Mapping Karachi: The Women Boxers Of Lyari

Is it possible to report Pakistan, outside the familiar India-Pak discourse - an equation that is troubled, contentious even violent or on the extreme, focuses on the same sentimental rhetoric of people to people contact? We try to go beyond the usual framework, with our new series. Mapping Karachi looks at life, contradictions and the issues in one of South Asia's biggest and most violent cities, a city of migrants, of mohajirs, who left their homes in UP, Bihar and elsewhere in India, to arrive at a city which lies in the heart of Sindh. We begin with one of Karachi's most violent neighbourhoods, Lyari, once known for its ethnic and political clashes between supporters of the MQM and the PPP. In the past nine months, Pakistani Rangers have cracked down on the gangs, bringing a fragile peace. And what's now making news is a group of young girls who want to win Pakistan's first gold medal for women's boxing.