With none allowed to dodge the dragnet
The operation against law breakers in Karachi is yet to start in real earnest. What one finds happening at the moment is that police and Rangers are testing the waters. What one expects from the law enforcement agencies is that they would take action against the criminals across the board, without partiality or prejudice. One also expects that political parties and various communities in the city would cooperate with the LEAs. Karachi has suffered a lot during the last five years and more. There is no state of emergency in Karachi, nor have the LEAs been given any special powers. The media is reporting incidents every day without censorship. The police and Rangers have therefore to proceed in accordance with due process. Scores of accused have been taken into custody. Many more suspects are likely to be arrested in days to come. A system has been set up according to which Rangers would move the suspects arrested in any raid to the respective focal police station designated for an area. The police will then lodge an FIR against the suspects before handing them over to the joint investigation team which will comprise officials from the Rangers, the MI, the ISI and the IB. The suspects will be interrogated and proceeded against if found to be involved in crime. The inclusion of local and federal as well as civil and military agencies in investigation would reduce the chance of partiality to a reasonable extent. The police and Rangers can make mistakes though. To bring back peace to the industrial hub problems of the sort have to be tolerated without obstructing the process. A suspect’s social standing must not stand in his apprehension or interrogation. Those who think the arrest is unlawful can approach the courts. Fortunately Pakistan has an independent and powerful judiciary which is highly sensitive about human rights as shown by its concern for the missing persons.
The PPP, the MQM and the ANP which jointly ruled Sindh for five years have accused one another for patronizing extortionists and target killers. The SC too was told these parties had raised armed gangs of their own. The TTP and communal terrorists too have been blamed for killings in the city besides the common criminals. It won’t be unusual under the circumstances if some of the local leaders of these parties were also taken into custody. The protest at the arrest of a former MQM MPA, accused of killing two cops is therefore uncalled for. Equally questionable is the privilege motion against the alleged raid on the office of the MQM member of the Sindh assembly.
The Sindh Governor Ishratrul Ibad has suddenly left Karachi for Dubai and has reportedly faxed his resignation. This invariably happens whenever MQM is in a tight corner. Whether the PML-N government would seek Altaf Hussain’s intervention to bring Ibad back, as was done twice by Asif Zardari in the past, remains to be seen. Whatever the case, the volatility in Karachi must be brought to an end, by taking the bull by the horn and not half measures.
