Bringing Normalcy & How

By Amir Zia

The News on Sunday
September 15, 2013

Trying to tackle challenges in Karachi from the narrow prism of an operation is a flawed approach

Do we need rocket science to beat street crime, curb extortion, and stop targeted assassinations in the country’s industrial and commercial hub of Karachi? Why, after every few years, this restive port city gets caught in a situation where nothing less than an “operation” is seen as a necessary evil to establish the rule of law?

Governments have come and gone, but sadly, the pattern of managing Karachi has by-and-large remained unchanged. Despite all the big promises and the so-called successive massive operations, Karachi continues to remain one of the most dangerous mega-cities of the world.

Here, on an average, nearly 1,800 people are killed every year since the country’s historic return to democracy in 2008 that unleashed a wave of unabated political, sectarian, ethnic, and religiously motivated violence among the key power players — including the coalition partners of the yesteryears — as they fought bloody turf wars to expand or protect their domains and financial stakes.

The politically-connected extortion and crime mafias literally destroyed the investor and business-friendly image of the city, making life a living hell for many of its citizens, who have nowhere to turn to for justice and protection.

The mega collapse of law and order is the collective failure of the political and security institutions, which only have to play by the book, act fairly, and with a little sense of purpose to bring peace in Karachi. But narrow, vested and political interests, rampant corruption and greed have so far prevented decision-makers from making the right choices and going for obvious solutions.

To begin with, fighting crime, terrorism and lawlessness is a 24/7 job. It needs to be done all 365 days of the year. Trying to tackle these challenges from the narrow prism of an operation is basically a wrong approach as it fails to address the structural flaws and weaknesses of the system that breeds and encourages criminals and terrorists.

If the federal and provincial governments and the security establishment are sincere in bringing peace to this traumatised city, they must abandon the practice of supporting and patronising one set of politically or religiously-linked group of criminals and terrorists against the other.

In the early 1990s, the security establishment openly supported militants belonging to one of the MQM’s dissident factions, organised under the banner of MQM Haqqiqi, in an attempt to dislodge Altaf Hussain’s loyalists from the city. Rather than going for even-handed crackdown against criminals and terrorists, the then establishment made the entire exercise controversial by its “selective justice”.

And it was not just one group that enjoyed this kind of support and patronage. There are several other known and shadowy religious and political groups and factions that had ties with officials in the security establishment.

Unfortunately, this practice continues even today.

The banned Peoples’ Aman Committee of Lyari — seen responsible for running the major rackets of extortion, gun running, drug paddling, kidnappings and street crimes in today’s Karachi — is being supported not just by some of the Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) stalwarts, but also the rogue element within the security establishment.

This should explain the easy flight of the committee’s leader Uzair Baloch via Iran to Muscat and then to Dubai despite the High Court’s order for his arrest.

And it is not just the Aman Committee that enjoys cozy relations with some top government and security establishment functionaries. If one believes the police “folklore”, even militants belonging to the banned sectarian and al Qaeda-inspired Islamic terrorists groups have their sponsors in the official quarters.

When arrested by the police, they often have to be freed over the intervention of the ‘visible’ and ‘invisible’ security agencies’ officials. This should offer food for thought to our civil and military leaders, who should take firm measures to end such criminal practices.

The second important step is to free the police department of political interference. Politicisation of the police and law enforcement agencies is the biggest obstacle in fighting crime and terrorism, says a former inspector general of police requesting anonymity. “From the recruitment process to getting key appointments, it is all done either on the basis of bribery or recommendations (sifarish) of the political bosses,” he says. “Even many fresh recruits manage to avoid training and get their examinations cleared by using political influence or paying bribes.”

A police force selected and appointed in this manner could hardly prove a vanguard in the fight against crime. Therefore, reforming the police should be among the top-most priorities if the government is sincere in walking its good talk.

During the previous and the current PPP rule in Sindh, the police department has transformed into a mere pawn in the hands of the political bosses. They oversee the appointment of station house officers (SHOs) at the police stations to that of senior officials. No wonder, the average tenure of police officials in any slot in the city has been reduced to only a few months rather than three years as specified in the 2002 Police Order.

Most police officers get postings by paying huge bribes and struggle to get this money back with profit during the limited time they get on one position. They try to serve and appease their political masters rather than standing for the law and protecting the people.

The recent reshuffle of the police force in Karachi should be seen in this context and be a matter of concern rather than relief. All key appointments, including that of SHO, superintendent of police, deputy inspector general or inspector general must be for a fixed three-year term. These officials should only be removed on disciplinary grounds and, if punished, not reappointed.

According to a senior PPP leader, who requested anonymity, some police officials even pay weekly bribes to the powerful PPP MPAs in Karachi. Even the ward-level PPP leaders in rural Sindh demand their pound of share from the police that could include a “gift” ranging from a new car to a motorcycle or a few thousand to several hundred thousand rupees.

Bringing back police into a neutral mood and freeing it from political pressures is one of the keys to successfully fighting crime and terrorism in the city.

Another link in this chain remains the specialised training for the police force. According to senior police officials, the whole police training manual is outdated as it banks on the 19th century syllabus. There is an urgent need to introduce modern investigation and crime fighting techniques that cannot be done without raising the bar of education and making appointments on merit at all the levels.

Reforming the police is also a must to improve the prosecution and conviction rate, which currently stands at a dismal less than 10 percent. This scenario hardly serves as deterrence against crime and terrorism.

Evolving a fair and credible accountability mechanism for the police is also the need of the hour to ensure that officials involved in wrongdoings, corruption, or highhanded actions can be held accountable.

The dissemination of quick justice also remains pivotal for establishing the rule of law. Today, cases keep dragging on for decades — from grandfather to grandson. This needs to be changed. And it cannot be done without overhauling the legal system. “Ideally, there should be only trial court and one appeal court,” says the former IG police. “Also, the government should immediately lift moratorium on the death penalty that remains in place since 2008. It has introduced a dichotomy in the legal system and serving people involved in heinous crimes.”

Until the authorities show zero tolerance toward crime and criminals and ensure that they take action without any consideration of political, ethnic or sectarian affiliations, bringing peace in Karachi would remain only a pipe dream.

But reforming the police and even-handed action against politically-connected criminals and mafias will serve as the first crucial step in bringing normalcy to this traumatised city. The other mid- to long-term steps should include establishing an effective city government in Karachi, improving its infrastructure, and giving it a modern mass transit system. Without ensuring such steps, Karachi won’t be able to regain its former role of serving as the main hub of business and economy activity of the country.