By Amir Zia
The News
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The self-inflicted law-and-order crisis of Karachi is one of the biggest failures of the PPP-led coalition, which inherited a relatively peaceful city when it assumed power in March 2008. Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf managed Karachi better – at least when it comes to controlling politically and ethnically motivated violence.
We are again being told that the government has decided to move against extortionists of Karachi and curb the lawlessness and rampant violence on its streets, which claimed nearly 140 lives by July 22.
President Asif Ali Zardari, during one of his recent sojourns in this troubled city, asked the person in charge of interior ministry, Rahman Malik – perhaps for the umpteenth time – to show zero tolerance towards anarchy and violence in the country’s main commercial hub where many traders, businesspeople and industrialists, along with ordinary lower-middle and middle-class citizens, have long been the easy target of criminal-cum-political mafias, bands of bandits and all sorts of villains. The president also made the much-needed revelation that the protection of life and property of citizens remains the government’s top priority.
But haven’t we heard such phrases loads of times in the recent and not so recent past? President Zardari must have lost count as to how many times he gave similar advice to the interior ministry, which came up with another quick plan to combat the extortion mafia and killers. But its past performance hardly gives us any hope.
Such plans and statements just add to an already huge pile of hollow words that mean little for citizens of this restive city where the death toll in politically, religiously and ethnically motivated violence crossed the 1,150 mark in less than seven months of 2012.
The first four years of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led coalition were equally bad for Karachi. According to media reports, more than 4,000 people were killed during 2008-11 in similar violence, bringing the total number of such killings to over 5,100 so far. As we continue to count tortured and bullet-riddled bodies on a daily basis at the fag-end of the PPP-led rule, there appears no end in sight to this bloodshed.
Ironically, most killings do not even end up on the front page of the national newspapers now or get prime slots in main bulletins and talk shows of the news channels. The non-stop brutalities around us have, indeed, created a general sense of apathy in the society. This abnormality has been accepted as a fait accompli.
The ritualistic tough statements and plans of action are for the gallery, but they fail to excite the jaded spectators, who ironically are the main victim of this tragedy.
The self-inflicted law-and-order crisis of Karachi is one of the biggest failures of the PPP-led coalition, which inherited a relatively peaceful city when it assumed power in March 2008. Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf managed Karachi better – at least when it comes to controlling politically and ethnically motivated violence. During 2000-2007, such killings remained well below the 200-mark on an average every year. In 2007, there was a slight spike in violence as political parties swung into action smelling imminent elections, but still the death toll remained below 400 compared with today’s annual average of 1,100.
What went wrong in Karachi under the PPP-led rule?
It seemed an ideal start for the coalition government which comprised all the three major stakeholders in the city -- the PPP, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP). There appeared more commonality among these political parties than differences on broader national issues that matter for the country. All three represent secular and liberal politics. They share common views when it comes to combating religious extremism and terrorism. They remain on the same page regarding better relations with the United States and its Nato allies as well as neighbours including India. When the coalition came to power, the ethnic polarisation of the 1980s between the Urdu-speaking people and Pakhtuns also appeared to be long dead and buried. The Urdu-speaking people, Sindhis and Baloch also had been living without any major tensions.
President Zardari, Altaf Hussain and Asfandyar Wali – surely all mean well for the city and are too big, rich and sophisticated in their operations now that they do not need to raise funds through extortionists, who mostly operate under the banner of this or that political party. One would also like to believe their earnest statements on the need for peace and rule of law in Karachi, but the problem is that they have failed to convince the second-tier leaderships and the rank-and-file that the long-term future for them lies in cooperation and not in conflict.
Therefore, the turf wars for guarding old constituencies or expanding domains to the new ones continue. Karachi is also seen as a goldmine by all major and minor stakeholders in which extortion, land grabbing, patronising criminals and mafias – all is justified to exercise control over different neighbourhoods and make quick bucks.
While the MQM’s tough boys appear more under party discipline and act when told, the PPP and the ANP are having problems with their militants, many of whom have become autonomous as the barrel of the gun dominates politics now.
Zardari’s once dear friend Zulfikar Mirza created the Lyari mess by patronising the shady People’s Peace Committee founded by notorious gangster Rehman Dakait – who was killed in a police encounter in August 2009. Now his cousin Uzair Baloch leads the organisation and has managed to establish a state within a state in Lyari – long considered the PPP’s stronghold. But Mirza’s plan to counter the MQM muscle power through the toughies of Lyari seems to have politically backfired for the PPP, which never had a history of patronising criminals.
The committee has effectively imposed a ban on the PPP’s elected representatives from visiting their constituencies for the past several years and now eyes nominating candidates of its choice in the next elections – on PPP tickets or even without it. The control of Uzair Baloch and his band of merry men in Lyari and their involvement in the racket of extortion and other crime is stuff fit for a tale now.
The PPP seems to have lost the control of its stronghold to gangsters and face the stark choice of either co-opting them as angles on their shoulders or confronting them. Neither of the choice is without complication as the controversial committee is now being blamed by the police for most of the crime in the heart of Karachi.
The ANP in Karachi led by Shahi Syed now hardly plays the game as laid down by peace-loving leader Ghaffar Khan, astute politician Wali Khan or poet politician Ajmal Khattak. It has allowed gangsters, extortionists and land-grabbers to flourish in its ranks under the grand plan of matching the MQM strike power.
The MQM carries the burden of its past history on its shoulder. Todate the MQM is seen by many of its rivals as a player which introduced the organised racket of extortion and politics of body bags in Karachi. Although the party is trying to change its image and standard operating procedures, it has both the political power and muscle to match all its rivals blow by blow.
These three ruling parties are responsible for Karachi’s law and order problem. Indeed, they have failed the people of this city where restoring order and peace remains within grasp if politics of expediency is put aside and police and the other arms of the law are allowed to operate independently and evenhandedly. But under this democratic dispensation this is perhaps too much to ask especially when elections are around the corner and daggers already drawn by major players to extract their pound of flesh. Karachi should brace it self for tougher times in the coming months.
The News
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The self-inflicted law-and-order crisis of Karachi is one of the biggest failures of the PPP-led coalition, which inherited a relatively peaceful city when it assumed power in March 2008. Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf managed Karachi better – at least when it comes to controlling politically and ethnically motivated violence.
We are again being told that the government has decided to move against extortionists of Karachi and curb the lawlessness and rampant violence on its streets, which claimed nearly 140 lives by July 22.
President Asif Ali Zardari, during one of his recent sojourns in this troubled city, asked the person in charge of interior ministry, Rahman Malik – perhaps for the umpteenth time – to show zero tolerance towards anarchy and violence in the country’s main commercial hub where many traders, businesspeople and industrialists, along with ordinary lower-middle and middle-class citizens, have long been the easy target of criminal-cum-political mafias, bands of bandits and all sorts of villains. The president also made the much-needed revelation that the protection of life and property of citizens remains the government’s top priority.
But haven’t we heard such phrases loads of times in the recent and not so recent past? President Zardari must have lost count as to how many times he gave similar advice to the interior ministry, which came up with another quick plan to combat the extortion mafia and killers. But its past performance hardly gives us any hope.
Such plans and statements just add to an already huge pile of hollow words that mean little for citizens of this restive city where the death toll in politically, religiously and ethnically motivated violence crossed the 1,150 mark in less than seven months of 2012.
The first four years of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)-led coalition were equally bad for Karachi. According to media reports, more than 4,000 people were killed during 2008-11 in similar violence, bringing the total number of such killings to over 5,100 so far. As we continue to count tortured and bullet-riddled bodies on a daily basis at the fag-end of the PPP-led rule, there appears no end in sight to this bloodshed.
Ironically, most killings do not even end up on the front page of the national newspapers now or get prime slots in main bulletins and talk shows of the news channels. The non-stop brutalities around us have, indeed, created a general sense of apathy in the society. This abnormality has been accepted as a fait accompli.
The ritualistic tough statements and plans of action are for the gallery, but they fail to excite the jaded spectators, who ironically are the main victim of this tragedy.
The self-inflicted law-and-order crisis of Karachi is one of the biggest failures of the PPP-led coalition, which inherited a relatively peaceful city when it assumed power in March 2008. Former military ruler Pervez Musharraf managed Karachi better – at least when it comes to controlling politically and ethnically motivated violence. During 2000-2007, such killings remained well below the 200-mark on an average every year. In 2007, there was a slight spike in violence as political parties swung into action smelling imminent elections, but still the death toll remained below 400 compared with today’s annual average of 1,100.
What went wrong in Karachi under the PPP-led rule?
It seemed an ideal start for the coalition government which comprised all the three major stakeholders in the city -- the PPP, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and the Awami National Party (ANP). There appeared more commonality among these political parties than differences on broader national issues that matter for the country. All three represent secular and liberal politics. They share common views when it comes to combating religious extremism and terrorism. They remain on the same page regarding better relations with the United States and its Nato allies as well as neighbours including India. When the coalition came to power, the ethnic polarisation of the 1980s between the Urdu-speaking people and Pakhtuns also appeared to be long dead and buried. The Urdu-speaking people, Sindhis and Baloch also had been living without any major tensions.
President Zardari, Altaf Hussain and Asfandyar Wali – surely all mean well for the city and are too big, rich and sophisticated in their operations now that they do not need to raise funds through extortionists, who mostly operate under the banner of this or that political party. One would also like to believe their earnest statements on the need for peace and rule of law in Karachi, but the problem is that they have failed to convince the second-tier leaderships and the rank-and-file that the long-term future for them lies in cooperation and not in conflict.
Therefore, the turf wars for guarding old constituencies or expanding domains to the new ones continue. Karachi is also seen as a goldmine by all major and minor stakeholders in which extortion, land grabbing, patronising criminals and mafias – all is justified to exercise control over different neighbourhoods and make quick bucks.
While the MQM’s tough boys appear more under party discipline and act when told, the PPP and the ANP are having problems with their militants, many of whom have become autonomous as the barrel of the gun dominates politics now.
Zardari’s once dear friend Zulfikar Mirza created the Lyari mess by patronising the shady People’s Peace Committee founded by notorious gangster Rehman Dakait – who was killed in a police encounter in August 2009. Now his cousin Uzair Baloch leads the organisation and has managed to establish a state within a state in Lyari – long considered the PPP’s stronghold. But Mirza’s plan to counter the MQM muscle power through the toughies of Lyari seems to have politically backfired for the PPP, which never had a history of patronising criminals.
The committee has effectively imposed a ban on the PPP’s elected representatives from visiting their constituencies for the past several years and now eyes nominating candidates of its choice in the next elections – on PPP tickets or even without it. The control of Uzair Baloch and his band of merry men in Lyari and their involvement in the racket of extortion and other crime is stuff fit for a tale now.
The PPP seems to have lost the control of its stronghold to gangsters and face the stark choice of either co-opting them as angles on their shoulders or confronting them. Neither of the choice is without complication as the controversial committee is now being blamed by the police for most of the crime in the heart of Karachi.
The ANP in Karachi led by Shahi Syed now hardly plays the game as laid down by peace-loving leader Ghaffar Khan, astute politician Wali Khan or poet politician Ajmal Khattak. It has allowed gangsters, extortionists and land-grabbers to flourish in its ranks under the grand plan of matching the MQM strike power.
The MQM carries the burden of its past history on its shoulder. Todate the MQM is seen by many of its rivals as a player which introduced the organised racket of extortion and politics of body bags in Karachi. Although the party is trying to change its image and standard operating procedures, it has both the political power and muscle to match all its rivals blow by blow.
These three ruling parties are responsible for Karachi’s law and order problem. Indeed, they have failed the people of this city where restoring order and peace remains within grasp if politics of expediency is put aside and police and the other arms of the law are allowed to operate independently and evenhandedly. But under this democratic dispensation this is perhaps too much to ask especially when elections are around the corner and daggers already drawn by major players to extract their pound of flesh. Karachi should brace it self for tougher times in the coming months.
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