Officials of the paramilitary Rangers besieged top Muttahida Qaumi Movement leader Farooq Sattar’s residence in Karachi’s PIB Colony on Tuesday night over the suspicion of presence of some suspected persons inside his house.
According to reports, Sattar was present at his home when as many as 30 paramilitary troops barricaded three streets around his house for about one and a half hours.
Officials in the Rangers said that more than eight mobile vans of the Rangers had taken position in three streets as part of an operation to arrest certain suspects. They said a letter had been written to the Sindh Assembly speaker, informing him that MPA Kamran Farooqui was wanted in an investigation.
Talking to a private news channel at the time of the raid, Farooq Sattar said there was no criminal present in his house. He said the Rangers surrounded his house for over an hour before they left the area, adding that he was unable to contact the Sindg Rangers director general but had left him a message.
The lawmaker also questioned how could the Rangers lay siege to residences of parliamentarians.
On the other hand, Sindh Rangers DG Major General Bilal Akbar clarified that the paramilitary force did not raid the house of the MQM leader. He said the Rangers personnel did carry out a search operation in PIB Colony, in the areas adjacent to Sattar’s residence on a tip-off about the presence of some suspects.
In addition to alleged torture, extra-judicial killing and disappearances of MQM workers, we know of at least one case of an MQM worker's torture and death in custody; that of Aftab Ahmed. The force had almost dealt with the case through a press report that ascribed the death to a heart attack. However, with clear signs of extreme torture, the case was a bit difficult to bury and the army chief intevened, ordering an inquiry. However, with inquiry being headed by a subordinate of the head of the force in question, and the committee having no independent person, the requirements of justice were hardly met. Still, people expected some disciplinary action against heads of the force in question.
However, surprisingly, what we hear is that there is still no news of the inquiry results, all the heads are staying put in their positions and instead, the house of MQM leader Farooq Sattar has been besieged by the Rangers.
Despite claims of bringing peace to the city, and the situation has indeed improved somewhat, still it was not all that far back that seven policemen were killed in Orangi within an hour. And another two policemen were murdered recently. Obviously, it means that the terrorists verry much retain their punch, as demonstrated by their ability to strike and kill at will. However, instead of taking concerted action against the terrorists – which I must admit poses plenty risk to the raiding parties – we often hear of them moving against MQM whose workers offer no resistance at all, and are therefore an easy prey, additionally providing lot of entertainment, at no risk of retaliation or adverse action, at the time of raid or later.
There are other worrying happenings. A former Sindh interior minister has been let off rather lightly despite boasting about issuing 300,000 arms licences and not just for celebratory firing at weddings. His close association with gangs in Lyari has also been ignored. There are others whose crimninal past is ignored. Also, Uzair Baloch who is alleged to have committed 198 murders did not receive tv publicity like that given to Saulat Mirza and appears not to have been put to much inconvenience. And then there is this PSP which someone interpreted as Park, Zar Zameem Party, because of suspected association with an unscrupulous property developer. And the fact that the party head Mustafa Kamal has loads and loads of money, without being from a wealthy background or having some visible source of income, does nothing to allay such suspicions. Surprisingly, whoever joins PSP stands absolved of all wrong-doing. Perhaps, nothing has been learnt from past efforts to eslipse MQM by creating Haqiqi, or worse still, Taliban, the serious consequences of whose creation we are still facing, and will continue facing for a long time. We have already lost over hundred thousand dollars and sixty housand men because of this project which was supposed to give us depth.
One can't help thinking that perhaps there is some understanding to ignore all else in exchange for being given a free hand against MQM.
What should be kept in mind is that the sorry state to which the remaining half of the country has been brought to has been the work of corrupt, inept politicians as well as over-ambitious, short-sighted Generals, which is the mildes way of putting it. While peoples opinion of the politicians remains worst, the image of the armed forces personnel was beginning to improve. It would be a shame if their reputation also got tarnished like that of politicians.
So, it would help if the army chief asked his lieutenants to set aside their biased, narrow outlook and to concentrate on matters which could improve conditions in Karachi.
Like for example, it was after a long time that the long-suffering Karachi got a capable and committed Commissioner in the form of Asif Hyder Shah who has a brilliant performance record. However, on the complaints of the mafias which act as commission agents to the Peoples Party Chief, and ensure smooth flow of illicit funds abroad, the Commissioner has been transferred unceremoniously.
Now, the declared aim of the Rangers and their backers is to rid Karachi of mafias and as such, Asif could be a great help, and together, they could complete the task.
Now, as I see it, if the Rangers really cared for Karachi, they would have used their's and their backer's influence, which is substantial, to see that Asif's transfer is cancelled, but they did nothing of the kind, which raises questions about their real intentions.
I hope the army chief will ensure that rash, if not exactly biased action in pursuit of some ill-conceived, narrow objectives would be avoided, and the situation in Karachi not made worse than it already is.
Pakistan faces many threats from within and outside its borders and it has limited resources to deal with them. It is therefore of utmost importance that these scarce resources are used in the most productive manner: against real enemies and not against (wrongly) imagined ones. Also, if they can't improve things for us, at least they should be kind enough not to create new problems and worsen the situation.
Karachi
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