Sort out Karachi before it’s too late, SC warns

Announcing its reserved verdict in a suo motu case on the Karachi violence, the Supreme Court stated on Thursday that any further failure to protect the lives and property of citizens would cause unprecedented disaster, therefore all efforts should be made to avoid it.
The apex court observed that the city’s police force had to be depoliticised and strengthened in order to come out of the grave situation of law and order in Karachi. The verdict said unless there was a depoliticised police, the situation of law and order was likely to become more aggravated as soon as the assistance of Rangers was withdrawn. The 157-page verdict authored by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry told the Sindh Police inspector general (IG) to collect records and facts about the disappearance or elimination of all police and other officials who took part in the Karachi operations of 1992 and 1996, or were witnesses in ethnic or related crimes, and present a report to the court within the next month, also showing whether their families were compensated or not.

The court also ordered the Sindh government to place on court record copies of all the judicial inquiries instituted in the matter of law and order in Karachi since 1985. The apex court observed that the violence in Karachi during the current year and in the past was not ethnic alone, but it was also a turf war between different groups having economic, socio-political interests to strengthen their position, based on the phenomenon of tit for tat with political, moral and financial support or endorsement of the political parties, who were claiming their representation on behalf of the people of Karachi including components and non-components of provincial government and executive.
The verdict declared that recent violence in Karachi represented unimaginable brutalities, bloodshed, kidnapping and throwing away dead bodies and torsos in bags, indicating a toll of 306 lives in one month. Extortion was rampant and torture cells had also been detected, which made the lives and properties of the citizens insecure, said the verdict.
The court observed that in respect of banning any political party including the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), against whom all the interveners had mostly voiced complaints, was not within the domain of the court at this stage and it was the responsibility of the federal government to act under Article 17 for action against any party violating it. According to the verdict, the court would only review such issues at any other appropriate stage or proceeding if then necessary.
The court said the political parties should denounce their affiliation with criminals, who had made their way into them, in the interest of the country and democratic setup.
It observed further that in order to avoid political polarisation and to break the cycle of ethnic strife and turf wars, boundaries of administrative units such as police stations, revenue estates and the like ought to be altered so that the members of different communities may live together in harmony.
The court observed that equal chances should be provided to the different communities of Karachi to participate in economic and commercial activities instead of confining them to different political groups on the basis of parochial, racial, tribal, sectarian, partisan and provincial prejudices.
It stated that Karachi was full of arms and ammunition of prohibited and non-prohibited bores including licenced and illicit, thus Karachi had to be cleansed from all kinds of weapons, and if need be, by promulgating new legislation.
The court observed that there was a need for a fresh comprehensive law to eliminate and punish land-grabbers and encroachers, as it was one of Karachi’s greatest problems.
The court also stated that the appointments of presiding officers of anti-terrorism courts should also not be delayed for any reason.
The court also directed that there must be no ‘no-go areas’ at all in Karachi and if any such area was found or credibly reported to the court, the police and if required by the provincial government, Rangers, would take strong and decisive action to eliminate it. It said if such an area was proved to exist to the satisfaction of the court, it may require the IG himself, and if necessary the Rangers director general as well, to personally lead the operation into such areas.
The court ordered that an independent and a depoliticised investigation agency be deployed to conduct investigation of cases fairly, honestly and without being influenced in any manner.
The court also told the government should to provide protection to businessmen against uncalled-for and illegal shutter-down strikes.
To an application wherein documents were filed to establish allegations against the sovereignty of Pakistan attributed to MQM chief Altaf Hussain, along with two CDs, and another application filed to summon former Sindh home minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza, who had deposed on the Holy Quran against the MQM, the court pointed out that the instant proceedings were not adversarial but inquisitorial, which had been initiated in the public interest.
The court disposed of the matter with the following saying of James Bryce: “Our country is not the only thing to which we owe our allegiance. It is also owed to justice and to humanity. Patriotism consists not in waving the flag, but in striving that our country shall be righteous as well as strong.”