Writer Mod Date & Time PARTITION: Tape 25 255MODEM 255MODEM Jan 06 11:05 TAPE 25 KARACHI - a sprawling city often likened to Bombay, but has a greater sense of space (and partly because of that, less of a buzz), and a feeling of prosperity, with little of the obvious shannty-town, street-dossing poverty (tho the high-rise flats in muhajir areas are grim). It's expanded phenomenally from a population of about one-third of a million in 47 [check]. Muhajirs are in a clear majority over Sindhis. The MQM - tho overtly anti-intellectual and thuggish - have enormous support among ordinary muhajirs who believe they are being edged out of economic opportunity - and Altaf Hussain is the unquestioned leader of the MQM. Their HQ - 'burah bhai's' house at Nine-Zero Azizabad - is his modest, back-street residence. MQM flag flies high [double check colours] in MQM areas. Best estimate of muhajir popn of Pakistan is no more than 10m, tho some wd put the figure at double that. MQM says muhajirs are descendants of refugees no part of whose home province became part of Pakistan (so excluding Punjabis in particular) - and wd normally be understood as Urdu-speaking. Karachi was the capital of Pakistan unitl cl962, and was administratiely separate from Sindh until C1972. Inreasing feeling among muhajirs that partition may have been a mistake. The secession of e Pakistan undermined the religious basis of the country's foundation, as it put ethnic considerations above religious. Now, muhajir identity is ethnic rather than religious, again undermining the basis on which Pakistan was founded. Karachi's Clifton sea front area is posh - tho not remotely as well developed as Bombay's sea front. The roads in Karachi are excellent, the cars expensive, and there are premium building sites across the site - tho compared to Bombay, it remans a low-rise city. It must have had one of th fastest growth curves of any city. Among its other groups, there are Gujaratis, whose arrival slightly predated partition; Hindus, thos much declined in number, as most propserous of govt employed Hindus left in 47; 2,000 Parsees - in sharp decline; Christians; Punjabis, Pathans and Afghans. There was once a synagogue but it's now believed to have been demolised - no one's sure if there are any Jews left. About the most commanding building in an architecturally not very distinguished city if Jinnah';s white marble mazzar. Among muhajir intellectuals - even those who consider partition now a mistake (a thought few are willing to voice in public) - there's a sentiment that Muslim grievances were produced by the Hindu sense of exclusiveness, and the caste system, which had an impact on Indian Muslims. KARACHI'S HINDUS The head of the Karachi panchayat put current numbers at 50-75,000. Many caste Hindus left in 47. Quite a few of those left are sanitary workers and the like, tho some are prosperous businessmen. Hindus, tho a minority in Karachi, dominated commerce and administration. There are a number of functioning mandirs - the main one opposite the KMC headquarters on Jinnah road. There are many Hindus still in interior Sindh. Local religious practice includes large elemtns of what otherwise wd be regarded as Sikhism. There was tension in Karachi thro the partition period, and some looting, but little loss of life.