While some quarters, particularly the business community, are demanding military action in Karachi, the history of such action in Pakistan reveals that they have not been successful, largely because of the absence of long-term political back up and support, though they did provide as short-term solution to problems.
East Pakistan: A planned military pacification carried out by the Pakistan Army – codenamed Operation Searchlight – was started on March 25, 1971, to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) by taking control of the major cities on March 26. Though this operation was launched by a military regime with martial law in place, it could not handle the uprising and led to the dismemberment of the country.
Balochistan: The 1970s military operation in Balochistan was a five-year conflict under a civilian government in which a separatist movement engaged with the Pakistan Army after then prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto ordered the action in 1973. The movement, initiated by Baloch nationalists in the aftermath of the secession of East Pakistan, had been fuelled by Bhutto’s dissolution of successive provincial governments. It was largely coordinated by Baloch sardars against Bhutto’s operation, which was led by General Tikka Khan and aided by Iran.
The conflict led to unrecorded civilian casualties, as well as heavy losses for the insurgency until July 1977, when the Bhutto government was deposed by General Muhammad Ziaul Haq. The situation in Balochistan, however, continued to deteriorate and still appears to be out of control.
Sindh: Violence gripped urban Sindhi politics in the late 1980s after General Zialul Haq’s death until 1992, when prime minister Nawaz Sharif passed a resolution in the National Assembly to launch a military operation in Karachi to target 72 “big fish”. The federal government said the reason behind the operation, known as “Operation Clean-up”, was to end terrorism in Karachi and to seize illegal weapons.
The operation began in June 1992 an aimed at eliminating all terrorists irrespective of their political affiliation. The MQM perceived this operation as an attempt to wipe out the party and political violence erupted ensued, with the MQM organising several protests and strikes. Lawlessness, however, continued to prevail in Karachi and thousands of people have been killed until today, as the city continues to bleed.
Commenting on the current situation in Karachi, Justice (r) Wajihuddin said there was no need of deploying the military in Karachi for restoring peace to the city. “If political influence over police is removed and incompetent police officers are sacked, the police and rangers are capable of restoring order in Karachi,” he said. He said there was no provision in the constitution for imposing limited martial law in any specific region of the country.
“Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto imposed limited martial law in Lahore and some other parts of the country in 1977. Though, he used the phrase limited martial law, it was not martial law in real terms,” he added. The former judge said when armed forces were called by the federal government to act in aid of civil administration under Article 245 of the constitution, high courts of that particular region ceased to exercise jurisdiction under Article 199.
Article 245 ‘Functions of Armed Forces’ of the Constitution says: (1) The Armed Forces shall, under the directions of the Federal Government, defend Pakistan against external aggression or threat of war, and, subject to law, act in aid of civil power when called upon to do so. (2) The validity of any direction issued by the Federal Government under clause (1) shall not be called in question in any court.
(3) A High Court shall not exercise any jurisdiction under Article 199 in relation to any area in which the Armed Forced of Pakistan are, for the time being, acting in aid of civil power in pursuance of Article 245, Provided that this clause shall not be deemed to affect the jurisdiction of the high court in respect of any proceeding pending immediately before the day on which the Armed Forces start acting in aid of civil power.
(4) Any proceeding in relation to an area referred to in clause (3) instituted on or after the day the Armed Forces start acting in aid of civil power and pending in any high court shall remain suspended for the period during which the Armed Forces are so acting.
Former Intelligence Bureau (IB) chief Brig (r) Imtiaz opposed the deployment of army in Karachi for maintaining law and order, saying though the armed forces had the capacity to cope with the security situation efficiently, it was the constitutional responsibility of the elected government to protect people’s lives by using police. He said the deployment of military in Karachi was an extreme measure that some government circles wanted to take to hide their failure and incompetence.
“Karachi unrest is not a natural calamity rather it is a political issue that the rulers are not resolving for their vested interests. The government is not performing its duty sincerely,” Imtiaz added. “The deployment of army in Karachi can cause political repercussions for the military in the long run, which is no good. Sindh police and rangers have the capability of coping with security mayhem in Karachi if they are given a free hand,” he added.
Defence analyst Syed Hassan Askari Rizvi said rangers and police were capable of restoring peace in Karachi if they were fully utilised. “What the government needs is to use these agencies without political interference,” he said, adding that if political considerations were set aside, Karachi killings could be controlled within days. He said deploying the military in Karachi could have negative implications for the army as an institution. Former senior police officer Afzal Shigri also opposed summoning army to resolve the Karachi unrest.
“If rangers and police are given a free hand and resources and there is no political interference in their function, they can easily curb acts of terrorism in the city,” he said, adding that the army was not meant to do police’s job. He said there was neither large scale breakdown in civil law enforcement agencies nor any insurgency like situation, therefore, it was needless to deploy the army in Karachi. Shigri added that the courts of law should also decide cases of targeted killings and extortion expeditiously, so that the criminals could be brought to justice.
