Project
The Gangs of Karachi
Karachi is the world’s most violent city, with about 2,000 murders in 2013 as a result of its...
Karachi is the world's most violent city, with about 2,000 murders in 2013 (compared to 787 in Juarez) as a result of its virulent gang politics. The city's gangsters, unlike their South American counterparts, are not simple outlaws; rather, they are openly linked to Pakistan's national politics, in an ecology that runs from the street-side bhatta extortions up to the highest corridors of state office.
For a journalist attempting to navigate this story, the streets of Karach contain a complex weave of symbols and imagery—and it is important to know how to read them.
