Everyone is casting blame on each other, and they are not wrong, all of us are culpable in our own ways. The tragedy that ensued is a severe indictment of the government for abdicating its responsibilities in not deploying the forces of law and order.

The political parties used the occasion callously to further their own political objectives even when anarchy was looming in their faces and the lawyers finally persisted with the CJ's Karachi procession despite ominous signs that it would cost innocent lives.

There was a moral obligation for all to heed independent warnings of imminent violence. The government lost considerable moral authority in not enforcing their writ for hours. The hands-off policy seemed deliberately designed to aggravate the situation for a single purpose: Prevent the CJ's cavalcade from riding into town.

As one of those who strongly believe that it is the democratic right of MQM to exercise their right of democratic rule in Karachi, and being extremely impressed by the tremendous socio-economic uplift of the city's infra-structure, MQM's handling of their responsibilities to Karachi's citizens on May 12, 2007 has been disappointing -- a setback of sorts.

A prosperous future for any city is directly proportional to sustained peace. Why should the MQM, whose interest lies in maintaining peace, set free forces that would violently disturb tranquility? It is like shooting yourself!

MQM is very much the senior partner of the Coalition in Sindh, because Karachi will always remain Pakistan's economic lifeline. Its urban strength force multiplies their political potential. The peaceful congregation at the Tibet Center on MA Jinnah Road, barely a mile or so from the fringes of hell, showed MQM's impressive political strength.

Regretfully its junior cohorts ran wild at many other places, some albeit on provocation and with the lack of mature street leadership. This stained MQM's entire image in contrast to its increasingly sophisticated political performance since coming to power in 2002.

The route from the airport into the city was blocked at many places as if the CJ was leading an invading army into the city. Rommel's beach obstacles in Normandy on June 1944 would have paled in comparison. The trouble was only one violent incident away.

Falak Naz Apartments is situated on the T-Junction where the road from Quaid-e-Azam International Airport joins Shahrah-e-Faisal.

From that point to the overhead bridge connecting Rashid Minhas Road is about 4 km or more. MQM activists from Shah Faisal Colony started to close down shops from Friday afternoon. On resisting; a security guard at a shop in the area was shot dead at point blank range. Just before midday on May 12, armed PPI activists, bent on revenge, came from Sohrab Goth -- one column along Rashed Minhas Road and the other through Gulistan-e-Jauhar and the ASF Camp -- and fired on the MQM activists in this area, a regular gun battle ensued.

PPI and Pakhtoon Action Committee (PAC) militants inflicted quite a few casualties before the deployed Rangers and police joined the MQM's gunmen, the PPI militants than had to pull back.

Among the dozen or so, 4 residents of Falak Naz Appartments died in the crossfire. The firing was not one-sided; MQM's activists were on one hand and PPP, and JI and PPI militants on the other, the worst being near Guru Mandir where a major media office is located.

Some politicians were caught in the crossfire on the way to the airport; they are lucky to be alive. The most macabre part of this tragedy is that the gunfight took place between nominal allies.

Once you put guns into untrained hands and they kill defenceless innocents, murder comes easy. When tigers taste human blood, they become maneaters. The much-delayed "shoot on sight" order recognises that maneaters do not differentiate between friend and foe.

While this tragedy was unfolding, the CJ and accompanying lawyers stranded at a lounge at the Karachi Airport stubbornly refusing the administration's offer to heli-lift the CJ to the vicinity of the Sindh High Court.

What was more important to the lawyers? The CJ's speech at the Sindh High Court or the "triumphant" procession into town? Finally on being served orders for deportation, the lawyers left by PK 308 at 7pm for Islamabad. The CJ vacillated till the aircraft became airborne; it had to return to Karachi to pick him up.

With the city in flames in a number of places, the majority of the city's 15 or so million citizens went into a state of increasing panic. Thousands of airline passengers, many among them old men, women and children, had to walk miles with their baggage through gunfire to reach safety.

Many missed their flights; most reached the airports to find flights cancelled. Sick people could not reach hospitals, urgent surgeries had to be postponed. Babies went without milk and the people without fresh food and some without water. A majority of day-labourers and street vendors had no daily wages for 2-3 days; their dependant families went hungry.

Karachi's plight got the attention of world media. International media showed militants roaming around brandishing and firing weapons, vehicles being torched, media offices being caught in crossfire, panic calls from abroad jam-packed communications.

Wild rumours fuelled more panic all over the city. The stance of the forces of law and order, that they were not activated to restore peace, is bankrupt. When a mob goes berserk, the officer commanding the police/para-military and/or military detachment gets a "shoot to kill" written orders from a magistrate.

When the mob has weapons and is using them, one does not wait around for legal niceties from magistrates, one takes unilateral action. Anarchy must be ruthlessly put down, without fear or favour. The hierarchy down the line need to be taken to task for "criminal neglect."

The MQM should have avoided being politically provoked, this played into the hands of the Opposition. While the anti-government political parties will shed tears, they have also raised the ethnic card, a matter of not only shame but one of national apprehension of initiating a fresh blood cycle.

One must vehemently protest this. The Opposition may be aggrieved at what they took as excesses by the MQM, those shooting back were not angels. There is moral bankruptcy in trying to trumpet this as ethnically motivated.

For short-term advantage you cannot risk the stability of the country by raising ethnic or racial motivation. This is a deliberate escalation by our politicians bereft of other ideas. The CJ was meant to be used by the politicians and he has been.

To a "great silent majority" he has shown a callous disregard for human life, shocking for those of us who admire him and are sympathetic to his cause. While the advantage has shifted to elements opposed to Musharraf for the time being, once you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind!

Ikram Sehgal is an eminent Pakistani political analyst and columnist.