“There is no other thing that causes the extinction of a state or society earlier than does the unjustified bloodshed,” said Hazrat Ali. Of course, societies allowing the tyranny and atrocities are bound to disappear. All the political philosophers, from Plato and Aristotle to Thomas Hobbes and John Lock, are equally convinced that the basic purpose of a state is to provide security to its subjects. Explaining the origin of a state, the Social Contract theory contends that the individuals have surrendered their liberties to the state on the condition that the state, in return, will provide them the security of life. Likewise, provision of the security to its subjects is only function of Police State— a state which is considered the worst form among all kinds of state entities.
So, provision of the security of life to its citizen is the fundamental duty of any state, failing this, state loses the raison d’être for its existence as the foundation of its very edifice is severely crumbled. If a state doesn’t have a right to exist, then what justification a government may have to stay in power. The way some rogue and criminal elements are playing havoc with the lives of innocent people in Karachi is simply unparalleled and unprecedented in the contemporary world including war-torn Afghanistan and Iraq. Target killing, torture, extortion and kidnapping have become the order of the day here. Karachiites are being brutally slaughtered like senseless animals.
It is an open secret, now, that all the so-called political stakeholders in the city have been either equal participator or silent spectator over these ruthless killings. That is absolutely regrettable. All the previous slogans by the successive governments of across-the-board operation have gone by the board. Instead of operation, they have just wrapped the bandages over the wounds of this “poor patient” with an aim of hiding rather than healing it .At this point of time, the task of keeping peace and stopping these killings is beyond the control of police and paramilitary forces. As the Karachi police have become both politicized and demoralized, therefore, they, alone, cannot establish the complete writ of the state here.
If a superpower like America can take stern action by dismantling two whole countries in the world after being attacked, then why can we not act? It shouldn’t be forgotten that the casualties we have suffered in Karachi are far more than in the 9/11 incident in America. So, it has become mandatory that the state should act now by using its full security and coercive apparatus ignoring all political affiliations and compulsions. In addition to the police and rangers, Army’s help must also be sought to nip this evil in the bud. Only lip service would not suffice now. It’s time to act as road paved with only good intentions may lead us to the hell.
MOHSIN RAZA MALIK
Lahore