Author: Wilson John
Publisher: Rupa
Year: 2003
Language: English
Pages: 114
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8129102234
Description
Peeling off layers of sheen and gloss from the city that the British preferred as the capital of Pakistan, this book examines the underbelly of a city which houses the country's elite, both famous and infamous, and reveals the shocking truth: Karachi would be tomorrow's Kandahar, the hub of terror.
Terrorism came to Karachi long before September 11, 2001, much before Maulana Masood Azhar stood in the courtyard of Binori Mosque complex and announced Jihad against India in January 2000.
The year was 1986. Azhar was around eighteen and a student of the Jamia Islamia madrasa at the mosque (where one of his friends was Mohammad Omar who late went on to become the Taliban Chief), when a group of Palestinians hijacked Pan Am Flight 73 with 379 passengers and crew to Karachi.
After the security agencies stormed the hijacked plane and captured some of the terrorists, a reporter asked one of them, "Why did you do it?". The hijacker replied, "It's so easy here!" Seventeen years down the line, Al Qaida terrorists fleeing the US manhunt in Afghanistan found Karachi no different.
Contents
Preface
The Troubled Past
Ethnic Strife
Violent Legacy
Criminal Syndicates
Terror Connection
September 11, 2001
Ominous Future
Appendix
Notes
Index