Karachi, le Pakistan au bord du chaos

Karachi, le Pakistan au bord du chaos

The people of Karachi say it themselves, their city never sleeps. The streets are busy until 2-3 a.m. But behind this good-natured agitation, the nightmare is never far away. The night, Karachi is sinking into chaos. It was at this dark hour that Shiros, young 18 year old ambulance driver, takes his service.

He works for Edhi, a Pakistani NGO emergency relief. – This is the call center. This is where I take my orders. There is an emergency! An anonymous caller has just reported a street fight and gunshot wounds. – There was shooting. Go ahead ! Overtake this truck! – Does this happen often in Karachi?

– Yes, it happens every day in Karachi. When there are gunshots, residents do not call the police, who no longer ventures in certain neighborhoods. Only private services ambulance take this risk. – There is still another injured elsewhere. It’s very dangerous ! All districts of Karachi are dangerous, but we go everywhere, whatever happens.

We face situations very difficult, where we risk our lives. People take us to task, they want to kill us, they throw stones at us. But we continue to work. This is our mission. We are here to save lives. Yes, that is our duty. Save lives.

He drives at over 100 km/h risking their lives. We must move as quickly as possible to attempt to save the injured victim. When he arrives there, Shiros discovers with his colleagues, the body of a man already dead. No witnesses, just a lifeless body, abandoned in the street. One more victim.

Karachi has descended into crime these last years. Mafia, ethnic conflicts, political, religious, the inhabitants are the prey of daily violence. – This is the fifth that I picked up last night. It’s a big day for me. Upon their arrival at the area hospital,

They are heading towards the service the most active, the morgue, in full effervescence. The police are busy around 3 corpses which have just been brought. There is no room left. Shiros lays down the inert body on the floor. With the gestures of habit, he seeks the cause of death. A bullet, as often.

– The ball is there. A bullet in the back for him, one in the head for this other, at point blank range. – Murders by bullets, This is the problem number one in Karachi. Not all nights are the same, but as soon as the situation is tense in the city,

It translates to settlements of accounts. If there is a conflict between 2 political parties, it pulls in all directions and people fall under bullets. – This evening, how many deaths were there? – I do not know exactly, but I have already counted 17.

– I have blood on my hands. I need to take this off. And the evening is not over. Shiros started working for Edhi 2 years ago. He was 16 years old. He saw on television images of paramedics, providing assistance to victims of a***. He wanted to be there. At night, Shiros collects bodies.

During the day, he continues his studies. Thanks to this work which earns him €100 per month, for six nights a week. – Why are you doing this work? – Because I like action and because I have no other choice. It’s the only job I found. Because there is no work here in Karachi.

In Karachi, half the population under 20 years old and one in two young people does not have a job. Upon returning to the call center, Shiros finds his colleagues. Young people too. They got used to violence, they say. To pass the time, Shiros wants show us his photo collection, on his cell phone.

– I took this for my pleasure. I took photos of these bodies. Scattered bodies in pieces at the scene of an attack. I wanted to share this with my friends and family. Show them that I do this work. – It’s important to you to show these images?

– No, they don’t want to look. But it’s to prove to them that I do this job. That it’s my life to collect bodies. – Are you proud of that? – Yes ! This night, the calls will not stop. We will leave Shiros around 3 a.m.,

When the city calms down and holds his breath, before discovering in the next day’s newspapers, morbid accounts of the night. 43 dead this time. Karachi, 18 million inhabitants, 32 million within fifteen years. She will soon be one of the three most populated cities in the world.

First port of Pakistan, it is the economic lung of the country. The city attracts all the inhabitants from the interior and its neighbors, like Afghanistan, Iran. All ethnicities, all religions coexist there, for the best and especially for the worse. Crime, corruption and shit, the cocktail is explosive.

In the red light districts where the Pashtuns live, refugees from the Afghan border, the bullets are whistling and the walls go up. – We are building this wall because this rue is at war with that one. So they shoot us on it as soon as we pass.

They are killing the people who live here. This is why we want to protect ourselves. The city is overarmed, the k*** are on sale over the counter and political parties engage a deadly turf war. Since March 2010, the city no longer has a mayor. Organize elections would be too dangerous.

Haider Rizvi is an MP. He escaped five attempts of murder. – Little by little, the Taliban infiltrate into Karachi. And I’m afraid that one day they do not take the city completely. Terrorism kills in Karachi. 7 attacks in 2010, 64 dead and more than 300 injured.

The Taliban are the black beast of Commander Khatab, the head of the anti-terrorist section. There are many organizations d*** present, illegally in Karachi and which are linked to the Taliban. The Taliban would come to Karachi to raise funds. Bank robberies, arms trafficking and ***. Nothing could be easier here than getting a dose,

For a few cents. There are number of drug addicts by hundreds of thousands. Contrast, at the other end of the city, rich families try to live as before, when Karachi was still the city the most liberal in the country. – There is the insurrection, economic problems, devaluation.

This is the worst situation in Pakistan never knew. In this Karachi, men business people rub their hands and women are resisting. – I am very late ! Some fight not to bow to the Islamization of society. They organize fashion shows and crazy evenings, where the golden youth drowns in drunkenness and forbidden alcohol.

How Karachi, that the Pakistanis called the City of Lights, could she have fallen into crime, t*** and anarchy? Will it become one of the megacities the most dangerous in the world? Investigation in this crystallizing city the fears of the West. Our fears. – That was when I started.

Frieha was one of the first top model of the country. It was 20 years ago. – And here it is in 2010, ten years after. A high-risk profession for which she was threatened with death, several times. It was during the time of dictator Zia, in the 80s.

He was not very open to art in general, to music. He hated it all. I grew up during this time where everything was “no, no”. After living in Canada for six years, Frieha returned to throw the fashion scene in Pakistan. In a few days, she organizes a parade,

It’s always a tense moment for her and her employees. – In Pakistan, nothing ever happens as we would like. Nothing at all. You have to call people 10 times, like my models, who should be there at 2 a.m. and it’s 2:45 a.m.

And I have to scream and scream, they call me the monster. This is why we say that there is only the dictatorship that functions in Pakistan. Martial laws, there is no That’s what works here, alas. Democracy never works. Frieha refuses to wear the veil, like most women privileged people of Karachi,

Those who have studied or worked abroad, even if this choice is not always easy to live. – Here I will continue to do what I want. Men can’t help themselves to stare at you as if you were naked. It’s horrible ! You feel ashamed to be out like this.

If you let yourself be touched by this, if it hurts you, then you can no longer dress as you wish. You can’t do this anymore that you want and there, they won and we can’t let this happen. Frieha does not do politics, but she fights in her own way to change mentalities.

Thanks to these star models, For example. They are only a handful to exercise this profession in Pakistan. – Girls, Are you all from Karachi? – Yes, they are all from Karachi. – Is there a part of the society that is against that?

– Of course. I have already received death threats for what I do. People don’t want to see this kind of things. This is the stupid mentality of this country. Ask the girls. You will see. Today, be a top model is no longer a crime, but the path to the podiums remains very dangerous.

– Today, thanks to all cable channels, people are more aware of what the world of fashion is. Its not always easy, but it’s getting better. It’s hard with my family, my parents who ask me questions, on clothing style that I wear during parades and the way I walk on stage.

Frieha rode the first weeks fashion in Karachi 2 years ago, with this friend who, at 47, still parades. Over time, she takes threats with a lot of hindsight. – We are always on our guard. The first Fashion Week that we organized, we received threats by phone from the fundamentalists.

But they didn’t do anything. We were able to show the world that we were able to organize parades, like everywhere else. And that, for us, it was really important. A few days before the parade, the tension rises for Frieha, every event that she organizes is a challenge.

It can be postponed at any time if the threats are too strong. – I didn’t want that as a hairstyle. Let me do this, please. We will find her on D-day, if it takes place. These golf players don’t know not yet, but in 10 days, this place will be completely metamorphosis.

One of the biggest evenings will be organized on the premises, of the Golf Club of Karachi. This is Amna, 28 years old, who is the project manager, with his closest advisors. – Here is my mom. And she’s my sister. She lives in San Francisco. And my dog ​​is the mascot.

And the occasion is Halloween, the american party that the Pakistani elite particularly fond of it. – And the guillotine, where do you put it? Yes, because there will be a guillotine. It’s to act like “French Revolution”. – We try to create an atmosphere like Versailles. – Yes, it will be Versailles.

The theme will be the French Revolution and Marie Antoinette. The evening will be called Coup d’Etat. We don’t want a classic Halloween with pumpkins. We never do that. Nearly 1000 people are expected for this second Pakistani Halloween. All the golden youth of Karachi. – I would put the DJ up there.

Amna threw herself into organizing evening 2 years ago, so that the most liberal city of Pakistan does not die, under the weight of threats. – Look, we’re going to redecorate everything. It will be in shades purple and crimson. Halloween is not in our culture. But people love dressing up here.

– “coup d’état”, it’s just a theme evening or does that mean more? – I didn’t want to talk about it too much, but it’s true that it has a relationship with the situation. It’s like a joke, but whatever, the goal is to have fun, to dance, to forget all that a little.

– These are things that are arrivals in Pakistan. It’s a way of making fun of our country’s political past. But it’s not serious. It’s really for laughs. With everything we’ve been through, we better to have a sense of humor. It’s getting more and more dangerous to live here.

Three coups d’état, 30 years of military rule and today fundamentalist pressure. Karachi resists even if for this kind of celebration, safety is the priority, that’s 30% of the party’s budget. Islamists sometimes try to disrupt this type of event. Amna begins a marathon there, at any moment, the party may be canceled.

Don’t give in to fear, that’s what repeats itself every morning Haider Rizvi, national deputy, member of the MQM, the liberal political party who has held the city for 50 years. Doing politics in Pakistan, a high-risk activity. Haider Rizvi never moves without his close guard.

He pays a high price for his catches anti-Islamist position. – I survived 5 attempts of assassination. And the last time that they tried to kill me, I was with my 4 children, two mine and two from my brother. We all live together.

They were in the car and we were attacked by hooded men. -And who tried to kill you? – They were related groups to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. – What makes you say that ? – Because my party is the one who fights, most the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

– But how do you know that it was them? – Because people who were arrested, they told everything. And they said, “When we get out from prison, we will have his skin!” – So, according to you, the Taliban are really present in Karachi? – Yes, little by little, they infiltrate into Karachi.

And I’m afraid that one day, they do not take the city completely. It’s really part of the scenarios possible. Yes it’s possible. The Taliban would be responsible of the escalation of violence in Karachi, according to Haider Rizvi. He wants to show us how far this violence can go.

He leads us to this house. An activist from his party was kidnapped. He managed to escape. – Tell us what happened to you. – Men came towards me. They threw me in a car. They beat me. Then they took me to a house. They beat me for an hour.

They wrote these words on my body with acid. And they burned my feet and my fingers with acid. I managed to escape after 5 days. ANP, 3 letters engraved with acid, party initials opposing politics, the Pashtun party, the original ethnicity from the Afghan border. – It’s completely brutal.

How can we do this to a human being? This Pashtun party is a party ethnic and they have connections, with the Taliban in Karachi. Most of the Taliban come in this district where the ANP is present, because it’s easier for them to blend into the crowd, to disappear, because everyone looks the same.

We cannot distinguish a normal Pashtun, of a Taliban. We crossed the city to join one of the hot spots, the Pashtun neighborhood. Qasba Mor, stuck on these 2 hills, in the middle of an ethnic war. On this side, the Pashtuns crowded in illegal dwellings, with their clearly identifiable appearance,

Traditional outfits and beards long for men, burqa for women. They are seen at best like bandits, at worst like the Taliban. In the neighborhood, the bullets whistle and they kill. Imran, the Pashtun, escaped. However, he was shot above in the middle of the street, at this very place.

– I came to buy things in these market stores. 4 people shot at me. I took a bullet in the back. Two other people also were seriously injured. It’s like a border here. From this street, we cannot pass. If one of our children goes on the other side of the limit,

They shoot him, that’s the border, the street. The neighborhood is cut in two, in the grip of ethnic guerrilla warfare, between the Pashtuns, the newcomers and the first inhabitants of Karachi, the Mohajirs, of Indian origin. Two cultures, two languages, two political parties and a turf war. Problems are resolved with weapons.

Bullet holes are everywhere to the interior of the mosque. Here men come to pray and children study the Quran. It’s the neighborhood madrasa. – Look, the bullet went through here. There too. Imran shows his wounds. Three bullets in the body which left large scars. – We are very afraid.

We can’t leave our homes safe. If we go outside, we are not sure to come back alive in the evening. We went on the other side of the street. They would be the victims Pashtun attacks, they too want to show us their wounded and their dead.

– It’s my son. He is dead. He was with his brother at the market and the Pashtuns shot, they killed him. He was nine years old. The Mohajirs consider that they built Karachi. They arrived 50 years ago, when Pakistan was created. They come from India and see with a very bad eye,

The influx of populations coming from the Afghan border. – The shots are coming from there, we know it well. The other day, I was in the process of to return home. And they shot me. The people who live on this hill support the Taliban. They are with them.

And they have weapons, heavy weapons. – Have you seen these weapons? – Yes, a lot of weapons, I’m sure. – And you, do you have any? – No. No weapons, they tell us, but victims on both sides. When we leave the Qasba Mor area, Pashtuns build concrete block walls

Along the invisible border to protect himself, bullets from their neighbors. A whole neighborhood, several thousand people, hostages of these street battles and a paranoid climate. And no authority to restore calm. One thing brings them together, each claiming to be innocent victims, both camps will have taken care to hide their weapons.

The only ones we will see, here they are, in plastic. But in Karachi, weapons are not child’s play. They have ruined the city. Karachi is over-armed and it is one of the causes of the rise in crime. Legal weapons and also a large black market, illegal weapons.

In the heart of Karachi, around twenty of shops set up on the street and offer all ranges, from a simple revolver, to the k***. We go to one of these stores with Commander Khatab, the head of the section anti-terrorist office in Karachi. This is where he buys his personal weapons.

– It’s a Turkish weapon semi-automatic. It costs €850. But for you, I can make it for €800. This one is Russian. To obtain one of these weapons, a purchased license is required to the authorities. In Karachi, one in three residents has a license and therefore a weapon, at least one.

9 mm revolvers like this one, 150,000 are sold per year. – At the moment the situation in this country is not as good as it used to be. – You mean it’s better to have your own security? If the government does not come to protect people,

Then people have the right to have their own safety. Problem, this is only the face emerged from the iceberg. There is no control over guns in circulation in the city. – All problems in Karachi come from arms trafficking. Anyone can buy anything and that is why it is anarchy in the city.

Weapons come from everywhere and the criminals are therefore more and more numerous. We wanted to know more on this illegal market. Arms traffickers are legion in the city. In just a few days, we were able to get in touch with one of them.

As a precaution, he gave us meet in a neutral place, at one of his friends. When he arrives, he is carrying some samples from his sales book. He obviously wished to remain anonymous. Illegal sale of weapons is punishable of 14 years of imprisonment. – And that’s what sells best. It’s worth €120.

Another bestseller, the K***, at €450 each. He tells us to sell some around fifty per month, despite its illicit nature, this trade seems commonplace in Karachi. – Weapons arrive in different roads on trucks. They come from Afghanistan and the whole country in general.

Once you have placed an order, It takes between 15 and 20 days. – And how do you do it? for ammunition? – In Karachi, it’s very simple. Just use in port containers. At the port, there is really no not much control. And what’s more, we have our connections, our contacts there.

It allows us to work quietly. -And who buys these weapons? There are different types of customers. There are people like everyone else who want to protect themselves. And then there are the political parties. They are the ones who buy the most. – You know that in Karachi, the situation is very tense,

Because of this illegal arms trafficking. – Yes, it’s true. It’s true that it’s very much due to this arms trafficking. But the real ones responsible, these are still the ones who buy them. I spoke to you political parties. But it’s not just them. We also deal to religious groups.

It is them, these groups, which fuel this traffic. And it’s true that suddenly, the number of illegal weapons, is really exploding and that this contributes to reign in terror. As a result of this traffic, gunshot crimes are constantly increasing. On the other side of town, rich neighborhoods,

Turn our backs on this violence and want to believe, that there is a future in Pakistan. In the north, poor families. To the south, near the sea, a few hundred privileged people. They occupy 10% of the surface and concentrate 90% of wealth from the city. There, the houses are opulent,

The quiet streets and business is going well. We have an appointment with the fourth richest person in the country. Biram Avary has around ten of luxury hotels in Dubai and in Pakistan. – Here we go. I want to show you something. – Bourbon, Bacardi, Budweiser. Come !

He named his 4 dogs who didn’t never leave with alcohol names. In a country where its consumption is prohibited. He doesn’t lack humor. He took over the family business and make it prosper. An achievement of which he is very proud. – Those are the rewards, because we were the best stock exchange company.

But look at that too. – It was my father who wrote this In my opinion. I was eleven years old. Never wait for just one opportunity presents itself, but create it. This is what Napoleon did in over 100 impossible situations. Like today, it’s a complicated situation. But we continue to work.

There are the Taliban, the insurgency, economic problems, devaluation. This is the worst situation in Pakistan never knew. But I keep smiling, to work and be determined. Mr. Avary never moves on foot, always by car, where he feels protected. In recent years, several dozen businessmen were kidnapped, in the middle of town.

– Before, I was afraid of kidnappings. Now I have my own security service. There I sent my bodyguards with my grandchildren. Now these are mainly children who are at risk. If the kidnappers kidnap a child, they are sure that the parents will give the money.

Before, they kidnapped old people, but no one gave money. Biram wants to show us his last jewel, a five-star hotel reserved to businessmen around the world and completely secure. With his general manager, a Scotsman who led the largest hotels, in all countries at risk, they visit us.

The hotel is under renovation for attract a wealthy clientele, who regularly visits Pakistan, and that’s why, they have a magic formula. – Safety, security, service, all this together. – These are the three S’s. Safety, security, service and luxury! 200 luxury rooms at €300 per night with views of the city.

– Look, from here, we see the whole city. You sit there. You can watch TV. Use wifi, work on your laptop. Apart from the alcohol in the minibar, everything is there. – And there, we have a pillow menu. You can choose between 16 kinds of pillows. The tourists have deserted, but businessmen,

Keep coming to this town where everything has to be built. – Businessmen know that the opportunities are there. It’s not in Miami, not in London. If you would like to take the risk of coming here, the returns can be huge. This is why the Koreans, the Japaneses, the Chinese, the Taiwanese,

The Saudis are all there. The Russians are there, the English, Everybody is here. Lets’ go ! I am late. The grass will be green again one day. Yet the climate is deteriorating day by day. And the danger is no longer even hidden. Like this Wednesday, September 1, a party day,

One of the most dangerous of the year too. It is the 21st day of Ramadan, an important ceremony for the Shiite community. 1 million followers are expected in the street. The minority Shiites in Pakistan, are the target of attacks Sunni extremist groups, linked to the Taliban. The last two gatherings ended in blood.

– Our mission is to control everyone. Don’t let anything escape you. This downtown area is cordoned off. All security forces of the city were deployed. Police, army, rangers. Very early in the morning, the teams specialists search for bombs. In the first line, Shiite scouts.

They are responsible for body searches to spot the k***s. The Shiites prefer to assume this task themselves. They don’t trust to no one else. Same for video surveillance of the area. – We positioned 16 cameras. We don’t trust under police surveillance. They also have a control room, but we, ours, under our responsibility,

Because we don’t believe them, quite simply. – But why do you don’t believe them? – Because they don’t good job, they do not know the reality of the situation. – And then, are you worried? – Yes of course. There have been so many attacks against us.

There will be almost a million people on the street. It’s a huge risk. A few months earlier, on December 28, 2009, he was in this same control room, when he saw a k***. – He arrived and he passed the first police checks.

When the procession started, the man placed himself at the start of the march. And then he was spotted. He looked weird. When he saw one of us approaching to control it, he prepared himself. And then he pressed the detonator. He saw everything about the attack which caused the death of 30 people

And left more than 300 injured. Desperate, the Shiites attacked to law enforcement. For them, security was insufficient. A month later, on February 5, 2010, during another Shiite procession, a suicide bomber throws his motorcycle against a bus. 13 people were killed instantly, including 4 children.

In this bus, several people were seated Shiite families from the same neighborhood. For this new Shiite ceremony, relatives of the deceased all came together. Before joining the procession, they stop at the scene of the a***. This man lost his son That day. He was 23 years old.

– My son was thrown from the bus and we found him there, on this sidewalk. It was exactly here. Except that you see, there, there were bodies, from here to there. At the very place where there was the charred bust, the Shiites begin their song of the martyrs,

For them and for all Shiites victims of Taliban attacks. 4000 for 20 years. Despite the risks, the Shiites will travel in numbers that day, to commemorate the memory of their saints. They are considered a sect by the Taliban, non-Muslims, barbarians with pagan practices.

– They do this in memory of Hussein, they beat each other until they bleed, chanting the names of Ali and Hussein. They mean that if they had been there during the fight, they would have sacrificed themselves. These boys decided to dedicate their life in memory of our martyrs.

They were born for this sacrifice. Shiism is religion majority in Iran, the enemy brother. For extremist Pakistanis, he represents a threat. In the eyes of the Taliban, the Shiites are even more than Westerners, the opponent to defeat. This war between Muslims undermines the country and Karachi in particular.

On this day of Shiite ceremonies, scrolling is a challenge. But in the middle of the afternoon, nothing hasn’t come to disturb the party again. Even if the pain wakes up, for those who have lost a loved one in the bus attack. Everything seems calm and yet…

A few streets further, at the head of the procession, the crowd has just been taken under sniper fire, who aim blindly. – We go inside the building to catch them. Don’t worry. The gunshots stopped. We approach the place, where the shooters are hidden. Drunk with rage and braving danger, Shiites gathered

And demand the heads of the attackers. – There are Taliban. They are there, still there, On the second floor. – Why do you say Taliban? – When I say Taliban, I think of the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. – T***s, extremist groups that are linked to the Pakistani Taliban. They are terrorist organizations.

All of a sudden, the shooting starts again. Caught between the attackers’ shots and from the army, the crowd finds refuge, in the adjacent streets and in buildings. 30 minutes later, the shooting has definitely stopped. The police leave the scene. Eight people were injured, however, no one was arrested.

– No, we didn’t arrest anyone. It was a procession. There were only people of the procession there. Stop worrying people saying anything. – You don’t tell them the truth. Was there no gunshot? – Move around! Why are you lying to them? YOU want to hide the truth, right?

Look at how the police behave. That’s enough ! – The police are like dogs in Karachi. – The police help the t***s. In this town, no one anymore does not believe in any authority. The terrorists will have chosen that day to spare Karachi. It’s in Lahore, another major city in the country,

That they hit, a triple attack, which left 31 dead and 140 injured, during the same Shiite procession. How can the t***s hit the heart of major Pakistani cities? Who are they ? What are they doing ? We found the leader of the anti-terrorist section,

The one we met in the street of arms dealers. Raja Umar Khattab agreed to receive us, in the middle of a meeting with his team and his specialist telephone tapping. – I was able to intercept 4 cell phones, they all work with 6 SIM cards. 6 numbers.

I have all of them and I have their connection. Thousands of phone numbers under surveillance, to control calls between Karachi and the border area with Afghanistan, the sanctuary of the Taliban. – Him, for example, I know he has left Karachi by taking the bus. And he had an appointment with this number.

– That number? – I got that by satellite. – There are Taliban in Karachi. – There are many d*** organizations who are present clandestinely, in Karachi and who are linked to the Taliban. They take their orders from them and act in Karachi in agreement with them. They also act against other religious movements,

Like the Shiites for example. In a few years, the city became the rear base, of the Pakistani Taliban. T***s are arrested there. In February 2010, an important Taliban commander, was arrested in the city. And over the last 2 years, nearly a thousand people, were arrested in Karachi.

They are suspected of having links with d*** groups. Among the police seizures, large reserves of weapons, detonators and bombs increasingly sophisticated. Taliban groups have even organized several bank robberies. – Here’s how they do it. In January 2008, they blew up a bomb in the bank, before robbing it.

The Taliban do not have their own base in Karachi. They come because Karachi is the largest city in the country and that it is a commercial crossroads. This is where everything happens, especially to make money. When they want to attack, they know that here there will be more repercussions than in the mountains.

With each attack in Karachi, the government is shaking. Commander Khattab proposes to take us, in one of the Taliban hideouts, a very poor area on the outskirts of the city. Raja Khattab survived several attempted attacks. The police are one of the targets privileged by Taliban attacks. This is the entry point to Karachi.

All buses arriving from Pakistan drop off their passengers here and then they disperse in the city. Activists from fundamentalist groups, would arrive here every day to Sohrab Goth, at the eastern end of the city, on the road to Afghanistan. Sohrab Goth, a huge slum. Afghan refugees flee attacks of the American army.

There would be almost a million to find refuge here. Raja Khattab tells us that the Taliban are hiding, behind the walls of these houses. This is where the journalist American Daniel Pearl, had been detained for 6 days in January 2002, before being executed. The area is dangerous for strangers like us.

For the police too, we will only pass through. The Taliban would come to go green in this slum and raise funds. – They collect money here. All possible funds for d*** organizations based in Waziristan, on the Afghan border. They tour those who support them here in Karachi.

– What are the other means for them to have liquidity? – They did quite a bit bank heists, extortion. They were kidnapping people, especially foreigners. We sought to enter into contact with these fundamentalists, who are hiding in the city. After several weeks of approach,

Our contact led us one night to a secret place. We recognize the mountains from the Qasba Mor district, the Pashtun neighborhood. We have a meeting with a man. He is in Karachi for a few days. He is part of the organization Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, banned in Pakistan, listed on the American blacklist, t*** movements.

Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed all latest attacks against Shiites. We will be sitting behind him at his request. Our translator forward our questions to him. – I am from Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. I am one of the leaders. – How much you’re in your organization? – There are between 50 and 60 of us here.

-And what is your specialty? – I know how to make poisons, wield different weapons. Train the activists. We are training in Taliban camps. They are the ones who teach us how act with guns and bombs. – Do the different organizations Pakistani fundamentalists, which are prohibited on the territory,

Are linked to the Taliban or A***? – Of course. There are different arrangements depending on the location. In Karachi, for example, we meet to discuss of different things. Karachi is a good place for this. We can be anonymous. Our leaders don’t come here, but they send representatives.

Some come here for a month, two months. Three months. And do what needs to be done. What they have to do, recruit new activists and hit the Pakistani elite, politicians and civil servants, through targeted attacks. But they did not choose to destabilize the city. Not yet.

Today, the Taliban prefer get lost in the immensity of Karachi and take advantage of the traffic that the city does not fail to shelter. Particularly within its port. It is one of the most important in South Asia. This is where the loads arrive of NATO which are then, sent to Afghanistan.

Weapons and equipment, part of which are found, on the country’s black markets. It is also in Karachi that transits local drugs, opium from Afghanistan in particular. Regularly, Pakistani customs make significant seizures, like here, in June 2010, several tons *** will be burned. Drug money finances partly the d***. The inhabitants of the city,

Consume the crumbs of this traffic. We went to one of the popular neighborhoods in the north of Karachi. An NGO comes there every day to distribute new syringes, against used ones. – Where is your syringe? – I forgot it. – Next time, you bring her back.

You must not use the syringe of a other and you must not throw yours away. It’s to protect you from AIDS. Today there would be at least 600000 *** in Karachi, of all ages and of all social classes. – Our lives are destroyed. Help us !

In Karachi, the dose *** costs €0.34 euros, 20 times cheaper than in the Western market. Here it is easier to get a dose *** than a bottle of alcohol. – It’s the Pashtuns who sell this. We buy the d*** in a shop there, just behind. It costs €0.20 per dose to swallow

And a little more if you prick yourself. This is a sleeping capsule. And inside, there is cut ***. Most start in adolescence, initiated by friends like this young girl. She is 18 years old today. When she tasted ***, she was sixteen. – I feel sick and I am missing it all the time.

I would like to stop. If I stopped, I promise that I will never do it again and I will ask Allah for forgiveness. I will take a bath, I will wash my hair. I will feel clean and I will wear a beautiful dress. I will be someone again.

The dealers are a few meters away, somewhere on this street. But neither the leaders of the NGO, nor the district chief, won’t let us go there. Too dangerous, they say. – It’s not worth it to go there. This place has nothing good even the police, cannot enter this area.

The d*** mafias are taking advantage political instability, to expand. The government is accused of doing nothing to put an end to trafficking. It is in Pakistan that is transformed the Afghan poppy and 90% of global *** is produced in the region.

On the other side of town, the fourth largest fortune in the country, Biram Avary wants to show us what is his drug? Every Sunday, he puts on his shorts and polo shirt and embarks on the Arabian Sea. 20 minutes by boat from the port, here is the Karachi Yacht Club.

– This is my boat. The 8007, it’s called Lovely Jubilee. It’s utopia here, there is no earth connection. There is no telephone line. There are no servants. You have to do everything yourself. -And that’s what you like? – I adore !

I come once a week, I don’t have no need for Lexomil to sleep. The Yacht Club does not look like much, but it is here that the few families rich people from Karachi come to relax. He is my son, from Insha, my eldest son.

He is my grandson. How old are you now ? – I am thirteen. – Come on, go for a swim! Take off your glasses ! She is the youngest member of the Club. She works in a bank. Take off your glasses. It’s Doctor Cabanis. He’s the best doctor from the Aga Khan Hospital.

It’s the top of the top. Take off your glasses. And she is his daughter. – How many members are there? – We are 175 members. We are very selective. Because we drink a lot in the evening. We have our own bottles! – Do you drink alcohol? – Yes.

If you stay, we’ll give you some. Can you buy them a beer? Beer and Vodka and Gin, offer them. In this very private club, the alcohol flows freely, although it is forbidden to consume it in Pakistan, the black market fuels consumers, who can afford it.

– This is what I like best in my life. Sailing because it’s relaxing. No need for tranquilizers! While life in Karachi is tough. With that, I relax. Once a week, I find nature again. At €15,000 the entry fee at the Yacht Club, Mr. Avary, can do his regatta quietly,

Far from the hustle and bustle of the city. Escape, treat yourself to a break on a Sunday, it’s the obsession of the inhabitants wealthy people of the megacity. For those who do not have access at the Yacht Club, there is the beach. But not just any.

You have to go 20 kilometers north of the city, to find calm and serenity. French Beach, one of the haunts young people from Karachi, who want to escape prohibitions. French Beach, the French beach, because she was appreciated by foreigners when there were still some. Samia comes there every week.

It’s the only place where she can swim without being dressed, from head to toes. – We have to come every Sunday, there is no other place to go. We come here with the children, we can have fun here. We can have fun. We can’t take the children elsewhere because of the situation.

I think it’s the best place for families. Here you can dress like you want. You can mingle boys and girls, it doesn’t matter. If it is possible in foreign countries and not here, so it’s like our little one travel to us every weekend. This is all because of the Taliban. They ruin everything.

– The Taliban are not coming not there, at the beach? – I do not think so. I do not want especially not that they come here. This is the only place where we are peaceful. – And if they came… – My God, they would kill us, if they saw us like that!

A state of grace in this city on the verge of explosion, in Karachi, there are still brief respites. But a new night begins with its share of crimes. We find Shiros, the young paramedic. He has just taken up his service. It’s his first death of the evening.

– He must be 18 years old. The same age as Shiros. – We found him in the street. Behind a building. I feel sad. What’s good about him? made to kill him? Why are they massacring innocent people? I don’t think he was involved in a political party,

That he was using a weapon, they kill without reason. This is the new law. Amna decided to have fun no matter the cost. – I’m super late! She is like a Marie-Antoinette who enjoy her last party, she says. Munir! Where did you put the guest list?

The evening she has been preparing for two months will finally begin. There are as many guards as there are guests. – I am Mrs. Bin Laden. – I am a Taliban. And I’m going to close the evening. The party is already coming as a great success.

– Everyone wanted to come, but it was too much for here. Not everyone has arrived yet. It’s going to be packed. All the lights of the city are lit. Frieha’s fashion show will begin. As usual, she’s stressed. Young girls who shine under the projectors,

Cameras that broadcast the event on all channels in the country. Tonight, Pakistani women make their revolution. They took orders. – What time is it ? Please, move back to the rear, otherwise, we’re not going to be able to put on a show. Behind the scenes, the young tops are getting ready.

They have a rage for life. – There’s a bullet there. In the hospital morgue with Shiros, life has withdrawn from the dead, but also living people. – People say that Pakistanis, are hearts of stone, tough, this is not true, we are not like that. We want this violence to stop.

Even he, so inflamed, seems to have lost the spark. On the track, however, it’s fire. Guests paid €100 to be there tonight, to dance and drink to excess. Amna can relax. Nothing has come to disturb the party yet. At the parade, the outfits are very demure,

But for Pakistan, it is already a lot. Frieha enjoys her success and his courage. His greatest victory, not to have been afraid. Once again. – You see, there is no only t***s in Pakistan. In front of the hospital door, the family of the young deceased arrived. A grandmother, a sister, a little brother,

Mourn the lost one. This song tells that in Karachi, it’s always the poor that violence kills.

Karachi, la ville pakistanaise qui ne dort jamais. Avec ses nombreuses activités, de jour comme de nuit, et son agitation constante, cette ville cache une face beaucoup moins accueillante.
On vous dévoile la sombre réalité sur une ville, qui est à deux doigts de basculer.

Réalisateur : Stéphanie Lebrun,Thomas Ellis