Security official murders are tip of the iceberg
Karachi is the city that bleeds every day. For three years now, each day has reaped more and more murders. The latest news, the discovery of the bodies of two intelligence agency officials kidnapped from Lyari poses more questions as to how deep the fissures within the city’s population are. What began as turf wars has spilled into sectarian conflict and even the targeting of state officials. And no one appears to have a solution to the violence despite the Supreme Court’s scrutiny after the recent bombing at Abbas Town.
After three months of gruesome sectarian killings, including two massacres in Balochistan and one in Karachi, the army has conveyed its concerns to the government. General Kiyani met President Zardari and conveyed the concerns raised by the military’s top brass over the internal security situation in the recent corps commanders conference. The bombings in Quetta and Karachi came up, the existence of militant wings within certain political parties and so did the operation against the Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. As a response, Rangers has launched another operation in Lyari, but this is not the first such operation and shall certainly not be the last. The Awami National Party has said it feels that the way to get rid of this tokenism is to call in the army for action but with elections around the corner, the PPP-led government is reluctant to extend any major role in internal security affairs to the military.
The trouble is that the spill over of the Balochistan is also being felt in Karachi. Karachi appears to be the new location of choice for secret agencies to deposit the bodies of ‘killed-and-dumped’ missing Baloch. What else does the fact that the bodies of those missing from Balochistan have been turning up in the financial capital of the country signify, but a wilful attempt by the State to let the spoils of Balochistan spill into Karachi.
And this is not even the tipping point of the fissures that divide the city. Two assailants recently fired at a religious leader in Landhi/ He escaped but people took the assailants and tortured them before handing them over to police. A police official was killed in Gulistan-e-Jauhar. Add to that the two Rangers officials kidnapped and disposed off in Lyari.
Karachi is getting out of hand – and at the worst time possible for the current government. Elections are around the corner – the provincial and federal government is set to dissolve – and it looks like the caretaker government will have to do what the elected governments have been unable to: bring back peace to Karachi.
The time for excuses has ended and urgent measures are needed to restore a semblance of law and order to the city. Elections are a priority – and no delay shall be tolerated – but the situation on the ground is fast getting out of hand. Does anyone have a solution to offer?
