June 17, 2015
By Saeed Qureshi
It appears that now
the big fish both erstwhile and in power have started feeling the pinch of the
anti-corruption drive pedaled by the Rangers in Karachi. It is a known fact
that the MQM and PPP alternately ruling in Karachi have been milking the national
exchequer and encouraging the unrelenting spate of lawlessness and crimes for
years now.
With the backing and
support of the power wielders like ministers and senior government officials,
the crimes gangs have a free hand to rob and kill the businessmen, the traders
and industrialists without any let or hindrance. From unlawful sale of water to
extortion of money from the shopkeepers and robbing the banks had the tacit
support and patronage of the stalwarts of PPP and MQM.
Additionally the
stray gangs of the religious lot, professional hardened criminals, the bounty
hunters of all hues and shades also joined this mayhem to blackmail and harass
the common people as well as the business classes for payments of extortion
money and forcible seizure of the properties. Those who dithered or resisted
were put to death, maimed or brutalized in other manners.
The police and normal
law enforcement agencies like police failed to curb or bridle the escalating
crime. Rather many members of the police and intelligence agencies had to lose
their lives in combating the outlaws that are having a state within a state and
have the tacit cover from the power wielders. One can imagine further loss of
life and disruption of business in Karachi if the Rangers had not stepped in and
rein in the serial killers and tiger happy murderers.
While the successive
incumbent provincial governments in Sindh have utterly failed because of their
connivance in proliferation of lawlessness and exhibiting scant concern of the
deteriorating law and order and public peace, it was an overdue decision to
hand over Karachi to well trained Rangers to combat and eliminate the
perpetrators of crime, sabotage, lawlessness and killing sprees.
The Rangers
have been doing a highly commendable and historic job restoring peace and order
in a city that had turned into a haven for the enemies of the country and that
had sinister motives to inflict harm to the economic and industrial activities
at the behest of the internal traitors or the external enemies.
While crime incidence
has drastically come down in Karachi it is imperative that this purge of the
crime mongers is continued till Karachi is cleansed of the crime. Now the
Rangers have started apprehending the crooks and thieves of those who massed
money through misuse of power in allotting property, real estate and also in
doling out ghost jobs.
The massive funds for development projects for health
and education and development have been diverted and grossly misused by the
officialdom and bureaucracy. The corruption and lack of accountability and the
misuse of powers have been rampant not only in Karachi but elsewhere in the
country.
The sources of the
inflow of unhindered money from pilferage and sale of water, from robberies and
looting banks and the common people and the business classes are now drying up.
And that is why the leaders of the PPP and the MQM are questioning the role of
the Rangers.
The statement of Asif
Zardari that he has a long list of the corrupt army generals and that the army
should stop teasing them is as surprising as it is foolish in the prevailing
circumstances.When Asif Zardari
threatens army “not to tease us” he is hinting at not touching the water mafia,
the land braggers and misuse of official authorities, the ministers and their minions
and foot soldiers.
It is known to everyone the the incumbent PPP ministers and
their appointed officers have done everything possible to amass money and for
that did not even wink an eye on miserable plight of the people and the city
deteriorating. If the rangers or for that matter the army steps backs then it
would mean the victory of the corrupt officialdom and bureaucracy as well as
thugs, criminal gangs and brutal mafias.
This would
rather impel the army to move with greater speed and tempo to unearth the
sleazy characters within the government and the politics who encouraged and
benefited from the years of lawlessness and break down of the law and order
making Karachi and the rest of country a kind of hell and the most unsafe.
It is good that Mian
Nawaz Sharif has put off his scheduled meeting with belligerent Asif Zardari
which was aimed at winning the support of the incumbent federal government for
putting up a combined confrontational posture against the armed forces.
Had the
meeting taken place the army would have gotten a wrong message. This could have
also undermined the sincerity of the government towards the army action in
Karachi and in northern areas against the militants?
The other dimension
could be that by seeing the party in power and PPP in league, the army could
have thought of martial law which would have been the worst scenario for
Pakistan and continuation of democracy. It can be the most desirable
development for India and internal enemies. In that situation Pakistan would
have gone back to square one with a throwback to Zia and Musharraf’s military
eras scuttling democracy and people empowerment.
As such the Rangers
and the armed force should keep on performing their monumental and historic
role in clearing Pakistan both from the hardened criminal gangs and corrupt
elements as well the religious militants waging their bloody war against the
people and state of Pakistan.
The Chief Minister
Syed Qaim Ali Shah is a weak and dysfunctional person and his letter to the DG
Rangers not to exceed the mandate is a resonance of the Zardari statement about
the corrupt army generals.
Since the Sindh provincial government of PPP would
be reluctant to support Rangers for known reasons, the only viable way-out for
the Rangers is to continue its operations is to declare governor rule
with a limited mandate in that troubled province. That change would give a free
hand to the Rangers to continue its operations that are aimed at saving
Pakistan and Karachi from outlaws.
In
the meantime two former prime minister of Pakistan Raja Pervez Ashraf and
Yousuf Raza Gilani have voluntarily resigned from their positions in the
Pakistan People’s Party that demonstrates the internal rift within the party on
ill-timed, imprudent and provocative statement of Mr. Zardari
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