The VICE Guide to Karachi, Pakistan's Most-Violent City!

Friend of Reason Jason Mojica reports from Karachi, Pakistan, where far more people are killed by fellow Pakistanis than by U.S. drone strikes. Click above to watch and read on, MacDuff:

Sure, we hear about violence in Pakistan all the time, but in 2011, more than three times as many people were killed in Karachi than the number of people killed in American drone strikes in the tribal areas. VICE explores the seedy underbelly of this ultra-violent metropolis of more than eighteen million people, and meet the players who make Karachi one of the craziest cities on earth.

Hosted by VICE Founder Suroosh Alvi

More VICE and Mojica stuff.

Comments

[John]

Sure, we hear about violence in Pakistan all the time, but in 2011, more than three times as many people were killed in Karachi than the number of people killed in American drone strikes in the tribal areas.

Sad that this fact came as a surprise to Reason.

[affenkopf]

Don't see how this is even relevant. More people in the US get killed by regular crime than by terrorism yet people still freak out more over foreign terrorists killing them than over domestic crime.

[o3]

in fact, i read recently that the avg american is moar likely to be killed or injured by furniture than terrorists.

[MP]

I thought lightning deaths were more likely than terrorist deaths.

[Pip]

Here, o3, sit down on this big comfy chair...

[Apatheist ?_??]

Sad that this fact came as a surprise to Reason.

[citation needed]

[John]

They admit as much in the post. Why else point that out unless it is a surprise?

[RBS]

How about they are simply pointing out what an incredibly violent city Karachi is because that's the point of the fucking video? I don't think anyone is surprised to learn that Pakistan is a violent place with or without American drones.

[Apatheist ?_??]

Friend of Reason Jason Mojica reports from Karachi, Pakistan, where far more people are killed by fellow Pakistanis than by U.S. drone strikes. Click above to watch and read on, MacDuff:

That is the entirety of Reason's post. Where exactly do they "admit as much?"

[Paul.]

I don't see this as "surprise", John, it seems like straightforward reporting of fact.

And it's just a comparitor for the level of violence. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't care about Drone strikes. Just because the country of Pakistan is peopled with wild-eyed fundamentalists doesn't mean we should be indiscriminately bombing them with Transformers.

[MikeP]

Sure, we hear about violence in Pakistan all the time, but in 2011, more than three times as many people were killed in Karachi than the number of people killed in American drone strikes in the tribal areas.

This is quite the non sequitur.

Car accidents kill orders of magnitude more people than cops do, but killings by cops (rightly) get notable coverage while car accidents don't.

[MP]

I smell an intern...

[Paul.]

It's a non-sequitir by itself, but it's merely drawing a comparison between the Drone attacks which garner international attention for their brutality, vs. the daily carnage that takes place in Karachi.

No, there's no logical connection between drone strikes and protesters throwing rocks, but it's notable how one thing gets international scrutiny compared to another type of violence which hardly gets covered by international media.

[MikeP]

Most people in the US would think the number of people killed by drone strikes was "a few bad guys and occasional collateral civilians" if they thought of it at all.

Three times a few is still a few.

This comparison only works on a forum such as this one, where people at least note, and may be appalled by, the casualties from the government's remote killings with little oversight.

[Mo' $parky]

More great news from Pakistan.

[Warty]

Fuck, that blows.

I think Orwell was right: partition was a disaster.

[Mike M.]

The only way partition was ever going to be avoided was a massive civil war resulting in the slaughter of millions of people and total victory by one side or the other.

It's just not possible to negotiate with Islamist maniacs in a reasonable way once their numbers in a country become too great. Either they're going to kill you and take over your country, you're going to have to kill them, or you have to split the country up. It's that simple.

[R C Dean]

A better metric (which probably isn't saying much) would be how many people are killed in the tribal areas by their fellows v. how many are killed by drones.

Of course, the former statistic probably isn't even available.

[NotSure]

So its a violent city, therefore America can launch strikes why exactly ?

[R C Dean]

I'm still trying to figure out a city populated by members of the Religion of Peace, which has quite specifically prohibits violence against fellow Muslims, can have so many murders.

Are there that many non-Muslim immigrants in Karachi?

[Slumbrew]

The JOOOS, obviously.