KARACHI – Home Minister Dr Zulfiqar Mirza on Wednesday disowned the Rangers action in Orangi Town, expressing strong reservation on the power of the para-military force to conduct a search operation in Karachi.
“The Rangers in Karachi comes under the control of the provincial home department, but neither did my department give approval for this action, nor were any provincial authorities – the chief minister, Sindh inspector general of police (IGP), Karachi’s CCPO or myself – were aware of this action,” Mirza told a private television channel in his first detailed interaction with the media in a month.
“How can I endorse any action taken without my or my department’s approval?” he argued.
Mirza claimed that he was in Badin when the Rangers operation took place, and he learnt about it through the media while the chief minister was also unaware. He said that under the chief minister’s directives, he was in constant touch with Interior Minister Malik on telephone, but has been unable to get a satisfactory reply as yet.
The home minister said that Karachi could not be made free of arms without political will, arguing that a Swat-like action supported by political and military forces would be needed in Karachi. “We need political will, military will and society’s will for an action to rid Karachi of weapons,” he said.
Without naming the MQM, the home minister said that the party claiming to have 80 percent support in the city has more responsibility in this regard.
Mirza said that weapons are arriving in the city through road, air and sea routes. He said that though the police recover around 1,000-2,000 weapons on a daily basis from the city, but it does not make a difference as smuggling of arms is a big trade in the city.
According to him he has already proposed a plan on deweaponising Karachi to the Federal Interior Ministry, which should be applied across the country at the earliest.
To another question, he said that issuance of computerized arms licenses in Sindh would start from February; these cards would be machine-readable.
Mirza argued that his department wants to collect data about arms licenses since the inception of the country, but this was a difficult task. However, he added, the department would computerize much of the old record.
