Karachi crying for an operation

Across the board, evenhanded – beyond political exigencies

When it comes to choosing between the country’s interests and those of a political party, there should be no confusion about what comes first. Karachi, the industrial and financial hub of the country, has been allowed to bleed too long. Ever since the unending spree of target killings started in the city soon after the present government took over. All components of the ruling alliance have maintained that politics was behind the mayhem. It was maintained that gangs of criminals were being used in a turf war by this or that component of the alliance to extend its control over the city. While indulging in the blame game everyone pointed its accusing finger at the other, not willing to admit its own culpability. The president issued warnings to the killers and visited Karachi several times to confer with and admonish the allies. So did the prime minister and the interior minister, without any of them being able to end the bloodshed. The situation became complicated as other forces entered the fray – including communal terrorists, militants of all hues and criminal elements.

For the last many months, there has been a free for all in the metropolis. Each one of the coalition partners has taken casualties. The traders have passed resolutions calling upon the government to take action against the bhatta mafia. After finding the government agencies unable to help, they have tried to broker agreements with the extortionists. Karachi presents a situation where the state has failed to ensure the citizens the most basic constitutional right of security of life and property. Many maintain that the situation has deteriorated on account of the government’s policy of reconciliation.

The Senate passed a resolution on Monday calling for a deweaponisation operation in Karachi after a heated debate. The resolution was stubbornly opposed by one of the coalition partners. Sensing that there was a near unanimous demand for the operation and it was not possible to challenge it through arguments, an attempt was made to scuttle the move by demanding that the operation be conducted throughout the country instead of one city. This was irrational because no other province faces the problem at this scale. There is however a need to convince those objecting to the demand for operation that it was not meant to target any particular party. This can be done by ensuring that the operation was across the board and evenhanded. No criminal should be allowed to escape irrespective of his party affiliation. It would be useless to launch an operation if those arrested for heinous crimes were to be released on account of political exigencies.