Lyari is a thickly populated Karachi neighborhood that is almost always in the news for the never ending gang-wars. It is also a hotbed of politics. The history of organized political activism here goes as far back as the 1960s. Lyari, located in the city of Karachi, in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Geographically it is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated town. It is bordered by the towns of site towns to the north across the Lyari River, Jamshed and Sadder to the East and Kemari to the West across the main anchorage of Karachi.There are 15 Union Councils of Lyari.
Soon after the launch of a target military operation against gang warfare, the elimination process started. Numerous desperados were gunned down within a year. Some of the criminals and Violence extremists (VE) groups were put behind the bars and some of them succeeded in escaping.
In the same tenure of VE groups, the local media was also playing a significant role in distorting people’s ideologies and spreading fear. The local newspapers seemingly had a firm commitment to promote crime and criminals in a very organized way. Due to the increase in illiteracy, people of Lyari had become addicted to read the news related to VE.
The VE groups established a forum namely ‘Committee’ and torture cells too in order to frighten the masses and ensure their ‘rule’ over the people. Needless to say, they somehow succeeded in doing so. Noticeably, many educated individuals shaken hands with the VE groups and joined the gang movements in the name of their ‘survival’.
In all these mess, Lyari has lost its true personality in national and international media. Right after the law enforcement agencies established peace in the area, people of Lyari started melting their frozen notions.
Study Design:
The Formative Research aimed to explore existing knowledge and practices on Violence extremism in local context of Lyari community. Additionally, it reconnoitered the strategies for reducing Violence extremism in the community.
The formative research was conducted in four area of Lyari; Baghdadi, Nawabad, Moosa Lane and Khada to explore Violence extremism, violence typology and victim’s coping mechanisms. .
Research Tools:
The qualitative research tools including Participatory Reflection and Analysis (PRA) tool were administered during the formative research as:
· FGD using Participatory Reflection and Analysis tool ; Timeline
· In-depth interviews( IDIs)
· Key Informant Interviews( KIIs)