Is it going to be another fruitless exercise?
When the Rangers were called for action in Karachi in November 2013 they were authorised to detain suspects for 90 days. The Rangers were supposed to finish their work within four months. With the Rangers still in Karachi, the FIA has also been empowered to detain suspects for three months. The powers have been delegated to eradicate militancy and combat financial terrorism under the Protection of Pakistan Act (PPA). The idea this time is to target what DG Rangers has called ‘a nexus of politicians, civil servants and gang lords involved in supporting organised crime and terrorism syndicates in Karachi’.
The move has been announced at a time when terrorists in urban areas are supposed to be the chief target. The attack on APS Peshawar was followed by several others on the Shia, Bohra and Ismaili and Christian communities as well as LEAs. The religious terrorists wanted to avenge their defeat in North Waziristan and Khyber Agencies by turning on urban centres. To counter the threat, the National Action Plan was formulated. This required, among other things, the elimination of all sources of funding for terrorist organisations and regulation and registration of the madrassas.
Ch Nisar declared that it was difficult to trace money transactions to seminaries. Will he depute FIA to do the job now? Nothing was done beyond symbolic moves to regulate and register the seminaries. Using FIA against politicians while sparing the religious and sectarian terrorists would create a perception of partiality. Few among those who ruled the country, be they civilians or military men, abstained from misuse of authority and corruption. Pervez Musharraf went a step further by developing nexus with a political party supporting organised crime and terrorism in Karachi. In fact he gloated over the criminal show of force by his allies on May 12 in Karachi.
The investigation being conducted should be even-handed and must not be confined to politicians alone. If it is found to be specific to certain parties, it is likely to be termed as divisive and controversial.