Law and order MIA
Karachi continues to bleed with 31 people killed on Monday; this surpassed the average of bloody July which took a toll of 318 lives. Early last month, Home Minister Manzoor Wassan had assured that an operation was imminent to permanently restore peace in Karachi. Unfortunately, a facile interior minister totally miscalculated the gravity of the situation describing most killings as outcomes of domestic disputes. The provincial home minister on his part depended more on empty assurances than real action. Peace rallies organised in the city and appeals for peace by political and religious leaders have failed to rein in the hardened criminals.
It is widely understood that political considerations have stopped the government from taking firm action. Elements in the MQM, ANP and PPP, the three main components of the ruling coalitions at the federal level and Sindh are involved in the gruesome activity and there are also ethnic and political motives behind the killings. The situation has now reached a point where Altaf Hussain has demanded action within 48 hours failing which he says people will consider themselves to be independent for their security. Read between the lines: the statement implies that the events could lead to a civil war like situation.
The government has two options. It can call in the army as suggested by some of the ANP leaders or it can use the civil law enforcement apparatus at its disposal to stop the killers. Calling in the army would imply the failure of the civilian setup in maintaining peace. The army, already entrenched in Fata, would also find it difficult to induct the needed manpower to control a city with a population nearing 20 million. What is required is to put the civil law enforcement agencies to maximum use to deal with the killers. To be successful, the operation has to be seen to be even-handed and not directed against any particular section of society but fully concentrated on the arrest or elimination of the killers irrespective of their ethnic or political affiliations.
The home minister has already met the leaders of the MQM and ANP and has hopefully also talked to the more hot-headed elements in the PPP. There is now a need to go for real action instead of churning out assurances that have only widened the credibility gap.