January 9, 2014
By Saeed Qureshi
The assassination through a huge bomb blast, of the
Superintendent of Police, Chaudhry Aslam, a vanguard and fearless CID police
officer fighting against terrorism and lawlessness, reinforces the gnawing fear that the outlaws were still organized and possess
the means and network to put up a defiant combat to the law enforcement
agencies including the para military core Rangers.
The combined onslaught and
operation of police and rangers have restored the peace albeit partially in
Karachi. This confrontation between the law and order agencies and gangs of
killers including the ethnic
and religious mafias seems to be a long haul.
The rebellious thugs and
entrenched enemies of peace have to be dealt with promptly, mercilessly and
need to be completely eliminated not only in Karachi but elsewhere in Pakistan.
The accomplishment of that pressing and imperative mission can be achieved only
by the armed forces of Pakistan.
Any delay in the deployment of army to restore
order and normalcy in Karachi would entail more loss of precious lives and continuation
of vandalism and violence. The army had achieved this lofty goal in Swat valley
where Taliban had proclaimed a state within the state of Pakistan.
Pakistan is emerging as one of the most
unsafe places for its citizens. Karachi, a port city and leading industrial metropolis
has become the battleground for gang wars, target assassinations and
extortions. The criminals and outlaws seem to be more daring and overpowering
than the law and order outfits. There is a free-for-all mayhem devouring
precious lives every day and every moment.
It looks as if a mini civil war was underway that might erupt into a full-fledged
war sooner than later.
In the wake of escalating lawlessness and
soaring gang wars for sinister motives
in Karachi, the government and its law and order agencies seem to be
handicapped or crippled .The target killings before the eyes of the Karachiites,
Pakistan and the entire world is surging unabated.
Karachi is divided into so called “no go
areas” where merciless gangs keep their sway as local lords. They fight back if
another gang wants to take over their area of control. The leaders, bureaucrats,
and high government functionaries are escorted and protected by an army of
bodyguards and bullet and bombproof vehicles.
However, the ordinary citizens are direly
exposed to the persistent lurking threat to their lives. The people are turning
paranoid or senseless about the gruesome tragedies and horrifying killing
sprees going on around them. People are dying every day because the killers
shoot or kill them with rare abandon or without any fear of state writ.
There is an atmosphere of dread and fear that
pervades every lane and street, public place and every mind. Those who eke out
their living by ordinary means on road side stalls, or kiosks or the peddlers
or the laborers are also targeted by the invisible assassins whose prime motive
is to destabilize and destroy the normal life and scuttle the smooth commuting
of the people whether by walking or in vehicles.
There are rangers, and there are government
moles and intelligence network, police and sometimes troops but all these have
failed to contain or break the macabre chain of killing of innocent civilians. It is evident that the successive civilian
governments both federal and Sindh provincial government have failed to halt or
diminish the escalating and unremitting cycle of massacre of the people by
mafias, gangsters, trigger happy killers, extortionists and enemy agents.
Under these
stifling conditions, there is no harm if strife-torn and terrorism infested
city of Karachi is handed over to the armed forces for a specific period of
time. The incumbent government elected with the popular franchise should summon
army to restore order and safe environment.
If the civilian law and order agencies have
thus far failed to curb the mushrooming violence then let this city be handed
over to the army that has the capability and muscle to curb fast spreading
violence. The political parties and civil society institutions should support
the army’s deployment in Karachi for this most urgent task of restoring order
and peace.
The social and
business circles have been crying hoarse for the deployment of army in the
largest city of Pakistan to quell the sinews of a mini simmering civil war. The
office bearers of the federal chamber of commerce and industry are imploring
the government to come to their rescue against the extortionists. The business
community is moving to other cities of Pakistan and gradually the shops, the
business centers and even industries are closing down.
If army takes
control of Karachi it should impose curfew from dusk to dawn and if necessary
for parts at day time. Its first and the foremost task should be to de-weaponize
Karachi. It should cordon off and lay siege of notorious localities one by one.
The male members should be ordered to
assemble during the curfew hours at a certain place and during that time their residences
and hiding places should be reached.
The army is fully
trained and capable of dealing with the emergencies. But just by way of advice,
it should deploy contingents in markets, schools, hospitals, bus stops and
similar other public places to ward off and if necessary haul the miscreants.
The army should be given powers to hold summary trials, flush out the known
criminals and bad characters and to sort out their activities.
The army should
have powers to kill the trouble makers on the spot. With such drastic strategy
that can be only executed by the army on war footing, that this mammoth menace
and burgeoning curse of terrorism and crime can be definitively nailed.
It is extremely
inevitable that all the foreign residents living in Karachi should be ordered
to register themselves. Those who are illegal must be deported without fail and
hesitation. Those with legal status should be checked and their activities and
places of living minutely verified.
They should be
asked to report their presence periodically at the local police stations. The
police stations should be told to keep an eye on them. Those among the local
population harboring the illegal aliens must be dealt with severely.
The war with an
external enemy might be a remote possibility. But the country needs to move
against the war within the country that is wreaking havoc with the social peace
and economy; all the more the port city of Karachi that generates a big chunk
of wealth for the country.
It is utterly
indispensable to stop the sectarian violence that is overtaking Karachi with
the passage of time. The ideological confrontations between the rival sects are
taking a heavy toll of human life in Karachi. Without fear or favor the army
should come down with a very hand on all religious militancy and curb it with
full might and backing of the government and political forces.
Even if the “all parties’ conference” is
convened, an iron clad remedy of this ostensibly intractable sore cannot be
found out. Even if a consensus is brought about among the divergent political
groups, still who is going to chase and engage in bloody combats with the
dangerously armed and profusely organized goons.
There is no way
that the parleys among the political parties can be effective is stamping out
the escalating terrorism and violence.
The reason for such a failure is that
these political parties aid and abet the sectarian killers, the mafias, the
gangs, the extortionists and all those elements destabilizing the country. The stalwarts of these social and political
outfits receive a share of the looted money from the bounty killers, extortionists,
kidnappers and other rogue elements.
The present
government of PMLN that was ousted through a military coup or reaction should
shed its psychological phobias and inhibitions and consent to army’s taking
over Karachi for a limited time period. For inexplicable reasons the PPP
provincial government in Sindh is also strongly opposing the military operation
in Karachi.
One wonders if
rangers and police have proven to be totally ineffective then why they want
this mayhem to continue that is turning Karachi into a ghost city and killing its
spirit of openness and liveliness.
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