Friday, December 6, 2013

Summary Anti-crime Courts should be set up in Karachi

December 5, 2013
By Saeed Qureshi

Evidently somehow the ongoing anti-terrorism blitz launched post haste by the incumbent PMLN regime in tandem with the Sindh government is falling apart. There is a renewed surge in target killings, street crimes and extortion calls carrying death warnings for un-obliging parties or individuals.

This latest turn of events is extremely ominous and a testimony to the sway and tenacity of killer gangs and rampaging mafias in the largest city of Pakistan which is not only a leading industrial and business metropolis but also a port.

It also seems that barring a brief interregnum, the outlaws and bloodletting thugs have realigned themselves with a renewed vigor to defy the state writ. During the month of November alone reportedly around 200 citizens, have lost their lives. The situation is appalling and egregiously fearsome and proves how well entrenched the enemies of public peace are.

What new strategy the government and law-enforcement agencies are going to unfurl is yet to be seen but this rampant evil of gangsterism and bulging terrorism has to be stamped out, no matter how high the cost is. The resurgence of the murderers and abductors for ransom is a daunting challenge to the honor, credibility and competence of the incumbent regimes both at the center and in Sindh province.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has taken a serious note of the latest reemergence of the criminal gangs and ruffians. Hopefully the flaws that exist in the ongoing anti-crime efforts in Karachi would be straightened to make the drive foolproof and decidedly result-oriented. But it surmises that the judicial paradigm of dispensing justice to the law breakers is not only slow, time consuming but also ineffective.

According to the press reports, some ten thousands criminals of all hues have been captured and out of that huge number, only a few dozen have been produced before the courts. If that is the pace of dealing with monsters then there is no hope for the law to prevail in the foreseeable future. 

The law in Pakistan is subservient to the whims of the roguish elements and cutthroat powerful individuals. It can be easily subverted and manipulated and thus the innocents are punished and the convicts and culprits are released.

It is therefore, indispensable that the special or summary anti-terrorism courts should be established to deal with a turmoil that is assuming horrendous proportions and that has robbed the people and more specifically the business community of their peace of mind. Karachi is in flames of lawlessness where heinous gangsters stalk, shoot, rape, loot and kidnap the people at will.

 These courts should be established through a special presidential order or by the approval of the parliament whichever modes meet the urgency of the deteriorating situation. The rangers and the regular police are doing their utmost to clear Karachi of the callous criminals, religious rivals, bounty hunters sectarian bloodhounds, the money grabbers.

But apparently it is like a wild goose chase circus that is confined to catching the outlaws and then confine them to the precincts of jails. These beasts deserve to be placed in front of firing squads and dispatched to hell. The courts should consist of the legal professional from Rangers, the military personnel and civilian law experts.

The proceeding should take place within the prisons or away on an island near the coast of Karachi so that there is no obstruction or intrusion from the counterparts of these wicked people who can be freed as has happened quite a few times.

Or else Karachi should be handed over to army with a mandate. The army is in a much assured position to eliminate the mafias and gangs that have turned Karachi into one of the most perilous and unsafe cities. 

The criminal gangs and individuals who are aligned to any political party must be dealt with unforgiving yardstick and their mentors at the higher level should be also reprimanded and awarded condign sentences.

The writer is a senior journalist, former editor of Diplomatic Times and a former diplomat. His blog is www.uprightopinion.com


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