CHAPTER 5 Dispositifs of (Dis)Order: Gangs, Governmentality, and the Policing of Lyari, Pakistan Adeem Suhail A t the height of the infamous Lyari Gang War (2010-2014), the daily IHGFEDCBA Jaanbaaz emerged as one of the most widely-read publications in the locality. Jaanbaaz was notorious for its coverage of the gang war. It published gratuitous photographs of the wars brutalized victims and sketched sensationalized stories of its combatants. The accounts of cold-blooded murder it chronicled were often highly embellished — and sometimes clearly fabricated. Many in Lyari were convinced that the gangs had the paper ’ s editorial staff on the dole. Jaanbaaz became a warped public sphere ’ where rival gangs communicated with each other and the residents of Lyari were invited to bear witness. Many residents of Lyari confessed that they knew it was not a reliable source of news but could not help but read it religiously. 1 The publication was an important instrument in maintaining the sense of perpetual insecurity and fear that pervaded public discourse on Lyari. The pages of Jaanbaaz augmented the tableaus of intense violence ostensibly orchestrated by the gangs. But Jaanbaaz was also not alone in keeping the spectre of fear alive in Lyari. The rumour m ills of grotesquery, gratuitous images, and grainy but suggestive video clips circulating on WhatsApp continued to colour Lyari in heady hues of fear and blood. Troublingly, seasoned journalists, television pundits, concerned politicians, and even social scientists interested in Lyari were towing the discursive line that made Lyari 132