In accordance with the Constitution of Pakistan, democratic norms and Islamic jurisprudence, all men are equal before law. It is laws which should prevail over individuals, irrespective of their social status and political affiliations and not vice versa. When public office holders violate their constitutional oaths and indulge in corruption and white crimes, they deprive state of vital funds that could have been invested in education, health, provision of basic necessities to most deprived sections of population and enforcement of law and order. The conditional powers given by Sindh government to Rangers are not only violation of basic laws of equality before law, but will fail to eradicate cancer of terrorism. The solution lies in supremacy of law, not military takeovers which have failed to deliver.
Any organised armed militia engaged in combat requires ammunition, training and backup medical facilities for injured, all of which require massive funding. The unfortunate reality is that criminal economy, of which few private militias, some of them affiliated with political parties, is also exploited by terrorists to raise funds. It is this failure of state to invest in socio-economic development and state’s abdication of providing subsidised education etc, along with our involvement under Zia and Musharraf in Afghan war, and compromising state sovereignty by offering our territory to foreign fighters, which are vital factors responsible for the cancer of terrorism which today poses the biggest threat to national security.
The Zarb-e-Azb operation in isolation will fail if funding of terrorism is not cut off and factors that contribute to facilitate most deprived and wrongly indoctrinated people by few religious seminaries involved in creating potential recruits for terrorists are not wiped out with iron hand. Selective application of law and undue involvement of political executives in obligatory duties of law enforcement and paramilitary forces deputed for enforcement of writ of law will only help terrorists to seek refuge under these umbrellas.
ALI MALIK TARIQ
Lahore
