The causes, the remedy, it is all there for the takers. Are there any?
Karachi remains bathed in blood. So do large swathes of the country defying all pretensions of the state to impose its writ.
The YouTube remains banned as do other avenues of harmless learning, recreation and relaxation in the country. A recent edict has reportedly declared that watching cartoons is un-Islamic.
The interior minister has taken almost a hundred days evaluating his options on how to deal with an ever-deteriorating security situation. He still appears to be in a limbo tossing one prospect against the other, then burying all. Inaction and confusion galore!
In the meanwhile, the country is trampled over routinely by criminal mafias and militant wings, blatantly patronised and promoted by the political parties. A judgement of the Supreme Court in the Karachi unrest suo-motu case in October, 2011 said, “The political face of the city has been taken hostage by the militant groups of political parties. Political parties are penetrated by criminals under the garb of political groups who use party flags”.
The judgment further stated: “it goes without saying that, if the involvement of the above accused persons allegedly aligned with a political party is established, it may entail serious consequences for the said political party as well, because a political party cannot be formed and cannot operate in a manner prejudicial to the sovereignty or integrity of Pakistan”. A damning part of the same judgment directly implicated some political parties: “Bhatta is being collected invariably by the persons who claim their association with ANP, MQM, PPP, Jamaat-e-Islami, Sunni Tehrik, etc. Besides, activists of the organisations, banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, are also indulging in these activities”.
Tracing the reasons behind the police and the security agencies’ inability and unwillingness to become effective in controlling the ceaseless killing spree and restore a level of normalcy in the city, the judgment said: “It could be that, in the year 1992, operation clean up was launched against MQM wherein, statedly, the police had played an active role, but subsequently, 92 police officers/officials disappeared and, up till now, there is no clue of their whereabouts nor is it known that by whom, and under whose patronage such persons were abducted and/or killed. Another reason appears to be that the police force has been highly politicised and recruitments have been made on political considerations”.
The court underlined the need for cleansing the city of all kinds of weapons, abolishing the no-go areas and establishing “a new culture of independent, depoliticised and non-partisan prosecution comprising efficient, capable prosecutors (by the government) to aid and assist the Courts”. The SC also hinted at a possible long-term solution: “Banning any political party including MQM, against whom all the interveners mostly had voiced complaints, is not within the domain of the Court”.
That was almost two years ago. The malady had been adequately described. A combination of remedies had also been proposed. What did the previous government do? Look the other way because of political expediencies? What has this government done after over its three months’ incumbency? Dither, and then do some more of the same in the face of increasing challenges?
Having patronised an abominable politicisation and subsequent failure of the police force and the security agencies, the PPP government did not call in the army and, instead, allowed the bloodbath to continue unabated for the five years that it was in power. The reason: it did not want to move against its coalition partner in the province and at the centre. And what is stopping the present government from taking the step that it needs to in compliance with article 9 of the Constitution (no person shall be deprived of life or liberty save in accordance with law)? A misplaced fear: don’t call in the army. They won’t go back. And a whole bunch of political parties have conveniently lined up behind the argument – some because they are closely and directly linked with the orgy that is being perpetrated on a hapless city and the others because of an excessive dose of naiveté.
The government’s volte-face in the matter of the so-called Mohajir Republican Army (MRA) speaks volumes of its intentions. The role of the MRA in the Karachi violence had been highlighted in a report submitted before the Supreme Court by the attorney general, which had stressed on the need to identify the members of the outfit and take action against them. Conceding that the role of the MRA had been mentioned in a meeting he had held with security officials in Karachi, the interior minister said that the report was “not of the level” that it should be presented to the SC. He went on to say that the portion of the report about the MRA was “being withdrawn with an apology to the court”. Is this a case of political compulsions again? Yes, but it also seems to have something to do with his over-riding penchant to dictate in all matters. Remember the absolute mess that he made of the Sikandar episode in Islamabad?
In another eye-opener, the Rangers director general submitted in the SC that the missing containers of arms and ammunition coming to Karachi were opened during the tenure of the former minister for ports and shipping. He further stated that the same arms were being used to foment violence in the city. A one-member commission has since been constituted to probe the matter further. Will Babar Ghauri be questioned? Or, will political expediency take over again and the former minister and his party be allowed to continue playing their deadly games?
Having been driven into political oblivion, the MQM that allegedly has its militant thugs who routinely indulge in extortion, kidnapping, rape and murder in the city has also demanded that the army be called in. The move was not unexpected. In addition to its political isolation, the MQM is also confronted with internal divisions and possible implosion as a consequence of the potential arrest of its leader in London on murder and money-laundering charges. Therefore, it needed to portray itself as the aggrieved party that is even willing to let the army come in. Obviously, this is with the express intention to cry foul the moment any such clean-up operation is launched and its interests are threatened. It has done so as a consequence of all such operations in the past including the one in 1992.
Obviously, the MQM is only interested in a clean-up operation that does not challenge its criminal mafias or its hold on the city that has been perpetuated as a consequence of the fear syndrome so malevolently generated among the people. The MQM’s politics in Karachi read like a chapter straight out of Hitler’s ‘Mein Kampf’: eliminate everything that does not agree with your philosophy of fear and hate.
There are other political parties now that are also following the policies originally conceived, authored and practiced by the MQM. According to the SC findings, there are militant wings of the ANP, the PPP, the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Sunni Tehreek and such other organisations that were banned under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. These parties and groups are engaged in perpetrating the blood orgies witnessed everyday in Karachi. Do the state and its institutions have the power and the will to move against the dominant cartel of these parties and their criminal armed wings? Quite obviously not! Why, then, is this reluctance to call in the army? Is this because of the fear that I have already mentioned? Or, is this because the government and its allies are not interested in restoring peace to the city of Karachi? I think it is a combination of both. In the process, the country has been effectively delivered to the criminal mafias and their patrons who would continue nibbling at its bloodied remains.
The interior minister does not need to open heavy dossiers of reports containing possible causes and remedies of the ghastly wounds inflicted on Karachi through decades. All he needs to do is to get a hold of the SC judgment, read it, understand it and assimilate it. It is all there: the causes and the possible remedies. He can put together an operational mechanism to achieve the necessary objectives. But, he’ll do so only if he and his political patrons free themselves of the fear of the army and stop treating it as an alien force that should be contained outside the domain of the state, thus kept away from performing functions which are listed in the constitution.
A targeted operation with limited objectives cannot provide a sustainable solution to the myriad problems that Karachi is afflicted with. It needs a comprehensive and all-encompassing operation to cleanse it of its arsenals of weapons and its militant outfits irrespective of their political and financial affiliations. Additionally, how can a provincial government controlled by a political party, alleged to have its own militant wing and self-saving objectives, be given the charge to lead any such operation which requires utmost transparency and effectiveness?
The government must understand that, in view of the gross politicisation and subsequent virtual collapse of all other security institutions of the state, calling in the army provides the only effective way to stop the gory dance of death that is being enacted in Karachi and through the rest of the country. That is if the political leaders are at all interested in bringing peace to the militancy- and strife-torn country – a prospect that appears highly suspect!
The writer is a political strategist. He can be reached at raoofhasan@hotmail.com