IT is with a sense of condemnation and skepticism that expatriates from the two South Asian countries of India and Pakistan view the recent carnage in Mumbai and later the attacks in Karachi. A work not of religious groups, but of enemies of humanity, they believe the two incidents are not isolated and are somehow related to each other. “What happened in Mumbai and Karachi is interlinked. People who don't care about religion have their own motives to destabilize the whole system and humanity for their own benefits, and whatever is happening in both the countries is part of this terror,” said Arfan Eliyas, an Indian expatriate from Mumbai. He said the perpetrators of terror do not have a religion or belong to a nation. “We can't say they are Pakistanis or Muslims who are responsible for the blasts in Mumbai or that the violence in Karachi was carried out by non-Muslims or Indians,” he said, adding that the blame game must be put to an end and that each side should resolve to fight the problem together. About 40 persons were killed and hundreds injured in the Karachi violence which continued for several days. The three-day siege in India's financial capital left at least 150 people dead, which included 15 foreigners. The US State Department confirmed the death of five Americans. Many expatriates from Mumbai, or ‘Mumbaikars', as they are generally called, say the city epitomizes religious tolerance. “I have lived in Mumbai all my life. People of all religions and castes live together under one roof. Neither the Indian government nor the Pakistani government were involved in this act,” said Sumia Patatil, an expatriate from Mumbai. She believes that the carnage was preplanned by ‘home terrorists.' Abdul Majed Dawawala from Mumbai, asked: “How come the Indian navy and coast guard could not detect the terrorists who came by sea?” Katherine Jon from Pakistan opined that America is guilty for the crisis in South Asia. “They don't want the two countries to be friendly. America wants to fight a proxy war with Pakistan as it couldn't directly attack Pakistan,” she said. The reasons behind the violence in Karachi, starting at the Banaras Chowk and spreading to other parts of the city, are still unknown; however, the police have made 40 arrests from various areas of the city in connection with the incidents. Pakistani journalist Maqbool Ur Rehman Abbasi said the events in Karachi cannot be analyzed in isolation. “It is part of a conspiracy against Pakistan. Some theories suggest a new world order has been planned according to which there will be new states in Asia and the Middle East, where the present Indian territory of Kashmir and Punjab will be part of Pakistan, the North West Frontier Province will go to Afghanistan, and Baluchistan will be a separate state,” he said. Media reports speculate the involvement of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) in the Karachi violence where hundreds of cars, buses and houses were burned down. “It was an MQM conspiracy against Pakhtoons. All the educated Karachi people know this fact. In Karachi, over 51 percent are Pakhtoons, 24 percent are Mohajirs, and the rest are Punjabis and others belonging to the working class. They have never been involved in any such activities,” said Khalid Hashami from Pakistan. He alleged that MQM aimed at controlling Karachi. Over the past few months, the hue and cry created by the MQM about the Talebanization of Karachi was dismissed by the interior ministry of Sindh as ‘baseless'. Hamid Mir, a Pakistani journalist, recently wrote that ‘a bloody game' was planned for Karachi and called for all political parties to unite against it, a warning which seems to have gone unheard. “The biggest problem facing our country is the corrupt and ineffective government creating an environment which has become an easy target for others to destroy,” said a Pakistani expatriate requesting anonymity. Zafar Iqbal, another expatriate from Pakistan, said the country is going through a transitional period, where those fighting against the government are a breed of the US-Pakistan alliance against Soviet Russia. “If we look at the situation in Pakistan after the Afghan war we will see that there will soon be peace and calm,” he said Meanwhile, India also has been a victim of terror attacks in recent times. In 2006, a string of bombs ripped through packed Mumbai commuter trains and platforms which killed 209 people. In July this year, a series of synchronized bomb blasts in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad left 49 dead and more than 100 wounded. Unfortunately, what can be called a crisis time for both India and Pakistan, has resulted in feelings of animosity between the people of the two neighboring countries. “The Karachi blasts were a reaction to the Mumbai attacks. Islam does not permit us to take innocent lives,” said Mumtaz Kahloon, an eminent Pakistani expatriate. “To save our country from problems, the government should stabilize the judiciary, political parties must forget their differences and work together and the media should present our country as a victim of terrorism and not as a terrorist country,” he said. Seconding Kahloon, Mohammed Bashir, an Indian expatriate, said that the media is not giving out the truth and instead is spreading propaganda against humanity and all religions.
