Constructing Lyari: place, governance and identity in a Karachi neighbourhood

AbstractThis article explores a range of discourses and practices that dominate the everyday lives of a range of social actors involved in the administration and organization of Lyari Town, one of the oldest settlements of Karachi. Underwritten by a narrative of historic marginalization as well as resistance, these discourses are linked to emerging socio-spatial practices in this area that are highly prescriptive. These practices have created a landscape of public and community spaces: sports clubs, parks, schools and community service centres which have materialized as a result of a combination of agitatory as well as patronage politics and even support from the criminal underground. There is a particular emphasis on sports, namely soccer and boxing, as not only productive activities for the youth but also as a strong marker of Baloch political identity, the Baloch being the dominant ethnic group in Lyari. I argue that by deploying a productive discourse around place, ethnicity and political marginalization, these assemblages of different kinds of powers have created their own mode of governance which is emerging in a context where the state's role in the provision of municipal services and city-making remains contested and ambiguous, and the rule of law is seen to be weak or absent.Keywords: placeurban governanceethnicityurban networksthe contested state AcknowledgementsI would like to thank the SAHC reviewers for their insightful and valuable comments and suggestions. I am also thankful to Nausheen Anwar and Humeira Iqtidar for taking the time to go through drafts of the paper and helping me in sharpening my analysis.Note: The names of respondents have been changed to protect their privacy as the interviews were conducted on condition of anonymity.Notes1. Chowk is a common Urdu term which can mean a public meeting place, a crossroads or even a public square or plaza.2. Interview, Jameel Ahmed, LRC member, 3 November 2011.3. Interview with Sameer, LRC member, 26 October 2011.4. Express Tribune, "I've Been to Gaza & Iraq but am being shut out of Lyari" 4 May 2012.5. Anwar, "Urban Transformations."6. Gazdar and Mallah, "Informality and Political Violence in Karachi."7. Interview, Hanif Hasan, coordinator of LRC, 10 May 2011.8. Escobar, "Culture Sits in Places"; Gupta and Fergusan, "Beyond 'Culture'."9. Martin, "Place-Framing' as Place Making."10. Gieryn, "A Space for Place in Sociology."11. Harvey, Spaces of Global Capitalism; Lefebvre, The Production of Space; Castells, The Urban Question.12. Massey, Space, Place, and Gender; Benjamin, The Home.13. Ansari, Life After Partition.14. Harvey, Spaces of Global Capitalism; Lefebvre, The Production of Space.15. Daechsel, "Sovereignty, Governmentality and Development in Ayub's Pakistan."16. Verkaaik, Migrants and Militants.17. See note 13 above.18. Burton, Sindh and the Races that Inhabit the Valley of the Indus.19. Baillie, Kurrachee.20. In 2013, the Pakistan People's Party lost power to the Pakistan Muslim League (N), with Nawaz Sharif elected as the new prime minister.21. Dawn, "Seven, Including Three Officers Killed in Lyari Violence," 28 April 2012; The Express Tribune, "Lyari Gang War," 15 May 2011; The Nation, "Lyari Gang Wars," 30 April 2012.22. The Express Tribune, "Karachi Unrest," 23 August 2011.23. Caldeira and Holston, "Democracy and Violence in Brazil," 698.24. Dawn, "Lawlessness in Lyari," 3 December, 1995.25. Gupta and Sharma, "Globalization and Postcolonial States."26. Interview, 26 October 2011, Jameel.27. Town Newsletter, Sada-e-Lyari, 16.28. Interview with Rehman Baloch, editor of town newsletter, 5 October 2011.29. Karachi Masterplan, 2020.30. A jirgah refers to a community mediation council usually constituted of 'elders' from the community. It is a practice which has particular resonance in the Western regions of Pakistan, namely Balochistan and Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa where it is a popular way of resolving social and political disputes.31. Interview with Kakri Ground users, 6 September 2011.32. Interview, Jameel, 11 November 2011.33. Mehar, "Unemployment, Economic Status and Ethnic Politics."34. Hasan, Community Initiatives.35. See note 13 above.36. Interview, Jameel Ahmed, 26 October 2011.37. The News, "Life's a Struggle for Discarded KESC Boxers," 12 April 2011.38. Interview, Zaheer, resident of Lyari and footballer, 3 October 2011.39. Ibid.40. Interview, 10 October 2011, Hassan – Boxing coach at Kakri Ground.41. Spivak, In Other Worlds; Hangen, "Race and the Politics of Identity in Nepal."42. See note 25 above.43. Simone and Rao, "Securing the Majority."

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