'Protecting Karachi' - Next to Pakistan's Special Police Units (68 images)

TEXT AVAILABLE by Dirk Peitz

Pakistan has been a crucial ally of the United States in the so-called 'war on terror', started after the 9/11 attacks, with the country countering extremist organizations on its own territory. Karachi, its economic pillar, a megalopolis of 18 million people, has been often alleged to be the major hiding place for Jihadists, Taliban leaders and even a number of Al-Qaeda militants.

At the same time Karachi is also a highly sensitive place...
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TEXT AVAILABLE by Dirk Peitz

Pakistan has been a crucial ally of the United States in the so-called 'war on terror', started after the 9/11 attacks, with the country countering extremist organizations on its own territory. Karachi, its economic pillar, a megalopolis of 18 million people, has been often alleged to be the major hiding place for Jihadists, Taliban leaders and even a number of Al-Qaeda militants.

At the same time Karachi is also a highly sensitive place for NATO operations. Its harbour, Asia's second-largest, is NATO's main supply and logistical hub in South Asia. In the past years, countless arrests of Taliban supporters and militant have been taking place.


"Are the Pakistani forces effectively dismantling the city's militant networks?"

"Who are these men and what brings them to routinely risk their lives to protect the city?"

"What are their most inner motivations?"


A portrait of extraordinary men fighting an extraordinary 'war' with extraordinary means and measures. Brave, yet conflicted men, underpaid, badly equipped and faced with bureaucracy and a generally difficult environment, these men play a very risky game.

- Meet Raja Umer Khattab, head of the anti-terrorism 'Special Investigation Unit', one of Pakistan's most experienced terror experts;

- Meet Umer Shahid Hamid, a 32 year old graduate of the London School of Economics, heading the secret service agency 'Central Investigation Unit' (CID): a man whose father was victim of a target killing years ago;

- Meet Abdul Wahid Khan, the founder of the 'Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Elite Police Training Center', a retired army colonel whose first task as a young officer in 1979 was to train Afghan Mujahedeen to fight the Soviets, the very Mujahedeen that are today's Taleban;

- Meet Moinuddin Syed, 42, and his protégé Naveed Ahmed, 27, two members of the Anti-Violence Crime Cell, (AVCC) a special police unit mostly involved in antiterrorism operations and kidnap cases.
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