Paper short abstract:

This study explores the changing relationship between formal politics and criminality in Lahore. I analyze the role of strongmen as local mediators, the ethics of illegality that underpins popular understandings of crime, and the reasons for the apparent decline in political violence in the city.

Paper long abstract:

Contrary to other urban centers in Pakistan, Lahore seems to have witnessed a relative decline in political violence over the last decade. To understand this, I explore the lives of neighborhood strongmen in the city and their enduring role as local mediators and brokers. This leads me to analyze popular narratives surrounding the figure of the criminal in Punjab, its eroding ties to the moral domain of wrestling, and the emerging forms of criminal behavior that unsettle the traditional ethics of illegality. I then document the local manifestations of organized crime and its connection to real estate while trying to account for the absence of mafia-like formations in Lahore. I relate this particular configuration to the local landscape of formal politics and to the changing strategies of the main political parties in the province. I hypothesize that the relative decline in political violence must be understood in relation to the absence of any serious political contender in Punjab. Despite long-standing internal rivalries, the Pakistan Muslim League (N) reigns supreme and seemingly does not rely on violent criminals to run the city and to gather votes anymore. This does not necessarily suggest a 'decriminalization' of politics or a weakening of patronage ties between local politicians and some of Lahore's notorious criminals. But the absence of political assassinations and thuggish tactics between political parties perhaps suggest that the PML's political supremacy and its effective networks of patronage allow it to distance itself from rough street politics and the illegal use of violence.