry country, churning out extremists. The poetry on decorated transport tells another story. The most commonly used phrase is <em>Maan ki dua Jannat ki hawa</em> (A mother’s prayer is a breeze from heaven) followed by <em>Dekh magar piyar say</em> (You can look, but with love), and a newcomer, <em>Jiyo aur jinay do</em> (Live and let live).</p>
<p>The themes of the poetry varies with the type of transport. The poetry on long-distance trucks transporting good across the country reflect the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17457300.2012.733713?journalCode=nics20">insecure journeys</a> they face and the loneliness of being away from their families:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Road se dosti safar se yaari<br>
Dekh pyaray zindgi hamari</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I befriend the road, my companion is the journey<br>
See the life I lead, my dear friend </p>
<p>The city busses are usually more light-hearted and risqué:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Dil Barai farookht. Qeemat ail muskarahat</p>
</blockquote>
<p>My heart is for sale. The price: one smile</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Aaghaz e jawani hai hum jhoom kay chaltay hain
dunya yeh samajhti hai hum pi kay nikaltay hain</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I swagger because I am young<br>
The world thinks I reel because I am drunk</p>
<p>But occasionally the concerns are serious:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Pata kiya khaak batain nishan hai be nishan apna
laga baithay bistar jahan wahin samjho makan apna</p>
</blockquote>
<p>How can I tell you my address, I have left no mark<br>
Wherever I lay down my bags, that is home</p>
<blockquote>
<p>mohabbat na kar ameeron say jo barbad kartay hain
mohabbat kar ghareebon say jo hameesha yaad kartay hain</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Do not love the rich who only ruin you<br>
Love the poor who always remember you</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153673/original/image-20170120-5214-19l72du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153673/original/image-20170120-5214-19l72du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153673/original/image-20170120-5214-19l72du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153673/original/image-20170120-5214-19l72du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153673/original/image-20170120-5214-19l72du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153673/original/image-20170120-5214-19l72du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153673/original/image-20170120-5214-19l72du.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Left to right: A truck reads, ‘Oh Bulbul, why do you cry? Are there no fruits in your garden?
I should cry whose life knows no peace’; the back of a truck simply says ‘Love’; a passenger bus decorated with reflective tape.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">D.Kazi</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Buses and trucks are usually a lucrative business. The rickshaw on the other hand is usually owner-driven and provides an insight into Pakistani society’s least privileged communities. </p>
<p>Rather than the <em>ghazal</em> couplet seen on trucks and buses, rickshaws have boldly written enigmatic poetic phrases such as <em>Kaash</em> (if only), <em>Bikhray Moti</em> (strewn pearls) <em>zakhmi parinda</em> (wounded bird) <em>akhri goli</em> (the last bullet). Sometimes a rickshaw simply carries the name of a beloved daughter or a Sufi saint.</p>
<p>Funny poems or phrases are common to all forms of transport, making life’s problems and suffering bearable if only for a while. This is a feint that compels us to read between the lines, an essential component of the layered and often esoteric nature of Pakistani society.</p>
<p>Arabic poetry also gave Urdu the influence of <em>Hija</em> or satiric poetry. While the <em>-qit'ah</em> (a light-hearted fragmentary poetic phrase) extolled the virtues of tribal heroes, the <em>hija</em> denigrated rival tribes. </p>
<p>Another influence is that of Sufi poetry. The majority of Pakistani Muslims are of the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09700160801886330?src=recsys&journalCode=rsan20">Barelvi sect</a>, which <a href="http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/811/where-sufism-stands/">is interwoven</a> with Sufism. Most decorated vehicles carry messages and prayers collected from Sufi shrines.</p>
<p>This penchant for bitter-sweet or dark humour pervades Pakistani society and may spring from the loss of agency <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-oxford-companion-to-pakistani-history-9780195475784?cc=fr&lang=en&">in a region</a> that has been repeatedly invaded since at least 1800 BC, each invader creating a powerful ruling elite imposing its culture and ignoring, for the most part, the lives of ordinary citizens. </p>
<p>In this sense these subtexts are essentially a protest, reaching out to a community longing for social justice and recognition. As poet Noon Meem Rashid <a href="https://rekhta.org/nazms/vo-harf-e-tanhaa-noon-meem-rashid-nazms">wrote</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We are a solitary letter of the alphabet<br>
At once silent and eloquent</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/70544/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Durriya Kazi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Pakistan’s rich visual and poetic culture is expressed every day on walls, rickshaws and buses. As the country struggles to offer solace to its people, they carry its narratives and emotions.Durriya Kazi, Head of department Visual Studies, University of KarachiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/710302017-02-03T07:46:51Z2017-02-03T07:46:51ZHow the Virgin Mary brings together different faiths in Pakistan and India<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153196/original/image-20170118-3914-15c8b5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mass inside the church dedicated to our Lady of Good Health in Valenkanni, Tamil Nadu.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">D.Fernandes</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Karachi is the <a href="http://crss.pk/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/CRSS-Security-Report-Q3-2016-Final.pdf">most violent city in Pakistan</a>. <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1287126/karachi-still-violent-city-report">A total of 1,046 deaths</a> related to terror and militancy were reported there in 2016, and
nearly <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1186638/growing-uncertainty-48-7-youth-karachi-want-leave-country/">50% of the city’s young people</a> want to leave Pakistan completely.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.researchcollective.org/Documents/Karachi_Violence_Duality_and_Negotiation.pdf">violence has various causes</a>, including divisions over <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/203433/political-violence-216-incidents-reported-in-three-months/">politics</a>, <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1223201/national-highway-blocked-shia-groups-continue-protest-arrests-leaders">religion</a> and <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/583741/anp-mqm-clash-leaves-boy-dead">ethnicity</a>, as well as <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/29/world/asia/29karachi.html">organised crime</a>. </p>
<p><a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/721785/timeline-attacks-on-minorities">More than 70 Christians were killed</a> while celebrating Easter in a park in 2016. <a href="http://www.voanews.com/a/pakistan-hindus-protest-forced-conversions-girls-islam/3460692.html">The forced conversion</a> of Hindu girls and the marginalisation of community members have been among other factors fuelling feelings of insecurity and isolation for minorities. </p>
<p>For many members of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/malik-siraj-akbar/how-pakistan-abandoned-it_b_9001584.html">threatened minority communities</a>, places of worship offer solace. They also represent an important lesson for Paksitan’s fragmented society. This can most clearly be seen in <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/947318/the-power-of-faith-hindus-celebrate-the-lady-of-good-health-with-catholics">the religious crossover</a>, known as syncretism, between Hindus and Christians, who both venerate the Virgin Mary in Karachi. </p>
<p>It serves as a vital message of the need to co-exist and create structures that minimise discrimination. </p>
<h2>A look back in history</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://habib.edu.pk/HU-news/memory-tradition-community-walk-history-4th-annual-karachi-conference/">history</a> of Tamil and Goan Christian devotees in Karachi can be traced back to <a href="http://www.casas.org.uk/papers/pdfpapers/christiansinpakistan.pdf">nearly 50 years ago</a> when A M Anthony, a Tamil Christian, established Saint Anthony’s Club at his house on Somerset Street, in the town of Saddar, a neighbourhood of Karachi. </p>
<p>As described to me by his granddaughter, devotees would gather to recite <em>novena</em>, or nine-day, prayers to ask the Virgin Mary for blessings and good health. The Virgin Mary is known as Our Lady of Valenkanni, <a href="http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/approved_apparitions/vailankanni/">based on apparitions</a> she is believed to have made in the Indian town of Velankanni, in Tamil Nadu state, 2,000km south of Karachi.</p>
<p>After his landlord objected to the loud singing and recitation, Anthony and his fellow Christians, many of them immigrants from Chennai and Goa, were allowed a hall space in the premises of St. Anthony’s Church.</p>
<p>The Christian devotees then invited both Hindus and Zoroastrians to join them in asking for benediction. In this way, <em>novena</em> prayers to Our Lady of Valenkanni became a part of Catholic churches’ ceremonial activities across Karachi, and opened up the veneration of the Virgin Mary to new faiths.</p>
<p>For some Hindu devotees, Our Lady of Velankanni symbolises prosperity, aspirations, well-being, while providing answers to their prayers. </p>
<h2>The origins of Our Lady of Velankanni</h2>
<p>Of course, the home of Our Lady of Velankanni is in the town of Velankanni itself, which also demonstrates the intersection of Hindu and Catholic practices in contemporary religion. </p>
<p>The basilica attracts millions of devotees each year. As in Karachi, these include both Catholic and Hindu residents. Some Catholic devotees from Karachi embark on a spiritual journey to the basilica of Our Lady of Valenkanni to ask the Mother for favours and intercessory graces.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153075/original/image-20170117-21183-vi79i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153075/original/image-20170117-21183-vi79i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153075/original/image-20170117-21183-vi79i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153075/original/image-20170117-21183-vi79i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153075/original/image-20170117-21183-vi79i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153075/original/image-20170117-21183-vi79i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153075/original/image-20170117-21183-vi79i8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Basilica Our Lady of Velankanni in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">D.Fernandes</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Three accounts of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary in Velankanni have <a href="http://www.velankannichurch.in/shrine-miracles.php">been documented</a> over the years, and subsequently narrated by her devotees. </p>
<p>The first story dates back to the end of the 16th century and is about a Hindu shepherd boy’s sighting the Virgin Mary by a pond. She asked the boy for milk for her son, Jesus. The boy readily offered the milk. Locals remain intrigued until the Mother appeared at the site again. Thereafter, the pond was known as “Matha Kulam” or “Our Lady’s Pond”. </p>
<p>The second event is said to have happened a few years later. A crippled boy in Nadu Thittu was apparently cured by the Virgin Mother after he offered her buttermilk. The Catholic residents of a nearby town then built a shrine in recognition of the healing.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.velankannichurch.com/pages/historyofvailankanni/historyofvailankanni.html">In the late 17th century</a>, Portuguese sailors transformed this early construction into a chapel, based on vows made during rough seas between China and Colombo on a merchant vessel. </p>
<p>Today, Our Lady of Valenkanni has special meaning for both Hindu and Christian devotees because of the miracles she is associated with, including the <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/12/1227_041226_tsunami.html">2004 Boxing Day tsunami</a> which caused massive destruction in Tamil Nadu. Basilica officials were quick to report this as a miracle, as <a href="http://www.tfp.org/a-ray-of-hope-in-southern-asia/">2,000 pilgrims</a> were attending mass when the town of Valenkanni was hit. <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4130129.stm">News sources</a> and <a href="http://www.who.int/hac/crises/international/asia_tsunami/sitrep/en">official disaster reports</a> showed that the basilica was the only building to escape this large-scale catastrophe.</p>
<h2>Acts of devotion</h2>
<p>Some devotees make offerings to the Virgin Mary through purchases of expensive fabric for a sari. This is associated with the historical and symbolic depiction of the <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/24764255?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">Virgin Mary draped in a saffron sari</a>, a common garb across the subcontinent. There are others who make sari offerings to the poor upon fulfilment of their vows.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153213/original/image-20170118-3914-gvkyhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153213/original/image-20170118-3914-gvkyhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153213/original/image-20170118-3914-gvkyhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153213/original/image-20170118-3914-gvkyhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153213/original/image-20170118-3914-gvkyhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153213/original/image-20170118-3914-gvkyhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153213/original/image-20170118-3914-gvkyhg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Virgin Mary wearing a sari in the Karachi church dedicated to her devotion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">D.Fernandes</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One woman I spoke to as part of my research, a Goan Christian born in Karachi, was taught devotion by her grandmother. In 2004 when she was visiting Valenkanni, she prayed to Our Lady of Good Health to be blessed with the gift of a child. </p>
<p>Nearly a year and half after her return to Karachi, she gave birth to a boy. A few years later, she and her family completed rituals to fulfil their vow. She cut off four inches of hair while her husband and son shaved their heads. They bathed in the sea as part of the ritual. These practices are <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0009640708002023">taken from the Hindu faith</a>, showing that interfaith exchanges go both ways.</p>
<p>Since then, the woman has worn a head-covering during prayer times as a lifelong promise to the mother for the graces received through her son. </p>
<p>I heard other tales of devotion from A M Anthony’s granddaughter: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>There was a lady who would not wear shoes. She would be spotted even at weddings without shoes … Imagine going everywhere barefoot in Karachi’s heat. But that is how she fulfilled her vow and everyone knew about it.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Spirituality and togetherness</h2>
<p>Annually, <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/947318/the-power-of-faith-hindus-celebrate-the-lady-of-good-health-with-catholics/">hundreds of devotees</a> come together in the premises of churches across Karachi and in Tamil Nadu to hoist a flag bearing an image of Our Lady of Valenkanni and partake in a short prayer followed by other rituals including the distribution of blessed medals by a priest. </p>
<p>The ceremony devoted to Our Lady of Valenkanni occurs on September 8, marking the <a href="http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint.php?n=357">birthday of the Virgin Mary</a>. </p>
<p>Each year, Our Lady of Valenkanni’s statue in Karachi is decorated with fresh flowers and streamers.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153079/original/image-20170117-21172-w5l898.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153079/original/image-20170117-21172-w5l898.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=710&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153079/original/image-20170117-21172-w5l898.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=710&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153079/original/image-20170117-21172-w5l898.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=710&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153079/original/image-20170117-21172-w5l898.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153079/original/image-20170117-21172-w5l898.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153079/original/image-20170117-21172-w5l898.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nativity prepared by devotees in Karachi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">D.Fernandes</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This day sees some members from the Hindu, Zoroastrian, and Muslim communities all venerating the Virgin Mary. </p>
<p>As the parish priest told me, “Mary brings everyone together and it makes sense why you would see Muslims here who can tell you a lot about Surah Maryam.” Named after Virgin Mary, <a href="http://ahadees.com/english-surah-19.html">Surah Maryam</a> appears in the 19th chapter of the Qu’ran. </p>
<p>“Muslims do not partake in <em>novena</em> prayers, but on September 8, they come here to respect Mary as the Mother of Jesus”, Rodrigues said. </p>
<p>For believers, miracles are not just about healing of ailments and turning water into wine. They can be a way of dealing with the dominant, narrow and bigoted narrative prevalent in Pakistan’s society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71030/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Donna Fernandes does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A common place of worship in India and Pakistan offers solace and bonds religious minorities in Pakistan.Donna Fernandes, Researcher-Program coordinator, Habib UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/644112016-08-26T15:18:56Z2016-08-26T15:18:56ZIs Pakistan witnessing the fall of Altaf Hussain, the long-distance king of Karachi?<p>Even by Karachi’s standards, it is an extraordinary time in the politics of this complex and violent Pakistani metropolis. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), the party which has dominated the city’s politics for nearly three decades, is facing a mounting backlash from the Pakistani authorities and an internal power shift. </p>
<p>MQM’s leader, Altaf Hussain, has been exiled in London since the early 1990s, its deputy leader is trying to sideline him by blaming mental strain, and the party’s newly elected mayor of Karachi is in prison, facing <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-pakistan-karachi-idUSKCN0ZZ1SD">charges of aiding</a> militants and criminals. Meanwhile, for the past two years the Pakistani military has been conducting operations against MQM in Karachi while other political parties are demanding that the party should be banned as terrorists. </p>
<p>The population of Karachi’s urban conglomeration is over 23m, and the city itself is <a href="https://esa.un.org/unpd/wup/Publications/Files/WUP2014-Highlights.pdf">expected</a> to become the world’s seventh largest by 2030, according to the UN. It has also been called the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Karachi_Ordered_Disorder_and_the_Struggl.html?id=9xIDBAAAQBAJ&redir_esc=y">world’s most dangerous city</a>. </p>
<p>Since the 1980s, MQM has been able to hold the city to ransom through a nexus of violence and crime as it steadily gained more political power. The party was formed by Hussain in 1978 as a student organisation to represent the Urdu-speaking “Mohajirs”, or migrants from India to the new nation Pakistan during Partition in 1947. Since its inception Hussain has <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Mohajir_Militancy_in_Pakistan.html?id=lSCMAgAAQBAJ&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y">remained unilaterally powerful</a>, his hold on Karachi attributed to his famed, lethal, “remote control politics”. In hours Hussain, who has been based in London since 1992 when he was granted asylum during army operations against the MQM in Karachi, could command MQM workers to effect a total strike, and through terror, shut down Pakistan’s largest commercial city.</p>
<p>In 2007, dozens of people <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/246766/riots-disrupt-karachi-calm">were killed</a> during the “Black Saturday” riots in the city. The MQM <a href="https://en.dailypakistan.com.pk/pakistan/mqms-waseem-akhtar-admits-12-may-2007-shooting-order/">has been implicated</a> in the violence, but so far there has been little justice in the Pakistani courts.</p>
<p>In September 2010, one of MQM’s founders <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/sep/17/imran-farooq-murdered-london-home">Imran Farooq was murdered in London</a> amid speculation about an intended leadership bid. British police <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-36486970">are investigating</a> the MQM on charges of money laundering and with involvement in Imran Farooq’s murder – but it has been slow going. </p>
<h2>A torrid week</h2>
<p>A sequence of events that begun in late August, has sparked a renewed clampdown on the party, whose leaders have been <a href="http://tribune.com.pk/story/1168165/treason-case-registered-mqm-chief-anti-pakistan-slogans/">accused of treason</a> in Pakistan. It began on August 22 when Hussain, speaking by telephone from London to a crowd of supporters and hunger strikers protesting outside Karachi Press Club against the disappearances and killings of party workers, <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1279393">railed</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Pakistan is cancer for entire world … who says long live Pakistan? … it’s down with Pakistan.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>He <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1279393">then openly encouraged</a> party workers to attack two Karachi media offices. Although press intimidation and censorship by terror is common in Karachi and across Pakistan, after the ensuing fatal violence, a <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1279250">small number</a> of senior MQM leaders were detained the following day. Leaders of other political parties demanded on Pakistan’s permanently buzzing satellite news channels that MQM <a href="http://www.awaztoday.pk/News-Talk-Shows/126395/Federal-Government-Ban-MQM-Journalist--Watch-Ch-Nisars-Reply.aspx">be banned</a> as traitors to Pakistan.</p>
<p>Incredibly, the former mayor of Karachi and MQM deputy Farooq Sattar <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1279446">swiftly announced</a> that Hussain’s incendiary statements suggested a leader suffering from prolonged mental stress, and that the MQM would now operate from Pakistan alone. Sattar’s move was tactical, but sidelining its UK leader was an unprecedented and dangerous move. </p>
<p>Then, on August 24, MQM’s candidate Waseem Akhtar was returned <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1279653">as mayor</a> of Karachi, with just one hitch: Akhtar is in prison on terrorism-related charges. The new mayor requested an office within the prison, to run the city’s affairs. </p>
<p>Meanwhile back in London, <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1279656">citing health reasons</a>, Hussain agreed to give power to the Karachi leadership committee of which Sattar, as the MQM’s deputy convenor, is a member. Posters of Hussain have started to be <a href="http://dunyanews.tv/en/Pakistan/350771-Karachi-Crackdown-against-illegal-offices-of-MQM">taken down</a> across Karachi, and MQM offices sealed. </p>
<h2>Increasing violence</h2>
<p>The MQM’s control of the city of Karachi since 2005 has ushered in a period of unchecked expansion of real estate development driven by questionable large-scale land-use conversions and powerful political patrons. Since then, the Pakistan Taliban (TTP) has rapidly grown and encroached into Karachi’s Pashtun neighbourhoods, through violence and bombings, including in MQM strongholds. While the MQM’s support base is overwhelmingly from the Urdu-speaking ethnic Mohajirs, the Taliban’s base is predominantly Pashtun, from South Waziristan, Swat, and other areas in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province and the tribal agencies. Since summer 2012 most of Karachi’s Pashtun-populated areas have <a href="http://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/cityscapes-violence-karachi/">fallen under</a> the influence of the TTP.</p>
<p>Violence in Karachi intensified when the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was running the national government between 2008 and 2013. The PPP’s armed wing – the Peoples’ Aman Committee (PAC) – the MQM, and Taliban groups <a href="http://www.hurstpublishers.com/book/cityscapes-violence-karachi/">clashed around</a> lucrative profits from organised crime – extortions, kidnappings for ransom, and drugs. Throughout this, the MQM has retained die-hard support from its ethnic vote-bank of Mohajirs which has given it an unbreakable political hold on Karachi. Its “success” lies in its ability to collapse many divisions between politics and crime and to encroach deep into Karachi’s formal and informal economies. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, back in London, the situation has been hotting up for Hussain in recent years. In the deadly run-up to Pakistan’s 2013 general elections – won by the Pakistan Muslim League of the current prime minister Nawaz Sharif – a senior member of the former cricketer Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehree-e-Insaaf (PTI) party, Zahra Shahid, <a href="http://www.dawn.com/news/1012155/pti-senior-leader-zahra-shahid-killed-on-eve-of-karachi-re-polls">was killed</a>. Khan accused the London-based Hussain of ordering her murder, and the UK government of harbouring him. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"335830688261623808"}"></div></p>
<p>The MQM London offices were searched, the BBC commissioned a film to investigate the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23270342">London-Karachi connection</a>, showing chilling footage of Hussain regaling a crowd with threats to encase his enemies in “body bags”. So far charges against MQM in the UK, including money laundering, have stalled, while speculation about collaborations with Indian forces to destabilise Karachi have spread. </p>
<p>Yet Hussain’s erstwhile usefulness to UK interests – vocally railing against “fundamentalists” and keeping the Taliban subdued in Karachi – now seems exhausted. This was reflected in statements by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/aug/23/pakistan-accuses-mqm-altaf-hussain-inciting-karachi-riots-uk-exile">some British politicians</a> who said Hussain should not be allowed to use the UK as a base for inciting violence. </p>
<h2>The seeds of demise?</h2>
<p>Despite Hussain’s public tears, agonising, and death-threats, the MQM has consistently won all elections it has contested in Karachi since 1988. As Pakistan’s third-largest party, it also influences national politics at the centre. </p>
<p>So, regardless of the current clampdown, the MQM will likely prevail in Karachi. Athough the MQM is registered with the Pakistan Election Commission in Farooq Sattar’s name, its party workers pledge an oath of allegiance to Hussain. This means its MPs in provincial and national assemblies are effectively answerable to the local party workers who control Karachi’s Mohajir neighbourhoods through terror – on Hussain’s command. On his election as mayor, Waseem Akhtar <a href="https://www.geo.tv/latest/112383-Imprisoned-Waseem-Akhtar-elected-Karachi-mayor-unofficial-results">stated</a> that his leader – referring to Altaf Hussain – had advised him he was mayor of Karachi, not of MQM.</p>
<p>Sattar must now tread a tightrope between the army, Hussain loyalists, and Hussain’s unpredictable, precarious mental health. Despite Sattar’s disavowals, violence remains endemic and lucrative, and any desire by Karachiites for a communal vision of pluralistic politics and political culture remains a hostage to political madness.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/64411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nichola Khan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Could this be the end of the road for the London-based leader of Pakistani’s Muttahida Qaumi Movement?Nichola Khan, Principal Lecturer, School of Applied Social Science, University of BrightonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.