They can kill unarmed citizens with impunity. And when it comes to that, it is difficult to make any distinction between the paramilitary forces and police. The deadly shootings in Kharotabad and Karachi and fake police encounters which are on the rise in Lahore indicate how brutalised our society has been at the hands of these terrorists in uniform.
The dust had not yet settled on the Kharotabad incident where five Chechens were gunned down by the Frontier Corps personnel last month when Rangers shot dead a 17-year-old boy at Karachi’s Boat Basin Park after declaring him a bandit caught robbing the citizens. That he opened fire when confronted by the paramilitary troops was a blatant lie; Sarfraz Shah was taken into custody by gun-wielding musclemen and shot in full public view with the television footage showing that he bled to death while pleading for mercy.
The two tragic shootings received publicity as did the public lynching of two brothers in Sialkot last year just because they were captured on camera. There might be many more such incidents which skipped the media’s watchful eye. There is no doubt that the security forces currently engaged in combating terrorism are under immense stress due to the humiliation heaped on them following the Abbottabad and Mehran Base fiascos but there’s hardly any justification for the paramilitary personnel exhibiting trigger-happy tendencies.
It was after a public outcry and uproar in Parliament that Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani promised a personal oversight of an investigation into the gruesome murder of a teenager in Karachi. There were calls in the National Assembly and the Senate from across the political divide for severe action against the culprits after the parliamentarians interrupted the budget debate to protest at the Karachi killing. Everybody was enraged. So was Mr Gilani who pledged not to leave the matter to the Sindh government or the Ministry of Interior. But at the same time he was unhappy about Kh Saad Rafiq’s diatribe against the armed forces and got his remarks expunged from the proceedings.
The PM’s advice to the overwhelmed opposition hawks not to blame the state institution for the actions of some individuals was nothing more than an attempt to appease the military high command which met the same evening to take notice of the campaign launched by some quarters to “deliberately run down the armed forces and the army in particular.” The participants of the 139thCorps Commander Conference noted with regret that a slander campaign was going on despite a marathon briefing to the in camera session of parliament and sent out a strong message: “All of us should take cognizance of this unfortunate trend (of maligning the army) and put an end to it”.
There are some misconceptions that need to be removed. The criticism of the role assumed by the intelligence apparatus and the paramilitary forces of kidnapping or wanton killing of innocent citizens on the mere suspicion of their connections with terrorist organisations should not be viewed as an attempt at slandering the military or weakening the institution responsible foe defending the country, If the media or political leadership highlight the intelligence failures in Abbottabad incident or discuss the possibility of the rogue elements providing a lead to the terrorists striking at PNS Mehran, it should not be taken as an attack on the top brass of the armed forces for complicity. It’s no longer the case of fish rotting from head down.
The days are gone when Musharraf would personally patronise the killers of Nawab Akbar Bugti and protect his intelligence sleuths who had unleashed a reign of terror in Balochistan and elsewhere in the country. General Kayani must be credited with having bolstered the army’s image after the departure of that despot who had virtually surrendered our sovereignty to his foreign masters.
Nobody despises the army. Nor is any attempt being made to drive a wedge between the military and other organs of the state. What the military high command needs to understand is that purging the armed forces of the rogue elements having links with extremists will strengthen our security establishment. And unless this is done Pakistan will continue to be viewed as the most dangerous place on earth.
General Kayani and his top brass must also try to put an end to the blatant human rights abuses committed by the intelligence agencies and the paramilitary forces. There is a feeling of outrage in public; the nation is shocked. It won’t let the tragedies of Kharotabad and Karachi disappear in the dark recesses of history.
The writer is Executive Editor, Pakistan Today
