Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Asma Jahangir on Thursday condemned the poor law and order situation in Karachi. “By all accounts the situation is complex in Karachi but a large part of violence is stemming from political polarisation and escalating ethnic and religions intolerance,” Asma said. She said that all this was being whipped up to capture some form of power in the country. The SCBA president cautioned that if the country descended into chaos, no one would be safe. She also condemned the practice of extortion money, which is being used by all political parties in Karachi to arm and recruit cadres of their parties. She said that parliament, apart from expressing its concern, must form an all party committee on the issue, which should visit the city, hold public meetings and call for an end to the use of violence. The renowned human rights activist said that the people expected parliament to remain proactive and not leave all issues to be solved on chance. Asma said that parliament should not transfer its entire burden on other institutions or the country’s sovereignty would be tarnished. Institutions earned respect not through legislating on their powers but by effective use of these.
