
Karachi Vice - pepys
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/21/karachi-vice-inside-city-riven-by-killings-kidnappings-and-terrorism
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Paddywack
I was fortunate to have spent a year or so in Pakistan helping launch
Easypaisa - one of the biggest mobile banking deployments globally at the
time.

I was told I was lucky to survive my first day without getting shot - I hung
out on Karachi beach with the locals on National day which apparently made me
a huge target for theft or kidnapping.

While I was in Islamabad the Taliban took over the military headquarters, the
city was bombed a few times, and I spent one day in Karachi moving between
safe houses as rival gangs took to shooting each other in the streets.

My wife is half Indian - we had to hide her identity when she visited (we went
with "Persian").

The country was one of amazing contrasts. Kindness and terror, beauty
(natural) and ugliness (man made).

I say "fortunate" because of the (a) new perspectives gained while being
there; (b) having the pleasure of working with some of the brightest and hard-
working people I have ever worked with; (c) being part of a project that has
helped empower tens of millions of people.

The most beautiful place I ever went in over 40 countries I have visited was
the foothills of K2 mountains, and watching a Polo match at the birth place of
Polo in Baltistan (despite my Indian wife and I being surrounded by 15000 men
chanting "Death to India" while war raged on in the SWAT valley a few hundred
km's away).

A last footnote. Pakistan has been in the middle of so many proxy wars and
have such a crazy history that most people I met have woven together the
fabric of truth and fantasy to create some of the most amazing conspiracy
theories you could ever imagine.

~~~
selimthegrim
Depends which beach? While there is genuine danger, they might have been
playing that up for you with respect to that particular location....I will
point out that in 2000, they had a lower murder rate than Chicago, thanks to
the excellent work of the CPLC.

I'm shocked you had to hide her identity in Karachi - usually there and Punjab
are welcoming of visiting Indians, esp. if they're your wife

~~~
Paddywack
I forget which beach. I am glad that it is relatively safe now.

My first visit was 2006. On my return visits in 2008/9 I was accompanied by
security who were probably over-protective as well.

As far as my wife is concerned, we travelled a lot throughout Pakistan -
perhaps we were too cautious - although we did come up against a lot of anti-
Indian sentiment. We found attitudes vary a lot from place to place about a
lot of things, and this is no different.

I remember a well educated guy I knew telling me that he stopped going to the
Wagga border post near Lahore for fear that he would throw a rock at the
Indian border guards in the heat of the moment...

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pknerd
Being a born Karachiite I don't agree with the tone of the article, it's
giving feeling it's more dangerous than FATA area of Pakistan which is
definitely not. Here markets remain open late night, people stay with their
friend and families on road on weekends. Just last week I had a wonderful 'Sea
View' trip and it was marvelous. The guy behind `Humans of New York` recently
made a trip of Pakistan including Karachi.

In short, Karachi is not part of Afghanistan and you may have a wonderful time
here. Here crime rate is no larger than any other mega city in the world.

[http://tribune.com.pk/story/951511/crime-rate-in-karachi-
fal...](http://tribune.com.pk/story/951511/crime-rate-in-karachi-falls-
by-70-police-chief/)

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SpaghettiCat
> News tickers revealed which gates the army was entering from, where police
> were situated, and which areas were being cordoned off. Inside the airport,
> the militants were keeping up with the TV updates and adjusting their
> positions accordingly. “I accept this is the wrong thing,” Hyder said later,
> with a guilty laugh. “But what can I do? It’s my work.”

Hey, the militants must've also accepted they were doing the wrong thing, but
what can they do? It's their job. /sarcasm

Great job for strengthening the terrorists' position. The good guys in the
government and police are trying to combat the insurgency, and these leeches
are undermining that effort.

~~~
praneshp
This is what happened in the Mumbai attacks in 2007 too, the media was giving
away every single thing happening outside.

~~~
mercurial
That's the free market: competition between different media agencies and no
government regulation.

~~~
walshemj
No that's journalists not behaving ethically - just because your a hack
doesn't mean you can shout fire in the crowded theatre.

And of course they are now on ISI, SIS and the CIA's watch list.

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icemelt8
I live in Karachi. Please pray that I escape this city.

~~~
Kiro
Is daily life that bad? I just had a look at Wikitravel and it sounded pretty
nice. I was expecting warnings and stuff after reading this (like you get when
reading about Mogadishu for example).

[http://wikitravel.org/en/Karachi#Stay_safe](http://wikitravel.org/en/Karachi#Stay_safe)

~~~
asadlionpk
No it's not that bad. Most places in city are like some areas of New York city
more or less in terms of security. Surprisingly, people are more helpful and
friendly in Karachi than in NYC.

~~~
icemelt8
says the guy ... anyways :P

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selimthegrim
A little dated, but with many of the same characters (including a show-
stealing appearance by now-jailed Uzair Baloch) is the "VICE Guide to Karachi"
on YouTube. The Pakistani co-founder of VICE has some political connections,
hence his ability to do interviews willy-nilly.

NB: The mustachioed policeman in the series, Chaudhry Aslam, was assassinated
by a car bomb early last year.

~~~
pakled_engineer
Uzair Baloch skipped bail in Dubai a few months ago and disappeared, likely to
Afghanistan where he apparently has warlord friends.

~~~
selimthegrim
One wonders whether he has a empty pool to show off again

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IndianAstronaut
I wonder what role optimization algorithms can play in reducing crime rates.
The police are under staffed, but can those minimal resources be used for
maximum output in terms of safety?

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frozenport
>> the last two killed themselves by detonating their suicide vests.

Couldn't they take off the vests and detonate them, without blowing themselves
up?

~~~
pjc50
Not only would they generally prefer 'martyrdom' to capture, they're often
locked in the vests. Survival is not a priority for these kinds of operations.

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mohdahmad
I hear things are on the mend with the rangers operation. Soon (hopefully)
Karachi will return to its former glory.

