The
Operation Clean-up was a
military operationMilitary operation is the coordinated military actions of a state in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state's favor. Operations may be of combat or non-combat types, and are referred to by a code name for the purpose...
led by
Pakistan ArmyThe Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...
and the Army Rangers under the command of
BrigadierBrigadier is a senior military rank, the meaning of which is somewhat different in different military services. The brigadier rank is generally superior to the rank of colonel, and subordinate to major general....
Imtiaz Ahmed in
KarachiKarachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
,
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
that lasted from 1992−1994. The claimed goal of the operation was to 'cleanse' the city of "anti-social" elements. The operation initiated on 19 June 1992 under the command of then-DG of Intelligence Bureau, Brigadier Imtiaz Ahmad. The main target of the operation was the Mohajir Qaumi Movement (now renamed
Muttahida Qaumi MovementMuttahida Qaumi Movement generally known as MQM, is a liberal-secular political party of Pakistan. It is generally known as a party which holds immense mobilizing potential in province of Sindh...
) on the drummed up charges of the
JinnahpurJinnahpur refers to an alleged plot in Pakistan to form a breakaway state to serve as a homeland for the Karachi based Urdu-speaking Muhajir community. The alleged name to be given to the proposed breakaway state was "Jinnahpur", named after Mohammed Ali Jinnah...
Conspiracy masterminded by the then Prime Minister
Nawaz SharifMian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani conservative politician and steel magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999...
.
The operation took place during
Nawaz SharifMian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani conservative politician and steel magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999...
's first term as the
Prime Minister of PakistanThe Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan who is designated to exercise as the country's Chief Executive. By the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan has the parliamentary democratic system of government...
. The period is regarded as the bloodiest period in Karachi's history, with thousands killed or gone missing in the fighting. Although 14 years have passed since the alleged arrest or disappearance of MQM workers, families of the missing people are still hopeful after registering the cases in the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
On 19 May 1992,
Prime ministerThe Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan who is designated to exercise as the country's Chief Executive. By the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan has the parliamentary democratic system of government...
Nawaz SharifMian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani conservative politician and steel magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999...
met
Chief ministerThe Chief Minister of Sindh is elected by the Provincial Assembly of Sindh to serve as the head of the provincial government in Sindh, Pakistan. The current Chief Minister is Qaim Ali Shah, who belongs to Pakistan Peoples Party...
of Sindh Province
Muzaffar Hussain Shah- Biography :Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah was born in 1945 in Karachi during Colonial rule. He belongs to a Syed family of Mirpur Khas, Sindh. Muzaffar Hussain Shah had two sisters and the only son. Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah did Senior Cambridge from Quetta Grammar School in 1959, B.Sc. in...
, Home Minister
Chaudhry Shujaat HussainChaudhry Shujaat Hussain is a politician from Pakistan who was the Prime Minister of that country from June 30, 2004 until August 28 2004...
, Chief of Army Staff
GeneralA general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....
Asif NawazGeneral Asif Nawaz Janjua, NI, HI, SBt , afwc, psc , was a senior four-star general and the 10th Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from August 16, 1991 till January 8, 1993. His tenure was cut short by his death after suffering a heart attack...
,
Colonel CommandantColonel Commandant is a military title used in the armed forces of some English-speaking countries. The title, not a substantive rank, could denote a senior colonel with authority over fellow colonels...
of
V CorpsThe V Corps, also known as Victory Corps, is an administrative corps of Pakistan Army assigned in Karachi, Sindh Province of Pakistan. The V Corps is the only corps that is stationed in the Sindh Province, while the II Strike Corps and the IV Corps are both stationed in Punjab Province...
Lieutenant-General Naseer Akhtar,
Director-GeneralThe term director-general is a title given the highest executive officer within a governmental, statutory, NGO, third sector or not-for-profit institution.-European Union:...
Army Rangers Major-General Safdar Ali Khan and other civilian and military officials at General Headquarters (GHQ) Rawalpindi, Punjab, to decide on the modalities of Operation Clean-up in Sindh; operation to be carried out by the Army Rangers with full backing by the Army.
Among the reasons given for the launching of the operation were the
JinnahpurJinnahpur refers to an alleged plot in Pakistan to form a breakaway state to serve as a homeland for the Karachi based Urdu-speaking Muhajir community. The alleged name to be given to the proposed breakaway state was "Jinnahpur", named after Mohammed Ali Jinnah...
affair (later revealed to be a fabricated affair) and the
Major Kaleem CaseThe Major Kaleem Case was the bedrock of many Pakistani governmental and military operations against the Muttahida Qaumi Movement , namely Operation Clean-up and is often termed as the last straw which broke the camel's back....
.
External links
- Rise of the MQM in Pakistan: Politics of Ethnic Mobilization, Farhat Haq, Asian Survey
Asian Survey is a bimonthly academic journal of Asian studies published by the University of California Press on behalf of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley...
, Vol. 35, No. 11 (Nov., 1995), pp. 990–1004, University of California PressUniversity of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
- Ethnicity and State Power in Pakistan: The Karachi Crisis, Moonis Ahmar, Asian Survey
Asian Survey is a bimonthly academic journal of Asian studies published by the University of California Press on behalf of the Institute of East Asian Studies at the University of California, Berkeley...
, Vol. 36, No. 10 (Oct., 1996), pp. 1031–1048, Published by: University of California PressUniversity of California Press, also known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish books and papers for the faculty of the University of California, established 25 years earlier in 1868...
- A History of Pakistan and its Origins, pg 35, Christophe Jaffrelot
- Beyond this Battle of Karachi, Eqbal Ahmed, Dawn
Dawn is Pakistan's oldest and most widely read English-language newspaper. One of the country's two largest English-language dailies, it is the flagship of the Dawn Group of Newspapers, published by Pakistan Herald Publications, which also owns the Herald, a magazine, the evening paper The Star and...
, 17 August 1995