INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:

Fearful for decades, Pakistan's main parties now openly campaign in KarachiKARACHI: For over 25 years,

London-based MQM founder had an iron grip on Karachi, able to bring Pakistan's largest city to a standstill with a single phone call.But

much has changed in the last five years in the coastal metropolis of 20 million people, and the transformation is playing out in the run-up

to Pakistan's general election next week.The country's three main national parties now campaign openly in the teeming, financial hub, once

supreme leader himself has lived in self-imposed exile in London since 1992."Karachi is peaceful today," said Shehla Raza, a candidate for

the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) in one of Karachi's parliamentary constituencies

"I am going to bazaars (markets), multi-storey apartment blocks, I am getting a tremendous response."At the last election in 2013, the MQM

won 16 of Karachi's 20 seats, and critics say they were aided by a campaign of intimidation and violence.Some months after the election, a

paramilitary crackdown transformed Karachi, sharply bringing down murder and kidnapping rates, while splits within the MQM's leadership in

2016 broke the grip of party founder.His representatives in London did not respond to requests for comment

He has denied charges in the past of exhorting his supporters to violence and claimed that hundreds of MQM members have been arrested and

killed in extra-judicial operations.Authorities say they have targeted criminals and militants irrespective of political affiliation, and

brought down crime rates considerably.According to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, at least 57 people were killed and nearly 300

injured in violence in Karachi from January 2013 until the election in May that year

This year, police say, just two murders have been reported.The change is palpable in the city - people throng to shopping malls and

restaurants until past midnight

In earlier years, the city would essentially shut down soon after dark.With elections coming up, Karachi is festooned with party flags and

posters and small neon-lit trucks scurry around the city with photographs of leading candidates.PPP workers installed billboards sporting

previous elections.TEMPTING PRIZEThe city's current 21 seats represent a tempting prize for the main parties vying for control of the 272

elected seats in the National Assembly

They may also be crucial for smaller parties hoping to play kingmaker if, as many expect, the elections result in a hung

parliament.Nationally, polls suggest the election is between the opposition party of cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan and the Pakistan

Muslim League-Nawaz of now-jailed former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, which hopes to win a second term in office.Both Khan and Sharif's

brother, Shehbaz Sharif, are among the contestants for seats from the city.Also hoping for a strong showing is the Bhutto family's PPP,

which is running third nationally in opinion polls but dominates politics in the rest of Sindh province, where Karachi is located.In 2013,

the national government led by then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif gave free rein to the paramilitary Rangers for a sweeping crackdown on the

militant networks.Then, in 2016, MQM leaders in Karachi announced a split from the UK-based fonder and his inner circle in London amidst

infighting and a leadership struggle leaving the party in disarray with three competing factions.While the PPP hopes to regain its base in

Karachi, equally confident is Khan's PTI party, which has traditionally done well in large cities and won one Karachi seat in 2013."We hope

that when Imran Khan wins from Karachi and becomes prime minister, it would help undo the deprivations and neglect the metropolis has faced

for years," senior PTI leader Imran Ismail told Reuters.Even Nawaz Sharif's PML-N, which does not have traditional support outside its

political heartland in Punjab province, is campaigning hard in Karachi.With few opinion polls of Karachi alone, it's unclear which of the

nominated candidate of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) for the National Assembly seat from Karachi, along with party workers, cuts a ribbon

to inaugurate campaign office in her constituency, ahead of general elections in Karachi, Pakistan July 10, 2018.KARACHI: For over 25 years,