Targeted Killing is a documentary, directed, produced and written by Aziz Sanghur. Mr Sanghur is a documentary film-maker. The documentary shows Karachi has had a long history of volatility stemming from sectarian, ethnic and political strife. Political parties fighting each other for control have drawn the city into a spiral of violence in recent years, a trend which seems to be getting worse. One thousand six hundred people were killed in Karachi between January and October 2015. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), at least 1,345 of these murders were politically motivated - a dramatic increase on last year. The police say 1,244 killings between January and July 2015 were politically motivated. The ongoing killings are multidirectional. Largely, the killings are of a political, ethnic or sectarian nature and then in some cases personal scores are settled. While sectarian killings are relatively small in number, they often receive more media attention. Much of the violence can be traced back to the regime of military dictator Zia ul-Haq who toppled the government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1977 and radically transformed society. Pakistan became a breeding ground for Islamist propaganda; many young people were recruited and trained to fight alongside the Mujahedin in Afghanistan. When they returned, they brought their weapons and fighting skills with them.
Drugs, especially heroin, became a major source of income for religious militias in Pakistan at this time. Till the late 1970s, our society was quite enlightened, progressive and liberal. Even a single murder would have sensationalized the whole city in those times. But afterwards, the gun was made the symbol of power, and the political party considered most powerful was the one brandishing the most weapons. Killing sprees tend to come in the wake of the arrest of hundreds of political and sectarian activists by the police, though such arrests rarely lead to convictions. There is only a 5 percent conviction rate in criminal cases, and as trials can last for years, 90 percent of jail inmates are currently under trial. Observers believe the current situation is tantamount to a breakdown in law and order. We have to admit that this is a failure of the state. All the political parties should recognize this harsh reality if they feel any responsibility towards the nation. Sectarian rifts, gang wars, drug peddling and land-grabbing flourish in a city in which political parties draw their support from specific ethnic groups. Land grabbers and drug barons have taken shelter in political parties and become an integral part of the political culture.