Cleaning up Karachi

Hobson’s choice

Ostensibly the Rangers, through a resolution of the Sindh Assembly, have got the police powers to go after criminals in Karachi. But the much-truncated mandate will neither satisfy the paramilitary force nor its handlers in Rawalpindi.

So far as the federal government is concerned, Interior Minister Nisar Ali Khan came out with full force defending the Rangers’ original mandate. But this was before the Sindh Assembly resolution.

The enigmatic federal minister in his media talk followed by a written statement had no qualms in castigating the Sindh government, alleging the whole crisis has been created to save one man. Probably he meant the incarcerated Dr Asim Hussain and his mentor Asif Ali Zardari.

Prime Minister Sharif, who does not always see eye to eye with his interior minister, has not uttered a single word as yet about the crisis. After his initial diatribe, post passing of the resolution, even Nisar Ali Khan has maintained a stony silence. Probably, his boss gave him a shut up call.

Giving a carte blanche to paramilitary forces to clean up Karachi of criminals, thugs and mafias backed by their respective political masters is a Hobson’s choice for the civilian government both in Sindh as well as at the federal level. Over the years the second largest city in the world by population and the financial hub of Pakistan has become a cauldron of crime and terrorism.

Criminal gangs in Karachi have the ostensible backing not only of the MQM but the ruling PPP as well. Allegedly there are billions of rupees of corruption in provincial institutions like Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA) and Fishermen Co-operative Society. An unholy nexus between the politicians on one hand and corrupt police and bureaucracy on the other rules the roost.

Prime Minister Sharif, who does not always see eye to eye with his interior minister, has not uttered a single word as yet about the crisis

The megapolis with an estimated population of 24 million people is infested with sleeper cells of the TTP (Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan). These religious gangs control and virtually rule in ‘no go’ areas created by them.

In this backdrop concerted action by the LEAs (law enforcement agencies) to stem the rot was axiomatic. When the Karachi Operation was launched with much fanfare in September 2013, it had the full backing of the ruling PPP in Sindh and ostensibly of the MQM.

So long as the MQM was at the receiving end of the stick the provincial government fully backed the operation. However, the rub came when the Rangers raided bastions of corruption, like the SBCA and the Fishermen Co-operative Society. The arrest of Asim Hussain, however, proved to be the proverbial last straw.

By going after corruption in the name of combating terrorism, perhaps the Rangers went too far. It started looking more like a vendetta against the doctor. The ultimate goal was to get his mentor Asif Ali Zardari who, since making critical remarks against the military, is in temporary exile in Dubai.

The charge that Dr Hussain was a terrorist simply did not stick. Having a special facility to harbour criminals at a hospital is a serious matter. However, health institutions are not required to check criminal records of patients or their political affiliations before treating them.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is probing corruption allegations against the doctor. It is not an ideal arrangement, but in the absence of a bipartisan, above-the-board corruption watchdog, this is all we have.

Both the ruling PML-N and the PPP are complicit in not creating a multi-party anti-corruption mechanism monitored by the higher judiciary. Such a body was envisaged under the CoD (Charter of Democracy) signed by Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and Nawaz Sharif while in exile in 2006.

Our ruling elites are simply allergic to transparency. Lofty democratic principles are elucidated with much flourish while in the opposition, but they are simply forgotten once these parties are in power.

Nonetheless using allegations of corruption to oust a government through street power or extra-constitutional means has simply not worked in the past. It was really pathetic to witness opposition parties demonstrating on Karachi roads demanding more powers for the Rangers in the name of combating corruption.

The so-called traders and opposition politicians did no service to the military leadership by chanting pro-army slogans and carrying large posters bearing General Raheel Sharif’s life-size photographs. Such orchestrated demonstrations have never worked in the past and nor will in the future.

The military ostensibly has no intentions of rocking the boat by moving to dismantle the democratic system through extra-constitutional means. The defence minister, Khawaja Asif, has claimed that there is an excellent rapport between the civilian and military leadership.

We have no reason to doubt claims made by the worthy federal minister, who has never minced his words about the generals’ mechanisations in the realm of politics in the past.

However ground realities somewhat suggest otherwise. Despite the fact that military interventions in the past without exception have produced disastrous results, there are aplenty amongst the commenterati who yearn for the return of the man on horseback.

This is partly due to the collective failure of the politicians to be seen running a clean ship and partly because old habits die hard. A dismissive disdain towards civilian institutions still persists.

Despite the fact that military interventions in the past without exception have produced disastrous results, there are aplenty amongst the commenterati who yearn for the return of the man on horseback

This is despite the fact the every time a general “Ainda Khan” has intervened, it has been in the name of giving good governance and cleaning the Augean stables by eradicating corruption. In the end analysis however, the generals in order to perpetuate their illegitimate rule end up co-opting the same ‘corrupt politicians’ they wish to replace.

Whether it was the Convention Muslim League carved by General Ayub Khan, the so-called party-less Islamic system of General Zia-ul-Haq or General Musharraf’s enlightened democracy: they had a common strand — ruling through rank opportunists and turncoats.

These eras are also touted as periods of relatively robust economic growth. It is another matter that General Ayub Khan’s so-called decade of reforms resulted in the dismembering of Pakistan. Zia-ul-Haq destroyed the very fabric of the society in the name if Islam. Kalashnikov culture and terrorism are his unsavoury legacy.

As for Musharraf his Quisling League did not outlast him. He survived by making Pakistan a kingpin of the US in the region and paradoxically perusing jihadist policies of the late Zia-ul-Haq. The disastrous Kargil adventure emanating from his naive thinking was the last straw.

Admittedly the politicians as a class are also failing. Apathy and a general lack of competence has become their hallmark. However, throwing the baby with the bathwater is not the panacea to Pakistan’s multifarious problems.

Democracy is the only system that can keep the country hinged. Notwithstanding romantic notions bordering on naivety in certain quarters, military rule is simply not an option. Thankfully the present military leadership is also well aware of this stark reality.